Windows XP launched in October 2001 and became one of the most widely used operating systems of all time, so its little closing chime embedded itself in a generation's memory. The two-note farewell played millions of times in homes, schools and internet cafes as machines powered down for the night. After Microsoft ended support for XP in 2014, nostalgia for the era exploded, and the shutdown sound became meme shorthand for the end of an era, surfacing in remixes, parody shutdowns and retro computer compilations across YouTube and social platforms.