April Fool – Computer Pranks

Incorrect
If the victim uses Microsoft Word, go into the victim’s computer and change the auto-correct feature so it misspells common words. Just open Word, choose “AutoCorrect Options” from the Tools menu, and have it replace common words like “the” and “and” with wacky words like “eggplant” or “Uranus.” Be creative.

Dark Side
On most computer monitors, if you turn the brightness control all the way up and the contrast all the way down, the screen will appear to be blank. Do this to your victim and they will drive themselves crazy trying to “fix” their “broken” monitor.

Lost Buttons
Go to Start->Settings->Control Panel and find the option for your Mouse. On the Buttons tab, change the buttons configuration to switch the primary and secondary buttons of the mouse. Now when the victim clicks with the mouse, nothing will work as expected.

Cursed Cursors
This idea is great for playing a prank on your co-worker in an adjoining cubicle. Plug an extra mouse into one of your victim's spare USB ports and snake the wire back into your cubicle. When the victim is working away, give the spare mouse an occasional small nudge. (This is especially funny if your victim is actually trying to use the mouse at the time.) Submitted by Dodger

Away From Home
Change the victim’s homepage to something unexpected. Open their browser and choose Tools->Options and enter the URL for a new page.

Secret Message
Change their Screen Saver to the “Marquee” setting. Go to Start->Settings->Control Panel->Display and choose the Screen Saver tab. Then select “Marquee” from the drop down list. Click “Settings” and enter the message of your choice. Then set the “Wait” time to 1 minute.

Mouse Trap
Take a Post-It note and place it over the eye of the victim’s optical mouse. When the victim tries to use his or her computer, the cursor won’t move. Be sure to write “April Fools!” on the note! (Note if they have a standard mouse, you can perform the same trick by taping a piece of paper over the ball underneath the mouse.)

White Out
Sneak onto your victim’s computer and change their default font color to white. This will cause momentary confusion as their writing will suddenly be invisible.

Disappearing Desktop
First, take a screen shot of the victim’s desktop (press the “Print Screen” button). Then open up a Paint program and press “Paste.” Save the image in bitmap format and quit Paint. Set this image to be the Desktop background image (right-click on the desktop, choose Properties, click the “Display” tab, press the “Browse” button, find your image, hit “Open,” then “OK”). Finally, hide all the desktop icons (right-click on the desktop, choose “Arrange Icons By,” then unclick “Show Desktop Items.” Now their desktop will look normal, but when they try to click on the icons nothing will happen!

Crawling Mouse
Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Mouse > Pointer Options, and change the mouse pointer to the slowest speed. If your victim isn’t very computer-savvy, and doesn’t know about this setting, they won’t understand why their cursor is suddenly moving slower than a snail!