The original chime comes from Windows 95, Microsoft's operating system released in 1995, where it played as computers powered down and became instantly familiar to a generation of PC users. As retro computing nostalgia grew online, editors began exaggerating its sounds, and bass-boosted versions spread through meme videos, gaming clips and short-form edits as a punchline for endings. It still works because the tune is immediately recognisable, while the added bass makes a quiet goodbye feel deliberately overblown.