Windows Millennium Edition, usually shortened to Windows Me, was released by Microsoft in 2000 as a home-focused Windows operating system. Its shutdown audio accompanied the process of turning off the computer, giving users a recognizable closing cue. As older operating systems became subjects of nostalgia, recordings of their interface sounds circulated through computer retrospectives, remixes, memes, and technology videos. The chime remains useful because it instantly evokes early-2000s home computing and provides a clean audio punchline for endings, crashes, and deliberate digital exits.
About this sound
The Windows Millennium Edition shutdown sound is the brief system chime from Windows Me, used to end retro PC edits, memes, and nostalgic videos.
This short audio clip is the shutdown chime associated with Windows Millennium Edition, commonly known as Windows Me. It plays as a smooth, polished electronic phrase with a gentle descending finish, signaling that the computer is powering off. The compact melody carries the clean, futuristic style of turn-of-the-millennium software while remaining calm rather than dramatic. In videos, its familiar finality makes a scene feel officially over, especially when paired with frozen screens, failed tasks, abrupt exits, or jokes about aging computers and early home computing.
