10 Great Tech Pranks for April 1st

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April Fools’ means mischief. But what if you’re stuck in front of a computer all day? There are plenty of tech-centric pranks to pull on your coworkers or friends.

Language Settings

I once had an old Nokia cell phone, and I knew the menus by heart – which came in handy when a friend changed my language settings to Arabic. With all the menu options moving from right to left, it took me more than a few hours of screwing around to change the settings back.

You can pull the same shenanigans on your coworkers. Forget pulling a phone prank, and go for Google instead. When someone leaves a computer unattended, simply go to Google’s home page and click on Preferences. Then choose your poison – leaving a work computer in Klingon might be a good choice. Yiddish is also appealing – or go for Thai and leave the user utterly baffled.

Somehow the language settings are difficult to change back – but that could just be the fact that nothing looks the same in Klingon.

To fix the language back after the prank just click on the "Google.com in English" link below the search box on the main Google page.

TOPICS
Kate Gammon
19 Comments Comment from the forums
  • icepick314
    on first prank, the keyboard switch, try changing the keyboard from standard to Dvorak format...

    it's usually under Regional and Language settings in Windows Vista and 7...

    it's quick and easy and somewhat benign prank as it's very easy to figure out and fix...
    Reply
  • 1. Control Panel > Accessibility Options > Check "Use Filter Keys"
    2. Settings > Check "Beep when keys pressed or accepted"
    3. Enjoy.
    Reply
  • slothy89
    sryjetyjdtyjkdtjhsr1. Control Panel > Accessibility Options > Check "Use Filter Keys"2. Settings > Check "Beep when keys pressed or accepted"3. Enjoy.haha you have to hold each key for a good second before it registers, nice!
    Reply
  • daniel123244
    Just a quick note, i tryed out the keyboard extender. I changed a ton of keys and when i tried to reopen the program it would not start. I tried uninstalling the program and this left half the keys on my keyboard useless. If this happens to you just restart the computer after uninstalling.
    Reply
  • saxplayingcompnerd
    FFS TOMS GET SOME SPAM BLOCKERS GOING
    Reply
  • mayankleoboy1
    optical mouse trick is fun!!
    Reply
  • guardianangel42
    I have Xpadder for my computer so that I can program controls for my Xbox 360 controller to add support for games that don't have it.

    Now before you start back with K/M is superior I just want to explain how the software works... And how you can use the software to prank people.

    Xpadder doesn't add support to the game, it emulates the K/M. This means that I can set my wireless 360 controller, which has a range of 30 feet, to function as the mouse. I can also program any function I want, from CTRL+ALT+Delete to ALT+TAB and anything else out there, so that I can really screw with people's heads.

    I did this a while back actually. I was helping a buddy of mine do a school project by making a video. Xpadder was already running and I just turned on my controller. I subtly moved the right thumbstick, default mouse emulation, and racked in the laughs as my friend shook the mouse, then lifted the mouse, then shook it again in frustration.

    Good times.
    Reply
  • Mark Heath
    I got a 404 when trying to use the link in #4 and I'm pretty sure that wasn't supposed to be an April Fool's joke ;) It looks like you left out the "L" at the end of the link: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/nircmd.html
    Reply
  • One easy one is to close all windows, then press PrtSc (or Shift+PrtScr depending on your PC).. That'll take a screenshot of the desktop. Now, Click Start->Run and type MSPaint, then Ctrl+V the screenshot into Paint. Ctrl+S to save it, save it as C:\desktop.bmp or something.

    Now close paint, rearrange all the icons on the desktop so they were'nt where they used to be, auto-hide the task bar by right-clicking and selecting Properties->AutoHide...

    Now right-click on the background and click personalise (Doze7) or Properties then Background (XP?).. and change the background image to the screenshot.

    Et voila. When the user returns, they'll be clicking on 'icons' on their desktop.. but it's just an image :-) You have to do it to fully appreciate the hilarity.
    Reply
  • JohnnyLucky
    not quite funny enough
    Reply