Since April is the month of jokesters, I thought I’d share some harmless computer pranks with you.  Although these pranks will not permanently disable the computer, it’s possible the recipient may not take kindly to your humorous intentions.  So if somebody gets mad at you, or pummels their computer into a lump of smoking electronics, it’s not my fault.

The point of any good April Fool’s Day prank is to be there to laugh at the victim.  It is also a good idea to be there to undo your mischief.  Don’t meddle with someone’s computer and then go on vacation.  Be a pal, undo what you did and take the deserved retaliation with good humor.

My favorite prank involves nothing more than a little piece of tape and a few seconds of time.  You don’t have to know anything about computers.  Just flip the victim’s mouse over and put the tape over the mouse-ball or the optical sensor (the red light that will try to blind you).  The mouse will feel the same, but the cursor won’t move.

Another mouse trick is to swap the buttons so a right-click is a left-click and visa versa.  To do this, go to the control panel, look for the mouse properties, and have fun.  Depending on which mouse and which drivers are installed, you might be able to swap only the buttons, or you might be able to customize further.

The keyboard, too, can create computer havoc.  Go to regional settings in the control panel and change the keyboard layout to another language or layout.  Be careful though, this could cause problems if your intended victim has a password. 

Is your friend a hunt-and-peck typist?  Carefully pry a few keys off the keyboard and swap them.  For an even better trick, dig out an old keyboard, change all the keys, and swap that one for your friend’s (use some excuse about spilling coffee).

Speaking of creating havoc, there is a program called Remote Havoc that lets you take control of parts of someone else’s computer.  You have to install the program on both computers, but once installed you can do silly things like make the start menu or dialog boxes pop open.  There is a fairly limited free version, but for $1.50 you get to unlock all the devious goodies. 

This next one takes some time to set up, but it’s good.  The first step is to set up the victim’s desktop with a program or two open.  Then take a “snapshot” of the desktop by pressing the Print Screen button.  Open any graphic editor (like MS Paint) and paste your artwork in.  Save your picture as a BMP or JPG file.  Close all programs, including the graphic editor, then open Display Properties, and choose the Desktop tab.  Change the wallpaper to the file you just created.  Voila!  The desktop looks like a few programs are running, but when the victim tries to close the programs, nothing will happen – it’s just a picture.

If you’re really creative, you can do other, more artistic things.  For example, you can create a desktop covered with icons.  Then move the user’s icons to different positions.  It will take a lot of clicks to find the real icons!

Display Properties is also the starting point for another prank.  Go to the appearance tab and play with the color schemes.  If you change the text color to match the toolbars or backgrounds they are on, the text will become invisible.

Because viruses can be dangerous, some may think this is just mean, but here it is anyway.  Go to <www.-123greetings.com> and look through the April Fool’s selections for the Virus card.  Take a look at the demo before you send it and hope your recipient has a good sense of humor.

Send this link to a friend: www.yaromat.com/macos8.  The website makes it look like Windows is being erased and replaced with a Mac operating system.

More downloadable jokes are available at www.eakles.com/pranks.html and you can search for even more on the Internet.  Play computer pranks at your own (and your friend’s) risk.  If your friends tend to overreact or panic, their first reaction might be to turn the computer off, and that could mean losing unsaved data. 

On the other hand, if your pal is more technically minded, these little pranks may be amusing.  Just remember, I am not responsible for reactions, retaliations, or repairs.

Donna Currie owns B.C. Computer, 633 Frontage Rd, Longmont, CO. 80501.  Phone: 303-651-7433, Fax: 425-799-5042, email: donna@computertoyz.com.  Her web site is: www.computertoyz.com.