Top 13+ Scary Halloween Computer Pranks to Share a Laugh

[harlan4096]

How to go trick-or-treating in the digital realm. Cool Halloween computer jokes and pranks to pull.

If you’re a fan of technology and you like Halloween but you’re a bit bored with traditional trick-or-treating, this one is for you. It’s time to take Halloween hauntings to the digital realm. Here are the top scary Halloween computer pranks and tricks to pull on your friends.

Leave the pumpkin carving and handmade costumes to your more DIY-crafty friends and family members. Instead focus on what you can do best, for a change. Go digital trick-or-treating with these fun, quirky and downright scary pranks.

The Best 10 Scary Halloween Computer Pranks

#1. Make the computer change typed words into scary ones

I bet you never considered it from this angle, but the built-in autocorrect feature in Word is a goldmine for practical jokes. You can easily trick your friends with an easy Halloween computer prank with it.

The spelling dictionary employed locally on a computer can be altered to suit the needs of the user. This is used for professional jargon or almost-official words etc.

But in your hands, the tool can become the purveyor of a sinister spin, for fans of scary Halloween computer pranks.

If your friend uses Word often, simply go tamper with their Autocorrect setting if you can access their computer alone.

Go to File / Options and wait for the Word Options window to pop up. Click on Proofing in the sidebar and then on the AutoCorrect Options button.

You will then see a list of words that are immediately replaced with a different form when typed. You can easily add your own desired changes to the list. Just enter the detected form in the ‘Replace’ column and the desired autocorrected form into the ‘With’ column.

Just imagine how it would be like to replace commonly used words like ‘process’ with sinister ones like ‘MURDER’. Or its reversed version, ‘REDRUM’, in a nod to Stephen King’s The Shining.

You can go overboard and replace the most commonly used prepositions with dark twists, too.

Imagine the look on your friend’s face when they’ll discover that anything they’re tying turns against them in a scary Halloween computer prank. Just remember how to undo it after you share a laugh.

#2. Make ghastly un-clickable icons on the desktop

Some of the best scary Halloween computer pranks have been made with the help of this trick. I have seen it first-hand employed in pranks for welcoming a new colleague to the office and so on. You don’t need to use it exclusively for Halloween but you certainly can.

Place creepy icons on you’re the desktop of your victim target.

These can be game icons with their names changed or custom-made ones, depending on how much time you have on your hands.

Simply folders with creepy names are also an option. Just create them right next to whatever icons were already on your friend’s desktop.

Next, take a screenshot of the desktop as it is. Set it then as the desktop background.

After you apply and save the new desktop background, either delete the actual icons you added or, better yet, leave them as they are. At first, the computer’s legit user will try (and succeed) to delete them and then they will frantically try to select them again and not understand why it’s not working. Guaranteed laughs.

#3. Fake Blue Screen of Death (BSOD)

The dreaded BSOD or Blue Screen of Death can become the prompt for one of the funniest scary Halloween computer pranks ever. Probably because of its long history in all Windows versions, the BSOD just sends chills up our spines upon sight. Especially if it appears suddenly, as it tends to, and if we have unsaved work on the device.

Here’s how to give your friend the chills. It will only last until they move the mouse or hit a key, though.

Version a)

Download and install the BSOD screensaver and run it. This screensaver was initially developed by Sysinternals and now it’s owned directly by Microsoft since it bought the Sysinternals company. It made a great office prank ever since it was launched and it makes a cool Halloween computer trick, too.

Version b)

Get a picture of the BSOD (or feel free to use the one above).

Put the picture in the Pictures folder of Windows.

If there are other pictures there, move them somewhere else (don’t delete them, that’s too mean).

Make sure the only image in the folder is the screenshot of the system crash (BSOD).

Go to the screensaver settings in the Control Panel.

Select the Pictures folder as the screensaver.

Apply the changes and set the inactive wait time to a low value (so that the computer enters the screensaver in just 2-3 minutes of inactivity).

Enjoy the look on your friend’s face as they are served this neat Halloween computer trick.

#4. Summon the real BSOD

Is the Halloween computer prank above too tame for you? Do you think the trick is dispelled too easily when your friend moves their mouse?

Then how about you give them the real blue screen of death? Don’t worry, no permanent damage will be done to the computer or its files.

Here’s what to do for a good Halloween computer scare involving the real BSOD.

When you find yourself alone with your friend’s Windows computer on, open a new Notepad file.

Write this in the file: start %0 %0

Save the notepad file using the ‘Save as’ option. Select ‘All Files’ type and then scroll until you can select the .bat extension. Name the file Download manager.bat.

Go to the Program Files folder and create a new folder named ‘Download Manager’. Put the ‘Download manager.bat’ file in it.

Create a new shortcut on the Desktop and set its path to “C:\Program Files\Download Manager\Download manager.bat”. Also, name the shortcut ‘Download manager’.

Go to Properties on the shortcut (by right-clicking) and press on the ‘Change icon’ button. Choose a common icon (or a previously saved one already on the computer).

Double click the icon before your friend comes back to the computer. If they ask, tell them the shortcut lets you download stuff much faster.

For an even nastier twist on this trick (one of the scariest Halloween computer prank ever), place the shortcut on the startup folder. This way the script will launch upon startup and the computer will keep going into a BDOS crash loop. Careful though, this can be hard to get back from! You need to remove the shortcut from the start-up folder using Safe Mode.
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