5:45 AM
Manmeet Singh
Have you ever found yourself wanting to play a prank on somebody, but the traditional methods just aren’t available, or aren’t enough? If you’re the kind of guy I am, I bet you did. But again, if you’re anything like I am, you won’t give up so easy. So here’s some of the funniest pranks you can play on your friends, colleagues, even parents or neighbours.
The unclickable icons
If the person you’re playing the prank to isn’t very good with computers, or if he or she isn’t in the mood to get to the bottom of little jokes, this one will be an instant success. Playing it isn’t hard at all.
First, minimize all your windows and create (or drag) a couple icons in it. Be sure you won’t need these icons later. Position them on the desktop, then press the “Print Screen” button. Go to any image editor (MS Paint works just fine), and paste the screenshot from your clipboard (CTRL + V, or Edit -> Paste). Save the image, then delete the icons that you have put on the desktop (again, be sure they’re not very important). Now set the image you saved as a wallpaper. You’ll see the icons just where you left them, but you can’t click, move or delete them.
I’m not sure this works on all Windows versions, but it’s worth giving a shot. Simply enter your Control Panel, open your Mouse Settings, browse it until you find a box that allows you to modify the mouse buttons’ functions. This way the left button will right click and the right button will left click. Confusing, huh? Imagine how confused your victim will be.
The Autocorrect joke
This is as easy as pie, but you have to know the person you’ll be playing the prank on a bit. If he or she uses a text editor (let’s say Microsoft Office), open it, go to the AutoCorrect Options, and make it so that it replaces ordinary words with… anything you like. Here’s the box that should appear in Office 2003:
It’s not too difficult, and you don’t need to know a lot PC operating to do it. Just look in the back of your PC unit, find the mouse and the keyboard and simply switch their places. This way, when a person boots the computer, it will show an error message, telling him that no keyboard is present. But strangely, the wires aren’t ripped out…
(This only works on PS/2 keyboards & mice)
The randomkey joke
This is the first of the two ready-made pranks, that you just need to run. This application types a random key every minute. It’s really annoying when you type a big file. Download the randomkey file here. To disable it, reboot your PC.
The Clippy prank
If you’ve ever used Microsoft Word, then chances are you’ve been annoyed by that clip that keeps appearing. Well, this application is its equivalent in Windows. Run it, and Clippy will sit silently for a minute, then randomly appear and say useless things. You can also personalize it and choose what you want it to say. To close it, simply point your mouse to the top left corner of your screen. Get it
here.
