Okay, it’s time to blow off some steam and have a little fun with technology and your co-workers. Below are ten harmless pranks you can do for fun; but beware, if you do them in vengeance to your boss or co-worker, your job may not be too secure in the immediate future. Remember, these are meant to be fun jokes for a little stress relief in the office. So, with warnings in place, let’s get started.
- Change the default start page of their browser to something you want. Here’s an idea, use the following URL as gag site. (lastpage.html) This will display a page that says they have reached the end of the internet and they should turn off their computer and go do something)
- Make their desktop icons inert. Take a screen shot of their desktop with all programs closed or minimized. Now save the screen shot in a folder you create somewhere on C: drive. Right click on the desktop and under the “view” option uncheck the “display icons” option. Now right click on the desktop and choose “personalize” from the bottom of the drop down menu. Change the desktop background to the screen shot you just saved. Now it looks just like it did before but none of the icons will work since it’s just a screen shot.
- Change their icons to goofy looking icons. You can download a ton of different icons with a simple Google search. Right click on the icon you want to change and select “properties” then “change icon.” You may have to hit the “F5” key on the keyboard to refresh the desktop.
- Turn their screen upside down. Just press the CTRL + ALT + Down Arrow. Press the CTRL + ALT + Up Arrow to undo it. Use the left and right arrows to rotate the screen ninety degrees. The system will still function as normal, just upside down.
- Change the language in Word by selecting “Review” then “Set Language.” Now everything they open or type in Word will be in another language.
- Set “auto correct” to change words. You can set an auto correct option so that every time they type the word “hello” it is instantly replaced with “up yours” or whatever you would like. Just find the auto-correct option in Word and type in the two words you want to use. You can go back later and delete the auto correct rule that you just created.
- Put a piece of tape on the bottom of their mouse covering the LED light. The mouse will not move on the screen no matter how hard they try.
- Switch the mouse buttons. Go to the mouse properties and switch the mouse from right hand to left hand or vice versa. You can also change the mouse pointer appearance, add mouse trails and so on.
- Change shortcut functions. Right click on the FireFox shortcut on their desktop and choose properties from the drop down menu. In the “target” box replace the text with “%windir%\system32\calc.exe”. The next time they try to open FireFox with this icon it will open calculator instead. Be sure to make a copy of what was in the dialog box first so you can restore it later.
- Add a keyboard or mouse. With the growing popularity of wireless input devices, you can plug in a USB dongle for an additional mouse and keyboard. Since they usually have a range of several meters, you can sit back and move the mouse on occasion or type in an email or document they have open. You can even open or close programs without them being the wiser. Since both keyboards and mice can function at the same time, they may think their computer is haunted.
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