Computer Pranks

How about a program that records events on his computer and then reverses them?

For example, if he moved the mouse 300 pixels to the right, wait a little while and then move the cursor back 300 pixels to the left to where it was before. Or, he opens up a document and types something, and the sentence he typed erases itself and then the document closes itself. The end result is that the computer, if left unattended, will (theoretically speaking, since that isn't precisely the case) always end up in the same state that it was when the program started up.

Or, if you want to be lazy and achieve a similar (but slightly less creepy, since it doesn't involve the keyboard and mouse) effect, write a program that constantly sends ctrl-z events to every program with a document open.

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How about a program that records events on his computer and then reverses them?

That's a little out of my league right now, but I like it! I'll have to try to figure this out sometime!

Take a screenshot of the desktop, then move all the icons around, then use the screenshot as the desktop background! Now there will be two of every icon the fake (screenshot) one and the real one.

You can also include the start-bar in the screenshot, but then drag it to the side of the screen so they think the start-button is broken ;0

Back for an April Fools Day joke I played on my brother, I wrote a program that made the screen flash random colors, and after about 30 seconds an official looking yes/no message box would pop up saying:
"Windows has encountered an error and is unable to recover.
Error ER100923: Key system file altered

Recommend complete reformat of the hard drive and reinstallation of the operating system.

Click Yes to reformat or No to attempt to recover:"

Then, no matter what button was clicked, a big April Fools was displayed on the screen. I was almost choked to death after that, but seeing the look on his face when the message box poped up was worth it. It's best if it is the user's own personal computer, but it would still be funny to watch them worry about ruining a school's computer (you could even play it up and talk about how he will have to replace it and the teacher might have to fail him for unnecessary damage to school property).

Also, what about an invisible window (except for an image of the taskbar at the bottom) drawn over the desktop (that way they would be thinking that they clicked a desktop or taskbar icon, but nothing would happen becuase the window was clicked instead) and a message box saying "Illegal use of the left mouse button detected" or something similar would be displayed. You would have to move the taskbar so that they don't actually click something on it. If it's Windows XP, you could also have the message box say "Press the Windows key followed by two presses of the "U" key" (which shuts the computer down)

Just my ideas.

PS - I like Oberon_Command's and Hodgman's ideas too. They would be funny to watch.

The Maze Game!

Take a 3.5 inch floppy disk, line the magnetic disk part with the tips from strike-anywhere matches, and then add a stationary striking surface. When the disk spins, it catches on fire. Put it into the disk drive, turn off his computer, and when he turns his computer on again, the computer tries to read the disk as part of its boot sequence, but then catches on fire. Much fun will be had by all.

Oh wait, computers don't use 3.5 inch disk drives anymore?

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Original post by Hodgman Take a screenshot of the desktop, then move all the icons around, then use the screenshot as the desktop background! Now there will be two of every icon the fake (screenshot) one and the real one. You can also include the start-bar in the screenshot, but then drag it to the side of the screen so they think the start-button is broken ;0

I slightly tweak that... take the screenshot then move all icons off the screen and set start bar to hide (or even better adjust the screen height so it's off the bottom of the screen).

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Original post by d000hg Quote: Original post by Hodgman Take a screenshot of the desktop, then move all the icons around, then use the screenshot as the desktop background! Now there will be two of every icon the fake (screenshot) one and the real one. You can also include the start-bar in the screenshot, but then drag it to the side of the screen so they think the start-button is broken ;0 I slightly tweak that... take the screenshot then move all icons off the screen and set start bar to hide (or even better adjust the screen height so it's off the bottom of the screen).

I did this to someone once, except I also photoshopped a "This Program Has Performed an Illegal Operation and Must be Shut Down" error message into the middle.

He rebooted his computer about five times before my laughing gave it away [grin]

Phantom Keystroker V2

I pranked a kid at school who claimed to be a tech buff by just turning off his monitor and it had him fooled *rolls eyes*.

Ok now this is cruel and hard to work out depending on your victems knowledge. I take no responsibilty for youe health...

If you are using outlook go to the >Tools>Options dialog and select the "Spelling Tab" click "Autocorrect Options" and replace a common word like your company name, your victims name or my favourite "the" with something else. I've leave the degree of rudeness / funnyness up to you depending on your workplace ;).

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Original post by Dave I pranked a kid at school who claimed to be a tech buff by just turning off his monitor and it had him fooled *rolls eyes*.

Was said kid later seen heading towards some poor sap's machine with a fork in his hand and a malicious glint in his eye? [wink]

Wire the mains to the keyboard? THAT would be funny. And lethal.

Remote desktop is always fun.

A long long time ago I had to use terminals (I told you it was a long time ago) that just had the numbers marked on the numeric keypads - no arrows, etc. Swapping the 123 row with the 789 row and then watching the reactions of novice users was always good for a giggle.

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Original post by benryves Quote: Original post by Dave I pranked a kid at school who claimed to be a tech buff by just turning off his monitor and it had him fooled *rolls eyes*. Was said kid later seen heading towards some poor sap's machine with a fork in his hand and a malicious glint in his eye? [wink]

Maybe you have just solved the mystery.

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Original post by Aiwendil What else could I do?

It might seem a little extremme, but you could connect a nuclear warehead to his power button. I'm pretty sure that would turn you into a winnar.

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Original post by dave j A long long time ago I had to use terminals (I told you it was a long time ago) that just had the numbers marked on the numeric keypads - no arrows, etc. Swapping the 123 row with the 789 row and then watching the reactions of novice users was always good for a giggle.

Rearranging the keys in alphabetical order can be fun too - if the subject isn't a touch typist. If they are - maybe there is a way to remap the key settings to alphabetical order too?

When we were in college, we used to use "net send" to display pop ups on each others screens over the network. Combined with a batch file or excellent timing, this could have hilarious consequences. Eventually some administrator turned it off, ruining our fun.

Perhaps your friend needs a new screensaver.
Bluescreen-screen saver.

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Original post by rip-off When we were in college, we used to use "net send" to display pop ups on each others screens over the network. Combined with a batch file or excellent timing, this could have hilarious consequences. Eventually some administrator turned it off, ruining our fun.

Oh, some kid at my high-school once wrote a primitive batch file that simply looped infinitely, sending a message to some computer via "net send" -- and this batch was set-up to autostart when you logged in. It was pure evil -- a class came into the computer lab, logged in and one kid started to complain that they've got this annoying, system-modal dialogue on their screen -- the network admin pointed his finger to another kid who was like "WTF? I didn't do anything!"