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Topic: Operating Systems

Ten epic Windows 7 pranks you absolutely must try

Summary: Ready to get your prank on? This isn't your average, run-of-the-mill Windows prank list, so pull up a chair and stay a while! There's plenty to learn here and lots of laughter to be had by you at your victim's expense!

Stephen Chapman

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This is my variation of the age-old prank where you take a screen shot of someone's desktop and set it as their wallpaper. The end result of the steps to follow is a desktop that only half-works: some things can be clicked and interacted with while others can't. Here's what you do:

1 - Open a program or document in windowed mode, then take a screen shot of the desktop by pressing the Print Screen key (or "Print," "PRNT," or some variation thereof).
2 - Open Paint, press CTRL and V to paste your screen shot, then save it to some place like My Documents.
3 - Navigate to where you saved the image, open it, then right-click on it and select "Set as desktop background."
4 - Right-click on a blank section of the taskbar, click "Properties," click the box next to "Auto-hide the taskbar," then click the "Apply" button.
5 - Open a program or document in windowed mode and position it so that it's partially on top of the window that's a part of the wallpaper you have set.
6 - To complete this prank, simply move whichever desktop icons you'd like into a new folder, then place that folder somewhere else temporarily (or just leave it on the desktop, if you'd like).

You're all done! Now, if you don't have the time to do all of that, then you can opt for a much quicker variation by taking a screen shot of the desktop as it is, setting it as a wallpaper, hiding the taskbar, and quickly hiding all the icons by right-clicking on the desktop, hovering over "View," then unchecking "Show desktop icons." Or, an even quicker choice is to hop on the computer and simply hide the taskbar and desktop icons.

[Related Gallery: 20 of the coolest gadgets and must-haves for your office!]

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Topics: Operating Systems, Microsoft, Software, Windows

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  • RE: Ten epic Windows 7 pranks you absolutely must try

    appears that barrel roll does not work using ie9 on win 7 pro computer.
    Must I install google chrome / firefox
    thank you
    TALKIN
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Ten epic Windows 7 pranks you absolutely must try

      @TALKIN Ah, you're right! I guess Google checks the user agent of the browser and scoffs at Microsoft (go figure). It appears to work only with Chrome and Firefox. I will update the gallery to reflect this soon. Thanks for the feedback!

      [b]Update[/b]: It is due to a lack of support for WebGL in IE, which the barrel roll trick utilizes.
      StephenChapman
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Ten epic Windows 7 pranks you absolutely must try

        @StephenChapman I doubt that it is scoffing. It is probably using HTML, JavaScript, or CSS that IE doesn't support.
        grant@...
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Ten epic Windows 7 pranks you absolutely must try

        @grant I should have looked a bit deeper. Indeed, it appears to be a lack of support for WebGL in IE9 (or any other version prior to) which causes it not to work.
        StephenChapman
        Reply Vote

      • doesn't work in Linux

        @StephenChapman I couldn't get it to work on a number of different distributions and with 3 different browsers. Apparently it's a windows0only phenomenon. =(
        pgit
        Reply Vote

  • RE: Ten epic Windows 7 pranks you absolutely must try

    http://www.zdnet.com/tb/1-109286-2194125?

    I have followed ZDTv & ZDNet for a looooong time and I still Love It, Awesome job & thanks for the laughs!
    zinfandale@...
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Ten epic Windows 7 pranks you absolutely must try

      @zinfandale@... Hey, thanks! Always happy to hear from our long-time readers. Glad you enjoyed the gallery!
      StephenChapman
      Reply Vote

  • This is Awesome

    Great article, gave me a few laughs! Thanks
    smu122
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Ten epic Windows 7 pranks you absolutely must try

      @smu122 Thanks for reading! Hopefully, you have a few new tricks up your sleeve now. The upside-down desktop really is so simple, yet incredibly effective. =)
      StephenChapman
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Ten epic Windows 7 pranks you absolutely must try

    Changing the background to the desktop is a fun one I used to do in Windows 3.1.
    grant@...
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Ten epic Windows 7 pranks you absolutely must try

    On the mouse tricks you forgot switching the mouse buttons
    h82loze
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Ten epic Windows 7 pranks you absolutely must try

      @bwillingham@... They changed how to do that in Windows 7, which is what step 11 in "mouse hijinks" now does!
      StephenChapman
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Ten epic Windows 7 pranks you absolutely must try

    omg....this is so fun to do to family members. I supervise a computer sale and service store. My family is always calling me freaking out about their computers. I do this to the ones that keep getting Malware to scare them. Still havent told them....it's a joke......LOL!!! So funny!!!
    Kattarena
    Reply Vote

  • My version

    Add a new shortcut named something like "Advanced desktop 4.0", make it launch that shutdown command, give it an appropriate icon.
    Take a scren shot and flip it 180 degrees. Now hide all shortcuts but the new one. Make that picture the wallpaper, and flip the desktop and hide the taskbar. Now it will look like an ordinary desktop except for that icon - move it on top "itself" on the wallpaper, change it's icon to a transparent one and give it a name consisting of spaces (no visible characters).
    Clicking all other icons will now have no effect, but clicking that one will make the shutdown window appear - upside down! :D
    Natanael_L
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Ten epic Windows 7 pranks you absolutely must try

      @Natanael_L See, now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about, hahaha. Excellent idea! Hope to see more people contribute their own, too. So many excellently evil combinations to choose from!
      StephenChapman
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Ten epic Windows 7 pranks you absolutely must try

        @StephenChapman Childish. Mr Chapman, that is the singularly most thoughtless post I've ever read from you, and you've pushed out some hairy bombs in your time.

        Havent we had enough of LULZ that you think its clever to upset someone, prevent them from working and waste company time and resources undoing them?

        I do love a wind-up, but if anyone touched my work they'd get punched in the testicles for their trouble at the very least. I'd expect the same from any co-worker as well. But perhaps here in the UK, we prefer our jokes to come from our leaders, I dont know...

        Bad show, Mr Chapman. Are you so irresponsible you cant see the wave of misery and lost resources you just caused publishing this idiocy? Granted its all out there, but most people arent inventive enough to try it without being told.

        How about 10 Mac pranks? 10 Linux ones? Oh, my mistake. People who value their computer and/or OS wouldnt touch it with a ****** stick.
        SiO2
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Ten epic Windows 7 pranks you absolutely must try

        @StephenChapman
        Heh heh!

        I'll bet sharing an office with you and Natanael_L is...interesting.

        Yeah, interesting. :)

        Seriously, thanks for the laughs!
        clfitz
        Reply Vote

  • humor lost

    As an IT person who ends up fixing crap like this, I'd have a hard time distinguishing between one of these "tricks" and a generally misfunctioning Windows machine. Fiddle for 15 minutes, then rebuild...
    gdstark13
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Ten epic Windows 7 pranks you absolutely must try

      @gdstark13 Yeah, I see your point. But it's just plain cruel for someone to play one of these pranks on someone and let it escalate all the way to someone in your position before coming clean!
      StephenChapman
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Ten epic Windows 7 pranks you absolutely must try

      @gdstark13 I am also an IT person who has dealt with "crap" like this and it doesn't take me 15 minutes nor rebuild or re-image the machine. I start with making sure certain processes are running and know based on all these tricks what to look for depending on the problem. I see nothing wrong with a little fun, if it is so much trouble maybe you should take a refresher course on troubleshooting or a DST class.
      audidiablo
      Reply Vote
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