How to Pull Off an April Fool's Prank on a Friend's PC

Pranksters who are savvy with computers might want to play this trick on an unsuspecting co-worker or friend. Read on to learn how to pull off an April Fool's prank on a friend's PC.

Instructions

1. Keep an eye on your target. When your friend is away from the computer for at least five minutes, it is time to make your move.

2. Look for open applications on the desktop. If there are no open applications, open one of the folders such as the "Documents" folder.

3. Move the computer mouse arrow down to the extreme bottom right of the screen so you can no longer see the arrow.

4. Take a screen shot of the entire screen by pressing the "Print Screen" button. This button is usually located near the "Delete," "Home" and "End" buttons.

5. Open an image editing program such as Paint or Photoshop.

6. Once the selected program is open, press "Control" and "V" to paste the screen shot into the program.

7. Save the image in a place where you can find it with no problem such as the "My Pictures" folder. Rename the file "Replacement desktop.jpg."

8. Once you have re-saved the image into a folder, close the image program.

9. Close any open programs that running from the main desktop.

10. Press the right click button of your mouse on the desktop. Choose "Properties" from the menu that pops up on your screen.

11. Click on the "Desktop" tab at the top. Click on the "Browse" button half-way down the box.

12. Find the "Replacement desktop" image you saved in the My Pictures folder and open that image.

13. Click the "Apply" button and the screen shot image should now be the background on the computer.

14. Click the "Ok" button to make the "Properties" box disappear.

15. Leave the scene of the prank.

16. The victim will find out soon enough that they cannot interact with any of the programs that appear to be open on the desktop. This will be a source of frustration and confusion for them.

17. After a few minutes of savoring the victory, wander over and see if you can help them with their problem. Have your friend describe the issue to you, then casually change the desktop background to the original background.

18. Reveal your brilliant April Fool's Day prank.