How to Prank a Windows User

As April 1 is rapidly approaching people around the world have been thinking of ways to prank their fellow humans. This prank is not only funny but is a great way to learn about features you may not have known were in Windows PCs. Here's the deal: you schedule a the playing of a video or other media file on all of the computers on your office and everybody, unable to work, starts an impromptu dance party. You can orchestrate this using windows task scheduler and instructing the computer to perform various tasks at various times.

Please vote for this in the prank challenge and the coded creations contest. As a token of my gratitude for your votes (you voted, right?) I wrote a joke for you.

Apple just spent several billion dollars on Beats. It looks like silicone valley is going to be on a borscht diet for the next couple months.

Also: disclaimers! Don't gain access to your friends computers illegally. That's illegal. Which is why it's called illegally. Circular reasoning! For real though, please don't sue me.

Windows task scheduler is a a feature in all windows computers that allows the user to schedule events. For instance, the user can use windows task manager to wake up a computer at a certain time if it is in sleep mode, or to run a program at a certain time. To access windows task manager you simply go to control panel then to system and security then to administrative tools and finally to task scheduler. Once you're there you can schedule a basic task to happen when something else happens. For instance you can make your prank play when they start the computer, or at a specific time. If you want multiple triggers you can click make a task instead of make a basic task. Make a task gives you more options and allows you to have multiple actions for multiple triggers and so on and so forth.

The most important part of this whole prank is making the actual file you want to play. A good way to do this is by making a stop motion video. I make funny (at least I think they are) stop motion shorts with my phone. It's good to watch some Monty Python for reference. Short and funny takes the cake. This is a good place for slapstick humor. An emphasis on the weird is best. Here's some ideas for funny ideas. Famous buildings take off as rockets (or are pulled out of the ground by a giant baby and revealed to have beet roots on the bottom), or maybe put the body of a naked lady on the head of a German soldier (spiky hat version is mandatory) also, maybe if you want to make fun of an Elton John fan you could have a tiny dancer dancing along side ants. Juxtaposition and quick hilarity is key. Once you decide your plan you've got to take the pictures (take one picture, move it, take another picture, move it and so on and so forth). If this seems like useless tedium to you I would recommend just using some stock footage from the Internet. As long as your video is downloadable it will work. As for the finishing of a stop motion video, you will not be able to just play the photographs, you need to find a software to put them together in a movie file. Windows live movie maker works, as does iMovie, as well as a whole host of other similar software. Just decide what you want, import all of your pictures, line them up sequentially and then make them each last 0.2 seconds (or whatever you prefer your frame rate to be). If I notice enough demand in the comments I would be happy to make an instructable about stop motion.

Now is the time to bring it all together. I recommend using a basic task because it's the easiest to work with. Now go through the wizard, find the event you want to schedule the task (a certain time, date or action) set that as the trigger and then go to action and click run a program and choose your file. (You don't need to make a program per se, it just opens any old file) Then lay in wait and allow hilarity to ensue when you see their reactions.

Please don't put anything mean spirited in the videos. We are looking to create a fun environment, not a deprecating prank environment.

If you have any questions put them in the comments and have a great day!