# Harmless practical joke with a user's desktop



## terabytecomputer (Apr 20, 2009)

April 1st has come and gone, so you'll have to wait for next year to do this one......or not.

As you may already know, you can hide all desktop icons pretty easily in Windows XP (Vista too?) by right-clicking the desktop and selecting 'Arrange Icons By', then uncheck 'Show Desktop Icons'.

However, before you do that:
1. Press 'PrtScn' on your keyboard to take a snapshot of the desktop. (Make sure all programs are minimized or closed before doing this). 
2. Next, open your favorite paint program (Paint will do just fine) and paste the image into it (Ctrl-V). 
3. Save the image as whatever file you want, noting the location.
4. Change the desktop wallpaper to the image you just saved.
5. Hide all desktop icons.

What you'll have now is a picture of all icons on the desktop, with the user's original wallpaper, but no icons really visible. When the user starts clicking away on the 'icons', try not to wet yourself laughing when none of the programs work. Be sure to act surprised and spend some time helping them 'troubleshoot'.

Warning! Don't do this on a computer someone needs to use in a hurry unless you're there to restore the icons. I did and the user was pretty upset because he's on a helpdesk and couldn't help the customers. Um.....lesson learned? Prolly not. I'd do it again. It's hilarious.


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## Jack Hackett (Nov 19, 2006)

You've only just found this out, where you been?!??!
this has been around for donkeys years, it was about before we even had colour monitors 
Ah well, enjoy playing catch up with the rest of the world


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## Knotbored (Jun 5, 2004)

Its actually a goood free security method to secure a PC while you go out of town. The desktop seems to be locked up, and anyone snooping that doesn't know the trick will restart the computer then give up when nothing seems to work.


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## terabytecomputer (Apr 20, 2009)

Jack Hackett said:


> You've only just found this out, where you been?!??!


I've been too busy to hang out on forums. 

No, I didn't just find this out. I've known it a long time, just haven't shared it with anyone. Glad to see I'm not the only dinosaur out there.


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## daniel_b2380 (Jan 31, 2003)

and another one:
http://forums.techguy.org/all-other-software/815144-solved-april-fools-joke-gone.html


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## gatewaypc700 (Oct 17, 2008)

LOL
I did this a few years ago, to my friends desktop.
At the time I was 12...
I created a folder called "sexy ladies"
He went nuts trying to delete it, restarting his computer and everything!
I think that it may still be there xD
James


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## Wallenberg (Jan 23, 2006)

I'd be real careful before playing any pranks - even if you think they are "harmless".

I know one guy who got played and reformatted his hard drive and re-installed Windows because he thought his PC had been attacked by a virus.

He didn't laugh once when he heard how "harmless" the prank was.

I'm sure you mean no harm. I'm just saying you can't tell what can happen.


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## terabytecomputer (Apr 20, 2009)

Thanks Dad. 

Disclaimer (for those who don't know better): You should stick around for the laughs when you prank someone. Then you'll be there to stop them before they do something stupid. 

All better now?


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## midders (Jan 1, 1970)

I once hacked the windows executable of Windows for Workgroups (Yes, that long ago) using a resource compiler and making it impossible to log off nicely. You just got a long series of dialog boxes as below:

Log Off->
- Are you sure? Yes/No/Cancel
- Are you really sure? Yes/No/Cancel
- Are you really, really sure? Yes/No/Cancel
- Are you really, really, really sure? Yes/No/Cancel
- Are you really, really, really, really sure? Yes/No/Cancel
- I don't believe you. Ok button only.

I set it up as a batch file called from autoexec.bat that would rename win.com, move the hacked file into place, run it, then delete the executable and batch file, and restore the original win.com, so that by the time you saw the message the evidence was already deleted 

Sláinte

midders
P.S. and yes, you definitely had to stick around to laugh at the results!


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## terabytecomputer (Apr 20, 2009)

Oh wow, I think Micro$oft stole your code. They call it Vista.

Nice though.


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## Frank4d (Sep 10, 2006)

How about a BSOD screensaver? http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897558.aspx


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## terabytecomputer (Apr 20, 2009)

Yeah, I've seen that one long ago also. I like it.


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## gatewaypc700 (Oct 17, 2008)

That bsod screen saver really scared the **** out of some tech guys when i put it on my grandmas pc b 4 i sent it in.


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## StumpedTechy (Jul 7, 2004)

Oh there are a ton of these "Harmless Pranks" you can play.

The one I like the most is the vbs that you can copy to a PC and remotely run and it will 1) Unmute the audio if its muted 2) set the volume to max and 3) it will make the computer speek anything you type in it.  just imagine the fun there.

I have done this at work with me living in Orlando and freaked out someone stationed in California.


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## daniel_b2380 (Jan 31, 2003)

techy,
i like that one :up:


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## gatewaypc700 (Oct 17, 2008)

LOL!
Hularious!
I wanna try!
!


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## ShadowProwler420 (Jun 21, 2007)

I got a classic prank I pulled on a couple friends this year.

I had a friend call me the day before April Fool's Day asking me if I could stop by and fix her computer (which they had just got back from a local computer repair shop, by the way). Apparently she was able to get sound from any games/programs/etc she had installed on her machine, yet not from any web sources (such as youtube). I told her I couldn't make it over that day, but I could stop by tomorrow (which would be April Fool's Day; and no, I wasn't already hatching the whole thing at that point; in fact, it didn't dawn on me until I had already been over to her place and fixed the issue, and was gonna tell her it was fixed). But I tell her it should really be the repair shop that fixes it, seeing that they had just given it back to her all 'fixed' not a day before. So she calls me back a few hours later and tries telling me the guy at the repair shop had told her it was because they had XP on there, and all the hardware was optimized for use with Vista (the machine came pre-loaded with Vista Home Premium, but the husband wanted to put XP on it), and the problem could only be fixed by reinstalling Vista back on to it! I immediately told her the guy was full of crap....seeing that the OS knew how to route sounds from locally-installed software yet didn't know how to properly route sounds from the web? C'mon!! Anyway, fast forward........

I get over to her place the next day (April Fool's Day) to find out now NO sound at all is working, and proceed to do all my normal troubleshooting rituals for the issue at hand (verify drivers are up to date, uninstall/reinstall the sound device via device manager, etc etc). Finally determine the cause being the audio cable for the speakers being connected to the wrong port! 

So I get it all hooked up right and sound is working again, and go find her to tell her it's all working again. About halfway up the basement stairs, it dawns on me what (holi)day it is, and I hatch up a devious plan (what I failed to mention up to this point is that she thoroughly believed I am/was her own 24/7 tech support contact, and would call me anytime of the day or night (my favorite was one time at 2:30am, when she knew I had to be at school at 7am  ) for help).

I find her and let her know (all straight-faced and everything) I've tried anything and everything in my bag of tricks to fix the issue, but could not get it figured out and proceed to tell her that as odd as it even sounds I was beginning to think there was some validity to the whole "You need to put Vista back on there to fix the issue".

Needless to say she completely bought everything I was telling her, and started getting all bent out of shape and angry at her husband (after all, it was his idea to put XP on it in the first place). Then she sits down and puts her head in her hands and starts getting all depressed because they don't have the money to both take the trip down to Florida and get the computer fixed (and here I am standing there keeping the whole ruse going and not cracking up).

So about 10 minutes later, he walks in from work. She doesn't even let him get the door shut before laying into him about the computer. The whole time I'm standing behind her (still maintaining the ruse), nodding my head and agreeing with everything she's telling him. He doesn't believe any of it and says that maybe both of us working together can figure it out. So I follow him down to the room where the comp is and he starts pulling the tower out to mess with the cabling and I'm like "Dude! What are you doing? I already tried all that!" He ignored me and kept doing his thing, and I said "Dude...stop!! If you keep messing with stuff back there, you might mess it up worse than it was before I fixed it and ruin the joke! Ahhh, hell.....I just ruined the joke myself! April ****ing Fools, Dude!"

No sooner did I get that out did I feel someone slug me on my shoulder from the back. I turn around to see his wife. And man, if looks could kill.....I either would have been on the way to ICU or the morgue!  

I sooooo had her going, though! I thought about letting her off the hook when she was getting all depressed about the money situation, but I just couldn't let her get away that easily for such a trivial issue.

I got to her so good with it, that when I went back over to hang out a few days later, she had to tell pretty much her entire family (mother, sisters, cousins, aunt, etc) about the whole thing!

I'll tell ya, though.........I haven't had a tech support call from her since!! 

Morale of the story: Don't be abusing a friendship and calling a friend for tech support in the middle of the night when he has to be at school early in the morning!! *WEG*


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## gyrgrls (Nov 22, 2004)

The "fake DOS prompt" was a good one back in the old days.
I had some hilarious ones, like "Press any key to format C:\>"


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## deazy86 (Jan 14, 2009)

That was great! But the one posted by terabytecomputer is the best! I am gonna try it!


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## deandude1196 (Feb 16, 2009)

gatewaypc700 said:


> That bsod screen saver really scared the **** out of some tech guys when i put it on my grandmas pc b 4 i sent it in.


 

Fun Fun and Fun


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## deandude1196 (Feb 16, 2009)

Knotbored said:


> Its actually a goood free security method to secure a PC while you go out of town. The desktop seems to be locked up, and anyone snooping that doesn't know the trick will restart the computer then give up when nothing seems to work.


Good thought. I've never thought of it that way. ...


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## meamit1980 (Jun 3, 2009)

stumped can you pls provide the vbs


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## meamit1980 (Jun 3, 2009)

stumped can you pls provide the vbs


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## RebeccaVR (Jun 3, 2009)

I am so going to try this! Brilliant!


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