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  • #1

    Tech Pranks!

    Mods, feel free to move this if you feel it's better suited to one of the tech sub-forums. I figured it might work better here as it doesn't really have to do with customers. So the purpose of this thread is to lay out some of the best pranks you've played on coworkers in regards to computers, tech, etc. We've all been there, so post 'em! I'll start with one I did today.

    Lately I've been sitting next to an obnoxiously loud coworker that we suspect uses a LOT of hand sanitizer to cover up her drinking before work. Again, just an assumption, but WHEW can you smell her from a mile away (this will be important in a second). She was recently sent to "boot camp," where is basically a short one hour get together for agents that "aren't quite cutting it" for one reason or another.

    For her, it was because she royally pissed off a few customers who then happened to take some satisfaction surveys. I felt for her, but...she left her computer unlocked. Here is a list of the things I did:

    - Pulled all of her windows and tools to below the taskbar.
    - Changed her monitor display to be ridiculously low rez huge.
    - Posted a few funny things in the team thread under her name like "I got sent to boot camp because I attempted to sell a customer 5 gallons of hand sanitizer."
    - Opened 20 notepads with the last one saying "I probably should've locked my computer."
    - Locked her computer, but put the wrong name in her sign in and left the caps on.
    - Messed with the brightness and color settings.
    - Adjusted the dual monitors' display to the point they virtually overlapped.
    - Changed the left monitor language to Korean, the right to German.

    Rule #1 of any job that requires you use a computer: ALWAYS lock your computer when you leave.
    You can find me on Backloggery, Facebook, Twitch, Twitter, YouTube
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Quoth gunsage View Post
    Rule #1 of any job that requires you use a computer: ALWAYS lock your computer when you leave.
    We get charged if we leave our desks without locking the computer and the boss spots it. $0.25 each time, but still. Doesn't happen that often.

    And I've seen/done my share of pranks:

    Tape over the mouse ball (for non-optical mice) Hell, masking tape over the optical sensor works too.

    Rotate screen settings by 90 or 180 degrees.

    Invert mouse directions.

    Increase/decrease mouse sensitivity.

    decrease repeat delay on the keyboard and max repeat rate.


    Yes, I've either done all of these, and/or had them done to me. And these are ones that don't need anything else installed.


    Worst I've ever done was back on the old black-and-white Mac days (think SE-30)... I found a startup app that would randomly cause the computer to audibly cough, sniff, sneeze or "ahem." Installed it on my wife's Mac. The fact that I'm still alive tells you that she loves me. ;-)



    Man, I REALLY wish there was a new version of that app for Windows....
    Last edited by Crossbow; 10-20-2011, 01:10 PM.
    "If your day is filled with firefighting, you need to start taking the matches away from the toddlers…” - HM

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    • #3
      A common one I've seen is to take a screenshot of the users screen..remove everything off the desktop, then set the screenshot as the wallpaper.


      A guy I used to work with.. Turned his home computer speakers up all the away, then while he was at work remoted (VNC) into his home computer and started playing random music to scare the crap out of his wife..


      As far as I know, they are still married.
      Just sliding down the razor blade of life.

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      • #4
        Quoth Crossbow View Post
        Rotate screen settings by 90 or 180 degrees.
        I had someone do that to me once. I retaliated by making her Windows color scheme the most obnoxious one I could find--remember Hotdog Stand (red and yellow) from Windows 3.1? Yep, she got hit with that. A final touch...is that I set her WIN.INI to read-only...so she couldn't change it back
        Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines. --Enzo Ferrari

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        • #5
          Three we used to do at my old job were as follows.

          1. Change mouse to left-handed style.
          2. Switch monitors around to right on left, left on right.
          3. Get inside the agent's Outlook and e-mail the department with something ridiculous like "I like to wear women's underwear when I forget to lock my computer. Also, anytime."

          You can find me on Backloggery, Facebook, Twitch, Twitter, YouTube

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          • #6
            A mate of mine once showed me how to change the 'hot spot' (the pixel on a cursor that the computer actually uses for the click) using a hex editor. We made it go from top left to the bottom right on a mate's computer. Sometimes it would click, sometimes it wouldn't.

            He had a frustration.

            Rapscallion

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            • #7
              Quoth Rapscallion View Post
              A mate of mine once showed me how to change the 'hot spot' (the pixel on a cursor that the computer actually uses for the click) using a hex editor. We made it go from top left to the bottom right on a mate's computer. Sometimes it would click, sometimes it wouldn't.

              He had a frustration.

              Rapscallion
              Ok, now THAT'S evil. Me likey!
              "If your day is filled with firefighting, you need to start taking the matches away from the toddlers…” - HM

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              • #8
                Quoth Rapscallion View Post
                A mate of mine once showed me how to change the 'hot spot' (the pixel on a cursor that the computer actually uses for the click) using a hex editor. We made it go from top left to the bottom right on a mate's computer. Sometimes it would click, sometimes it wouldn't.
                I've got a cursor and icon making program that would let me do that too. Deliciously evil.

                Only prank I've ever seen played was someone surreptitiously unplugging the mouse and keyboard from the target computer.
                "Enough expository banter. It's time we fight like men. And ladies. And ladies who dress like men. For Gilgamesh...IT'S MORPHING TIME!"
                - Gilgamesh, Final Fantasy V

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                • #9
                  We used to play pranks on one of the guys in my old department; most were just stuff in his cube, not on the computer, but we did do the tape on the mouse, and also black paper on the scanner (we had those scanners that you often see on cash registers, kinda look like R2-D2); when the scanner is tilted down you can't see it.

                  I often change the desktop picture on my dad's computer to some goofy pic from Cute Overload or somewhere (usually one of those 'so ugly it's cute' kind of animals). Then I leave a few windows up on the screen and wait to see how long it takes him to find it. Sometimes he doesn't comment. And sometimes he doesn't go back on the computer until after I leave.
                  I don't go in for ancient wisdom
                  I don't believe just 'cause ideas are tenacious
                  It means that they're worthy - Tim Minchin, "White Wine in the Sun"

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                  • #10
                    My bar just installed a whole new computer system, which has definite advantages and disadvantages over the old one. One advantage is that the management can access it remotely, as in from home or wherever. Which is great if we need to get changes made quickly, etc.

                    But one thing they can also do, which is a bit freaky, and freaked me out the first time it happened, is remotely cause our cash drawers to open.

                    I about shot my boss when he did that to me yesterday. I'm having enough trouble adjusting to all the new shit, without worrying about ghosts stealing from my drawer!

                    Quoth Kogarashi View Post
                    Only prank I've ever seen played was someone surreptitiously unplugging the mouse and keyboard from the target computer.
                    There is something hilariously funny about a low-tech tech prank, don't ya think?

                    "The Customer Is Always Right...But The Bartender Decides Who Is                     Still A Customer."

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                    • #11
                      Quoth Jester View Post
                      But one thing they can also do, which is a bit freaky, and freaked me out the first time it happened, is remotely cause our cash drawers to open.
                      I'd consider that a security risk. You'd better be damn sure that an trusted employee is standing there when it opens....
                      "If your day is filled with firefighting, you need to start taking the matches away from the toddlers…” - HM

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                      • #12
                        My favorite is still swapping monitor inputs without moving the monitors, so A sees B's screen and vice versa. You get a two-fer when both see the mouse going crazy, but not where they're trying to move/type.
                        The Rich keep getting richer because they keep doing what it was that made them rich. Ditto the Poor.
                        "Hy kan tell dey is schmot qvestions, dey is makink my head hurt."
                        Hoc spatio locantur.

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                        • #13
                          One good one I've seen was remove the batteries from a wireless mouse/keyboard combo. Switch the receivers between two computers, and watch the fun.

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