Member Avatar for Dortz

here's a quick little practical joke that you can do to your friend, (or computer illiterate enemy)

close all windows and everything on the screen, so all that is seen is the icons on the desktop. move the mouse off the screen, and hit 'print screen'. open paint, and paste the image, then save it. set the image as the wallpaper, then right-click on the desktop, 'Arrange icons By' and uncheck 'Show Desktop items.'

if you did it right, you shouldn't see any difference. but it just removed his icons from the desktop, leaving the wallpaper you just put there. that looks exactly the same.

don't worry, it's easily fixed the same way it was done, but if done without the subject's knowledge, it can drive them mad, until you walk in and fix thier problem in about two seconds.

I'm never going to forgive that kid...

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Dani AI

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This thread is a good snapshot of the classic, perception-based pranks that circulated around Windows XP-era machines. What started with and the variation noted by are visual illusions rather than malware: they work because the user expects the desktop to behave a certain way. That makes them effective, and also usually easy to reverse when you know what to look for.

A few replies drift into genuinely risky territory — and mention system-file edits, batch-format ideas and service tampering. Those are not harmless jokes. Editing drivers or registry entries, or running destructive scripts, can cause permanent data loss, require OS repair, or produce legal/workplace consequences. Avoid anything that requires admin rights for the sake of a prank.

If you stumble onto a machine that "looks wrong", start with the least-invasive recovery steps: sign out or reboot, restart the shell if possible, and use the normal user-interface settings or the OS restore/backup features rather than diving into registry edits. If audio or drivers stop working, a controlled restart and restoring from a known good backup are the safer options. If -style pointer changes are needed, prefer official driver or OS settings over ad-hoc registry hacks.

If the intent is harmless fun, keep it reversible and educational: use a test/guest account, demo environments, or temporary settings that can be undone without admin intervention. Use the moment to teach about backups, permissions, and why "harmless" changes can still disrupt work. Anything that risks files, bootability, or privacy crosses the line from prank to sabotage.

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Member Avatar for techniner

here's a quick little practical joke that you can do to your friend, (or computer illiterate enemy)

close all windows and everything on the screen, so all that is seen is the icons on the desktop. move the mouse off the screen, and hit 'print screen'. open paint, and paste the image, then save it. set the image as the wallpaper, then right-click on the desktop, 'Arrange icons By' and uncheck 'Show Desktop items.'

if you did it right, you shouldn't see any difference. but it just removed his icons from the desktop, leaving the wallpaper you just put there. that looks exactly the same.

don't worry, it's easily fixed the same way it was done, but if done without the subject's knowledge, it can drive them mad, until you walk in and fix thier problem in about two seconds.

I'm never going to forgive that kid...

um ok... this was done during the 1995 days.....

If you want to get a bit more creative.. hack ascii.sys and switch "Y" and "N"

then run a batch job to format c: when prompted Are You Sure.......

Ok another good one.. change the printing forecolor for all fonts to white...

reverse the X and Y axis for the mouse...

Shall I continue?

Yes I am a cruel person.. but I don't care

Member Avatar for Dortz

i've done the 'all white' one to my buddy... took him an hour to get it straight again... and i've set someone's desktop style to entirely black before... it was an idiot freshman who forgot to log off... he needed to be taught a lesson.

Member Avatar for alc6379

Another funny spin on this is to take a screen shot of how their desktop currently is, windows and all, and make that the desktop background. Then, minimize all their windows, and revel as they click on the background, thinking those are their real windows!

Member Avatar for Seten

A nice joke is to set windows-services:
Windows Audio (XP)
Turn it off(not disable). Until the next restart, he wont hear anythink.

Or in regedit set showlegalnotice to 1 and to LegalNoticeText write:
"Your computer is under the control of E.T."- or somethink like that.
:evil:

Member Avatar for Dortz

" WARNING: The radiation shield on your monitor has failed! Please duck under your desk now and cry for help from your local IT Professional! "

commented: hehehe evil :P +4
Member Avatar for roryt

Please can you explain how to switch the X and Y of the mouse, that really is a great prank!

Member Avatar for Rajnesh

Go to controll Panel and right click mouse icon...to Properties...it is there

Member Avatar for The Dude

Hehe alot of underhandedness in this thread :D

Member Avatar for replyme

Just Press
CTRL+Alt+RIGHTARROW

see what happens

Member Avatar for The Dude

I dont wanna even try :D

What happens?

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