Computers are all around us and oh so vulnerable.  That makes them an easy target for pranks.  We’ll start out with some simple, fairly well known computer pranks and move into more advanced and more creative office pranks involving computers.

Here is a simple one that removes desktop icons but still shows them with a desktop background replacement.  The poor user of the computer can click incessantly on any of the pseudo icons but get no satisfaction.  This prank can be very frustrating in that the mouse and start menu work, proving that the computer is not completely frozen but the icons are completely unresponsive

A few finer points to this prank are that

1) make sure you understand how the print screen key works.  Sometimes you need to hold down the shift or function key to get it to work.

2) make sure to capture the screen when all windows are iconified and your mouse is moved down to the bottom of the screen.

3) make sure when you set the background image, only one image is checked.  Otherwise the backdrop will cycle between a group of images–which will remove your psuedo icons and undermine the prank.

4) what I have shown here is for Windows 7 but can work with other operating systems.  This prank has been around since Windows 95–or earlier.

Good Luck!