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M$1.00  Funded By Mahalo ? |  March 26, 2009 11:23 PM

I'm a sysadmin, what I.T. related April Fool's prank should I pull?

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Interesting: toofat2serve, williamwaco

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March 26, 2009 11:46 PM | view on twitter
It depends on your work environment. Wired has an article written last year on Top 10 April Fools' Prank.

I had the BlueScreen of Death screensaver (prank no 6) on my computer (so it's harmless in a sense) last year. It made people near my desk confused.
The BSOD is available from (surprisingly) Microsoft TechNet Website
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897558.aspx

Other good one is (possibly harmless too) prank no 8: The Old Screenshot-as-Desktop-Wallpaper Gag
Source(s):
http://www.wired.com/print/entertainment/theweb/news/2008/03/pranks08



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Voted as best: imsoronry, jeffhoard, bbrookin
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March 27, 2009 12:01 AM
I've used the screenshot as background...haha...

It worked far better back in the the days of Windows 98 and 2k because XP will eventually make your start-bar visible again and ruin the prank...

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March 26, 2009 11:31 PM | view on twitter
If you're a sysadmin, you DON'T want to fitz with the computer systems at ALL. I've heard of too many pranks that have turned real ugly.

How about building a tall stack of cardboard boxes that are made to look like servers, carry them around and pretend to drop them in front of important people (like your CEO). Okay... too much?

Smoking monitors using pretend smoke?

Bullet holes/cracks in monitors using those stickers?

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Voted as best: philipy
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March 26, 2009 11:57 PM | view on twitter
There is still time to order the "annoy-a-tron" from Thinkgeek: http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/b278/

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March 27, 2009 12:01 AM | view on twitter
I have to agree with @drmatt about being very, very careful about abusing your powers.

However, if you KNOW you'll get away with it, then set the default homepage for your intranet to http://yougotrickrolled.com/

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Helpful: williamwaco, pirate

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March 27, 2009 06:10 PM
Super idea!

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March 27, 2009 12:04 AM | view on twitter
You could use netsend to issue out the "Pink Slip Virus" on co-workers...

Depending on your video card/drivers, you could go around pressing CTRL-ALT-DOWNARROW on everyone's system to flip their screen upside down...

Or...the one I'm planning. Get a small soundbox and have it play the sound of a cat meowing...just once every 5-10 minutes...place it inside the ceiling tiles...they'll go nuts looking for it.

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March 27, 2009 01:10 AM | view on twitter
Find the coworker with the most cluttered desktop. Take a screen capture, set that as the wallpaper, then grab all the contents of the desktop and put them in a clean folder (this is your backup).

It's a mild prank, and you will get a good laugh out of it. No harm is done, the contents of the desktop are safe.

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Voted as best: pazaq, masontx
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March 27, 2009 02:17 AM
Good idea! Clever, good-natured and (mostly) harmless. But can you get fired for futzing with someone else's computer?

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March 27, 2009 02:30 AM
The outrage is directly proportional to:

1. The time wasted setting up the prank.
2. Whatever damage to company property was incurred.

If you get a prank that takes a minute or two to setup, doesn't destroy data and doesn't really humiliate the target/victim, you should be OK.

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March 27, 2009 05:24 AM | view on twitter
This evil plot could only work some places, but I deploy it thusly. YMMV.

Create a fake email address from human resources, or invent a manager nobody knows about if you don't have an HR. More outrageous the better. Name?

I suggest Craig Lemonjello, pronounced "le mon gel o", btw,

and email the entire company that April 1 is wacky tie day or crazy hat day or something really dumb. Make sure EVERYONE gets it, and kind of imply it's not really recommended as much as mandatory.

Then, come april 1, you can see who in the company will take orders from non existent people, departments or managers.

This is the real trick. This is merely cover that gives you the opportunity to have a laugh and get an easy excuse for having some fun hacking if busted. What the prank really does is allow you to find marks to exploit! Is your boss not only a jerk but a moron? You'll know by his wide, speckled tie! Is the guy in the next cube gullible enough to do your daily menial tasks? Get ready to find out what a ten gallon foam hat can really signify! He'll be neck deep in TPS reports by next week.

oh yah, you probably shouldn't take any of my "advice". But seriously.. don't mess with your job. Mess around AT your job! Put a rubber rat in the fridge or tell your buddy his car is being towed or something.

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Voted as best: mattman4
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March 27, 2009 09:24 PM | view on twitter
Agreed. This is a frightening idea unless you work at a small firm. Some ideas are, change the Userinit key to create an automatic logon - logoff loop. Or maybe change the keyboards to DVORAK. Of course, people are scared to death of popup messages. Play around with the shutdown command.

If you wanted to do something way less problematic, buy some of the gadgets on thinkgeek.com or elsewhere; I've seen one that adds extra keystrokes randomly (plug between keyboard and box) and one that emits this annoying beep randomly that you hide under the desk. ANNOYING.

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