Are you ready to pull up a couple of pranks on your friends, colleagues or family members? Try getting on their PC and set up one (or more!) of these pranks. They're all totally harmless and will give you a laugh.

Some of these pratical jokes can be a little bit corny, others will drive the user crazy. Do you have any additional pranks that you would like to share?

Top 10 PC Pranks

1. Unclick-able desktop

   Allright, this one is really old but sometimes users will not know what happened. Just make a screenshot of your desktop by pressing "Print Screen" on your keyboard (sometimes shown as "Print Scrn"). Now go to Paint and Paste (Ctrl+V). You should now have an image of your desktop. Save the image to your PC (not on your desktop) and save it as BMP. You'll now have the file like this: C:/Desktop.bmp.
   Next, right-click on your desktop and select Properties. Select the tab Desktop and click Browse... Navigate to your screenshot and press OK to set it as your background. You're almost done now.
   Right-click your desktop again and navigate to "Arrange icons by" and uncheck "Show desktop icons". There you have it, the icons on the desktop can not be clicked anymore.

2. Desktop upside down

   Do you still have the image from the previous prank? Open it again in Paint. Now rotate the image (Ctrl+R) and set it to 180 degrees. Save to file again as BMP, like this: C:/Potksed.bmp.
   Now set the image again as your background and there you have it: Your desktop is turned upside down. But wait: The taskbar at the bottom is still there? Right-click on it and select Properties. On the Taskbar tab, select the Auto-hide the taskbar check box. Press OK to save the changes.

3. Strange sounds

   A PC has some build-in audio files that are played when doing something. For example, when you start navigating you'll hear a "click" and when you disconnect a USB device you'll hear another sound. Change these sounds into something that you want!
   First, search on the internet for the correct audio file (Example: Farts, Screams etc.). If the file is in MP3 format, convert them to WAV. Save the WAV files to C:/WINDOWS/Media/.
   Now go to Start > Settings > Control Panel and double click on "Sounds and Audio Devices". Go to the tab Sounds and look for the correct sound in the list that you want to change. Change it by selecting the event and clicking on Browse... Navigate and select your new WAV file and press OK to save.
   Be creative and your prank will succeed, just like this startup sound prank.

4. Boogieman

   Normally, WAV files are played with Windows Media Player. In this joke, you don't want this to happen. We'll write a VBS-file (Visual Basic) in this joke that will run audio files that you can't see.
   Open up Notepad and copy the following code:
   strSoundFile = "C:\WINDOWS\Media\[YOURSOUNDFILE].wav"
Set objShell = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
strCommand = "sndrec32 /play /close" & chr(34) & strSoundFile & chr(34)
objShell.Run strCommand, 0, False
   Change the [YOURSOUNDFILE] to the sound file you want to play. Now save the file to your harddisk, like this: C:/Sound.vbs. Double-click the VBS file to try if it works.
   You probably want to play these files automaticly. You can do this by creating tasks. Go to Start > All programs > Accessories > System Tools > Scheduled Tasks. A new window will appear. Double click on "Add scheduled task" and follow the instructions. Select your VBS file when the wizard asks if you want to open a software application. You want your PC to scream at 4 AM?

5. Shortcuts changed

   Pretty corny joke, but still one that can drive other users insane. Shortcuts are nothing more than files pointing to other files that they should startup. For example, if you have a Windows Media Player shortcut on your desktop, right click on the shortcut and select Properties. The Target will be something like:C:/Program Files/Windows Media Player/wmplayer.exe. Change this line into another one, like C:/Program Files/MSN Messenger/msnmsgr.exe for MSN Messenger. Press OK to save the changes.
   Probably the icon will have changed too. No problem about that, you can change that. Right-click the shortcut and select Properties. Choose the Shortcut tab. Click on the Change Icon button and navigate to your previous program, such as Windows Media Player. Click "Open" to select the file and press OK to save.

6. Format C:

   Formatting is what users are very afraid of. Go to RJLSoftware and download FakeFormat. The title is self-explaining: It'll look like as if you're formatting your PC. Additionally, the creators from this program disallow the functionality of shutting down. Double trouble!

7. "The Finger"

   And while you're still at RJLSoftware don't forget to download The Finger. This little program will change your cursor into another finger and you'll already have guessed which one it is. Make sure you check the command line options. Place the EXE file in de startup folder of your PC and wait untill other users find out.

8. Haunted DVD-/CD-Player

   Software can have control over hardware. If you used Nero, you'll probably noticed that, when you're done coping a CD / DVD, the CD / DVD will be ejected automaticly. Why not make use of this function? Go to cd-eject-tool.com and download the program. The specialty about this program, is that you can create shortcuts that directly drive the program. Create a shortcut that opens the CD / DVD drive and put it in the scheduele and wait for your victim.

9. Melting Desktop

   Go to Soft4fun and download the "ScreenSmelter". When you run this program, it'll look like as if the desktop is melting in front of your nose. Make it a task and nobody will know what happened. Except for you.

10. Fatal Error

    What can I say, an image (or movie) tells us more than 1000 words. Watch this movie on how to create a fake fatal error message that you can customize.

Good luck setting up these pranks!

Interested in this topic? You might enjoy another article I've written called

• Experimenting with the element() CSS function
• Nostalgia: Dragging the Windows XP error dialog
• jQuery DJ Hero - CSS3 and jQuery fun
• Planet Collision: Free November 2009 Calendar Wallpaper
• jCharacterfall - A small, addictive jQuery game

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Phil - Nice pranks   2007-12-02 22:43:43 RJL Software are awesome! Have you seen Clippy? http://www.rjlsoftware.com/software/entertainment/clippy/default.shtml I can't wait to do this to someone! Reply | Quote

Gaz - Good list!   2007-12-04 18:31:26 This is my all time favorite. The "Blue screen of death followed by re-boot" screensaver. Available for free download from Microsoft themselves! http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Utilities/BlueScreen.mspx The best thing is, when it's active, it simulates the fatal error and re-boot based on your system installed, and moving the mouse won't stop it, only a tap on the keyboard will. Classic. Reply | Quote

Md - Mr   2008-02-05 06:27:45 I love to tease my friends Reply | Quote

Aybo - Nice pranks   2007-12-30 02:52:12 I love doing this: Stick a tape under the mouse (works best with a ball mouse, you can use masking tape for an optical mouse), and watch the person going under the table to check the mouse cable Reply | Quote

john - want to make u a f   2008-01-22 12:21:53 hello how are u? my name is john i am from nigeria i will like to know u much more so if u are intrested to make me a friend u can on so mail me back on my mail box jh_willy@yahoo.com nice to meet u thank"s hopeing to hear from u soon Reply | Quote

Hi   2009-12-25 21:03:55 If it's a ball mouse, then a less obvious way to do it is to: 1. Remove the ball 2. Tape the thing that senses the balls movement (they are cylindrical and spin) 3. Put the ball back in and enjoy =] Reply | Quote

James - Commander   2008-06-26 22:45:14 Why not take a picture of the view behind the computer screen and make it the background? Neat! Reply | Quote

saad - how????   2008-07-12 03:04:42 i want to now how to creat a shortcut to format,delete a harddesk and many thing if you can answer me as soon as possible pls and thank you. Reply | Quote

ranjan - boogieman   2008-10-24 07:06:57 strSoundFile = "C:\WINDOWS\Media\my.wav" Set objShell = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell" strCommand = "sndrec32 /play /close" & chr(34) & strSoundFile & chr(34) objShell.Run strCommand, 0, False this is my sound.vbs file placed in c: & also i save my.wav in C:\WINDOWS\Media\ but when i click vbs file open diaogue window appears for wav file plz hep me Reply | Quote

Dave   2008-12-19 13:28:43 I have the same issue with the sound prank that it brings the windows dialog box. any ideas Reply | Quote

Joe   2009-05-12 21:36:01 This is my favorite, it will make the computer "speak" whatever you put in quotes: Dim oVo Set oVo = Wscript.CreateObject("SAPI.SpVoice" oVo.speak "Hello" Reply | Quote

Cody   2009-11-13 20:08:03 I entered strSoundFile = "C:\WINDOWS\Media\[YOURSOUNDFILE].wav" Set objShell = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell" strCommand = "sndrec32 /play /close" & chr(34) & strSoundFile & chr(34) objShell.Run strCommand, 0, False and saved with my sound file but it tells me "C:\Sound.vbs is not a valid Win32 application" pls help me Reply | Quote

Shadowvi   2010-08-25 18:47:12 Here is another prank that works sometimes ( not on all pc's) You hold the button Ctrl and Alt at the same time you press an arrow key, this would flip the hole screen, if you want to fix it do the same butwith the up arrow. Reply | Quote

Charles - Mouse Buttons/CD Tray/CaPs   2010-09-07 03:37:07 A neat little Code: VBScript is better than "Haunted DVD-/CD-Player". This one opens and shuts the CD player in a loop. Code: Set oWMP = CreateObject("WMPlayer.OCX.7" ) Set colCDROMs = oWMP.cdromCollection if colCDROMs.Count >= 1 then do For i = 0 to colCDROMs.Count - 1 colCDROMs.Item(i).Eject Next ' cdrom For i = 0 to colCDROMs.Count - 1 colCDROMs.Item(i).Eject Next ' cdrom loop end if This one turns caps lock on and off repeatedly. Its a Code: VBS Code: Set PressCaps =wscript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell" do wscript.sleep 50 PressCaps.sendkeys "{CAPSLOCK}" loop This is a BATCH file that swaps the mouse buttons. Code: @echo off Rundll32 user32,SwapMouseButton rundll32 keyboard,disable For VBScripts, open notepad and save as {filename}.vbs and switch the filetype to "all files". For BATCH do the same thing except save it as {filename}.bat Reply | Quote

Charles - About the random 'wink'   2010-09-07 03:43:42 Sorry about the random 'wink' in the middle of the code. Where that wink is, there should be a closing parenthesis ~)~. That is, without the ~. Note to the developer of this website... Emotions should ALWAYS be disabled in [ code ] blocks. Reply | Quote

Anonymous   2010-09-22 15:21:24 soft4fun closed... aww.... Reply | Quote

Anonymous   2011-01-13 21:25:12 wah! so sad!!!!! Reply | Quote

Anonymous   2011-05-17 22:14:47 Unable to get this to work in windows 7 64 bit strSoundFile = "C:\WINDOWS\Media\[Halloween.wav]" Set objShell = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell" strCommand = "sndrec32 /play /close" & chr(34) & strSoundFile & chr(34) ObjShell.run strCommand, 0, false Any one got any ideas? Reply | Quote

internet marketing   2011-07-13 10:17:02 Some great ideas to have some fun with. Reply | Quote

Elise - Keyboard Barks   2011-09-13 11:16:35 Hey, does anyone know how to make the keyboard keys make sounds? I've seen the typewriter, I'm looking for dog barks. In NCIS (movie) I saw a prank where whenever you press a key, a different dog bark comes out. Wonder if there is a way to make that happen Reply | Quote

RICHA SHARMA - AWESUM BLOG..!!   2011-10-25 17:38:27 VISIT rahuulkr.blogspot.com ..!! its awesum !! Reply | Quote

RICHA SHARMA - AWESUM BLOG..!!   2011-10-25 17:38:44 Ajax request failed. Reply | Quote

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