# The World's Greatest "Reversable" Computer Pranks!! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 16, 2002, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-reversable-computer-pranks/124221 "2002-08-16T17:11:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2002, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-reversable-computer-pranks/124221/21 "2002-08-17T12:34:22Z")
**AHUNTER3** That is so funny. And as fate would have it, this particular individual has an iMAC sitting right next to his PC. Oh life is good. I will come back to this thread monday morning with the results 🆒 . ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2002, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-reversable-computer-pranks/124221/22 "2002-08-17T15:25:20Z")
Open up the mouse and put a piece of tape over one of the wheels inside. The mouse will then move along only one axis, and there is no obvious external signs of tampering. ---
**Author:** ![Winsling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Winsling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winsling)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2002, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-reversable-computer-pranks/124221/23 "2002-08-17T23:04:21Z")
Oooh, computer fun Change his keyboard settings to something exotic. Set his mouse speed to “glaciar”, and his double click speed to “hummingbird” Get a bitmap of the bluescreen of death, and set that as his screen saver Turn up the volume, and set the beep sound to something interesting. You can find a clip of Meg Ryan in the diner from “When Harry Met Sally” pretty easily. Evil- change the bios settings so the computer is unstable. Changing ram access speeds, processor settings, etc. will usually cause the computer to run, but crash much more frequently. Open his case and losen a few connectors. Swap his hard drive with one that has a clean install, set to his configuration. Disconnect his power button. ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2002, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-reversable-computer-pranks/124221/24 "2002-08-17T23:28:31Z")
You could always try [this](http://www.yaromat.com/macos8/index.htm) on for size… ---
**Author:** ![mblackwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@mblackwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mblackwell)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2002, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-reversable-computer-pranks/124221/25 "2002-08-17T23:36:31Z")
How about editing the hosts file to point [www.google.com](http://www.google.com) to a porn site? And, ofcourse, remote control apps like VNC are great. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-reversable-computer-pranks/124221/26 "2002-08-18T00:00:02Z")
Thaaaaaaanks Beagle… good thing I could find my way out of that. That would irritate some people quite a bit I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-reversable-computer-pranks/124221/27 "2002-08-18T00:06:48Z")
> [@](#): > > Evil- change the bios settings so the computer is unstable. Changing ram access speeds, processor settings, etc. will usually cause the computer to run, but crash much more frequently. Very bad idea. Mr Cazzle says you run the risk of destroying the CPU. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-reversable-computer-pranks/124221/28 "2002-08-18T11:32:12Z")
Don’t know if this works on newer computers, but on older ones that actually did boot using autoexec.bat and config.sys (newer computers just have those files for backward compatability). At the end of the autoexec.bat file put in a line that says “autoexec.bat” When the computer is turned on it will reboot and reboot and reboot and reboot. It’ll run the autoexec.bat file in a loop until someone hit’s CTRL Break to get out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-reversable-computer-pranks/124221/29 "2002-08-19T04:18:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cazzle \* > \*\*Very bad idea. Mr Cazzle says you run the risk of destroying the CPU. \*\* I agree, not a good idea to make the computer unstable through BIOS settings. However, you can safely make it run as fast as a 386 by turning off the memory cache. 😃 Plus, there are usually other “safe mode” settings in there that are less than optimal but are there to fall back for diagnostic purposes, though monkeying around with them is not a good idea unless you know what you’re doing. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-reversable-computer-pranks/124221/30 "2002-08-19T08:06:31Z")
Don’t know if this one qualifies, but about a year or so ago a friend sent me an e-mail which asked how hot it was, and asking me to click on a link. When I did, everything on my screen “melted” and ran toward the bottom. To stop it all you had to do was hit the ENTER bar. Anyone remember that one and what it was called? Q ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-reversable-computer-pranks/124221/31 "2002-08-19T17:41:04Z")
I went to the site **beagledave** linked to and do not understand this comment: > [@](#): > > (by **obsidian flutterby** ): > > good thing I could find my way out of that. ?? Do the rest of you folks get something different from a make-believe dialog about uninstalling Windows and preparing to install MacOS 8, with an never-ending sequence at the bottom of the screen about number of files being removed? What’s to find one’s way out of? Are you prevented from clicking the “close window” box? Am I being wooshed here? ---
**Author:** ![Cleophus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@Cleophus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleophus)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-reversable-computer-pranks/124221/33 "2002-08-20T03:41:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AHunter3 \* > \*\* > Do the rest of you folks get something different from a make-believe dialog about uninstalling Windows and preparing to install MacOS 8, with an never-ending sequence at the bottom of the screen about number of files being removed? What’s to find one’s way out of? Are you prevented from clicking the “close window” box? Am I being wooshed here? \*\* After a few seconds of the scrolling text, your browser should go full-screen with an animation of the Mac OS loading, after which your screen should display a standard Mac OS desktop, with draggable icons and usable drop-down menus. In this full-screen mode, the taskbar, nav buttons, and menu bar are inaccessable (Ctrl-Alt-Del still works, as does Alt-F4). You “find” your way out by clicking on the Trash can and clicking the crumpled Windows banner in the window that pops up. This is done with a good deal of CSS and JavaScript, so, depending on your browser and its settings, it may or may not work correctly. (I know it works on Windows versions of IE 5 and newer. It probably won’t work correctly if your browser can’t go to full-screen mode.) I have a platform exchange of my own, but it is very involved. You use a Macintosh emulator set to auto-load on startup. Immediatly after the computer boots, the emulator will boot into a fully functional virtual Mac OS machine. Depending on your mark’s platform zealotry, this could have a good payoff. Please note that this prank is _very_ complex, and requires a significant amount of setup. ---
**Author:** ![milquetoast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@milquetoast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milquetoast)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-reversable-computer-pranks/124221/34 "2002-08-20T12:12:36Z")
I simply went to **File \> Quit** on the Mac desktop, and the full-screen display terminated and I was taken back to the intial IE browser window. I didn’t even bother with the Trash icon. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-reversable-computer-pranks/124221/35 "2002-08-20T12:51:29Z")
I just went to **file \> Quit** as well and was brought right back to my explorer… :shrugs: As for the efficacy of this thread, I totally sabotaged said assholes computer with a completely reversable prank **AHunter3** provided. He thought his machine was completely **FUBAR** and I got to watch the poor bastard go home to telecommute because he thought his machine was turned into a MAC. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Cleophus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@Cleophus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleophus)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-reversable-computer-pranks/124221/36 "2002-08-20T18:37:20Z")
> [@](#): > > just went to file \> Quit as well and was brought right back to my explorer… :shrugs: It’s been a while since I screwed around with that site, didn’t remember File|Quit. Oh well. ---
**Author:** ![stargazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@stargazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stargazer)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-reversable-computer-pranks/124221/37 "2002-08-20T20:52:19Z")
A good one we did in college: when someone was writing a paper in Word, go through and change the font color to the background color. It looks like everything’s been erased, and it’s quite amusing to watch the person freak out. It’s even better if it’s something they’ve been working on for a long time, can’t replace, etc. It’ll work in Excel, too. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-reversable-computer-pranks/124221/38 "2002-08-20T21:34:34Z")
Hmmph!! I never got the MacOS booting. The text scrolled up to the bottom where it says “Loading MacOS (this will take a moment)” then that was it, except for a never-ending report of the number of files removed from C:\ down at the lower left. I let it run for awhile but gave up somewhere in the vicinity of 490,000 files removed. Maybe you have to run it from a PC? Or from, I dunno, maybe Internet Explorer or something? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-reversable-computer-pranks/124221/39 "2002-08-20T23:12:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by drachillix \* > \*\*I always enjoyed turning the MS word autocorrect on and setting a few custom dictionary items so that semi-common words like are converted to: > > “Please help me, I’m trapped in my computer! Send help to 255.138.23.126, port 25 right now!” > > For the paranoid: > “You think we can’t see what you’re doing?” > “Why did you do that?” > “We are watching you right now you know” > “MUAHAHAH, FOOL!” > > For a soft porno version: > “Ooh I love the way you stroke the keys” > “Its nice but you don’t have to be so gentle” > “Show me your “burst transfer rate” big boy!” > “You know you want to access all my ports, and I hope you will” \*\* I’ve done this one before, but I made my changes subtle. For example _with_ becomes _when_, _for_ becomes _to_, _the_ becomes _them_ and periods become commas. The person gets done with the document and wonders what the hell is wrong with him/her as to why he/she consistantly made so many freakin typos. Happy ---
**Author:** ![Cleophus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@Cleophus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleophus)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-reversable-computer-pranks/124221/40 "2002-08-21T00:56:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AHunter3 \* > \*\* > Maybe you have to run it from a PC? Or from, I dunno, maybe Internet Explorer or something? \*\* Recently, I ran it on my Mac, using IE 5.2. Did everything but go full screen, but I can’t go full screen anyway. You’re probably right, in that it’s designed for a specific browser. Try to find a Windows machine with IE to use it, it’s really neat. Draggable icons and windows, a game or two. The guy who made it did a great job. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-greatest-reversable-computer-pranks/124221.md?page=1)