April Fools' Pranks

Today you will be bombarded by April Fools pranks from every quarter. Your local newspaper, TV or radio station will run a bogus headline, your favorite website will post something bizarre of some sort (check out Think Geek for their annual too-good-to-be-true April Fools product), your coworkers and/or family will drive you mad with pranks. So, why not fight fire with fire?

A computer is a wonderful canvas to practice retaliatory or even preemptive pranking. Here's a few relatively safe pranks for Windows (sorry Mac users I dropped out after OS9.1):

Dude, where's my icons?

Difficulty:  Easy		Works On:  XP, Vista, Win7
Tools Needed:  None		Risk: Low
Built into Windows is the ability to hide all the icons on the desktop, leaving a nice clean unobstructed view of your desktop wallpaper. Instructions:
XP:		Vista, Win7:
Right-click the desktop and go to Arrange Icons By. Click on Show Desktop Icons to remove the checkmark next to it.		Right-click the desktop and go to View. Click on Show Desktop Icons to remove the checkmark next to it.

Dude, where's my taskbar?

Difficulty:  Easy		Works On:  XP, Vista, Win7
Tools Needed:  None		Risk: Low
This prank has two stages: Moving the taskbar to a different edge of the screen and ... Hiding it from view. Instructions:
XP:		Vista, Win7:
Right-click the taskbar and make sure Lock the Taskbar is not checked. Now left-click an empty area of the taskbar and drag it to the left, right or top edge of the screen and release. Move the cursor to the top edge of the taskbar until the double-ended arrow appears. Left-click and drag downward to reduce the taskbar to nothing. Alternatively, or in addition, you could Right-click the taskbar and choose properties. Click the checkbox next to Auto-hide the taskbar and click OK to exit		Vista and Windows 7 will not allow you to minimize the taskbar, you can only move it and auto-hide it. Right-click the taskbar and make sure Lock the Taskbar is not checked. Now left-click an empty area of the taskbar and drag it to the left, right or top edge of the screen and release. Right-click the taskbar and choose properties. Click the checkbox next to Auto-hide the taskbar.

A picture's worth a good laugh

Difficulty:  Moderate		Works On:  XP, Vista, Win7
Tools Needed:  MSPaint or similar		Risk: Low-medium
A blank desktop is so boring, why not give your victim something to look at...and click on...repeatedly...with no response from their computer. The risk here is that they will assume their computer is frozen and reboot, potentially losing unsaved work. Instructions:
XP, Vista, Win7:
Press the Print Screen key in the top right area of the keyboard. Open MSPaint or other similar program. Paste the screen shot into the program and save as a BMP or JPG file. Set the image you just made as the desktop wallpaper (there are several ways of doing this, pick your favorite). Follow the steps above to hide the desktop icons and taskbar.

Slow and steady

Difficulty:  Easy		Works On:  XP, Vista, Win7
Tools Needed:  MSPaint or similar		Risk: Low-medium
I discovered this one while helping a high school computer instructor troubleshoot a computer that would allow him to type his login, but then the keyboard appeared to stop working. Three known-good keyboards and 20 minutes later... Instructions:
XP:		Vista, Win7:
Open the Accessibility Options control panel. On the Keyboard tab, click the Settings button under the FilterKeys section. Make sure the Ignore quick keystrokes... radio button is enabled and click the Settings button next to it. Use the drop-down under SlowKeys to set how long a key must be held down before the computer will register it. The time ranges from 0 to 20 seconds. Click OK to save your changes.		Open the Ease of Access Center and click on Make the keyboard easier to use. Click on Set up Filter Keys Click the check box to Turn on Filter Keys Click on Set up Repeat Keys and Slow Keys. Use the drop-down under Avoid accidental keystrokes to set how long a key must be held down to register. The time ranges from 0 to 20 seconds. Click OK to save your changes.

I know something you do not...

Difficulty:  Easy		Works On:  XP, Vista, Win7
Tools Needed:  None		Risk: Low
...I am not left handed. Even not many southpaws know about this setting, so it is perfect for pranking. A simple checkbox will trade the left and right-click buttons of any mouse. Note: Some mice will have programmable buttons or other options which provide other opportunities for mischief. Instructions:
XP, Vista, Win7:
Open the Mouse control panel Click the checkbox to Switch primary and secondary buttons. Click OK to save your changes.

Like a record, baby

Difficulty:  Moderate		Works On:  Depends on graphics card
Tools Needed:  None		Risk: Low
There are monitors that can be rotated 90-degrees into 'portrait' mode, perfect for reading documents a page at a time or for playing Pac-Man the way it was meant to be played. Because they exist, graphics card manufacturers include a 'rotate' function in their settings usually with the ability to add a hot-key combination. Only Intel enables these hot-keys by default. Which brings us to the... Instructions:
Intel on-board graphics:		Others:
For a while Dell was exclusively using Intel motherboards with on-board Intel graphics. HP has also used Intel at various points. Note: The computer has to be unlocked with a user logged in. Hold down the Ctrl and Alt keys at the same time and press one of the arrow keys. The arrow points to the side of the monitor you want to be the new top. Ctrl+Alt+Up arrow returns to 0-degree rotation.		You will need to explore the options of the graphics card to see if rotation is possible, assign hot-keys, etc. Look for ATI's CATALYST Control Center, NVIDIA Settings application or... Right-click a blank area of the desktop and choose Properties. Click on the Settings tab. Click the Advanced button and explore.

¡Uno momento! ¡Yo hablo Español!

Difficulty:  Easy-Moderate		Works On:  XP, Vista, Win7
Tools Needed:  None		Risk: Low-moderate
There is a vast range of languages to choose from for this prank. For a subtle change try using a French Canadian keyboard layout to change a few keys. If, however, you belong to the 'Go big or go home' school of thought, change the input language to Russian. Instructions:
XP:		Vista, Win7:
Open the Regional and Language Options control panel. Click the Language tab and then the Details button. Click the Add button to begin. Use the Input language drop-down to select a different language. Some input languages will have a name in parentheses, these languages usually have special characters which will be used when typing (eg. the backwards letters of Cyrillic languages). Use the Keyboard Layout drop-down to changes where certain keys are located. Click OK to add your selection to the list. Use the drop-down under Default Input Language to select your prank. This will ensure that the next time they open a program it will change to the new default. Having multiple languages installed will enable the Language Bar which docks on the taskbar down by the clock by default. You can... Right-click on it and choose Settings to go in and disable it or just hide the taskbar as above.		Open the Regional and Language control panel. Click on the Keyboard and Languages tab and then the Change Keyboards... button Click Add to begin. Expand a Language, then the Keyboard listing and click the checkbox next to your chosen input language. Click OK. Use the drop-down under Default Input Language to select your prank. This will ensure that the next time they open a program it will change to the new default. Having multiple languages installed will enable the Language Bar which docks on the taskbar down by the clock by default. You can... Right-click on it and choose Settings to go in and hide it or just hide the taskbar as above.

Additional ideas:

Put a piece of Scotch tape over the optics of an optical mouse.
Physically swap keys on the keyboard. Be warned, some keyboard keys will not come off easily.

Download Intellimouse and use it to calibrate the mouse incorrectly. The program tells you to move the mouse up, but who does it think it is! Move the mouse in any direction you want.

Download the Sysinternals BSOD screensaver by Mark Russinovich. Unfortunately this has not been updated with Windows 7 load screens.
Use remote access tools to create a ghost in the machine by moving the victims mouse or typing when they type. Takes a fair amount of pre-planning.

DISCLAIMER: Computers are ultimately fickle devices which may or may not take kindly to being the instrument of your amusement. Keep this in mind and choose your victims wisely and with a thought to the consequences of a disaster. Practice responsible pranking and if you do try any of the tricks listed above and they get you in trouble, don't mention my name.