If working hard at a prank seems like a little too much effort, there are plenty of quick-and-dirty downloads you can hand out like Halloween candy or just run on your own system to confuse your colleagues and family. This collection is so singularly comprehensive, it's almost scary. Special thanks to Dennis Sheridan, our shareware editor, for amassing this priceless collection.
Bad Day: This goodie turns the Windows screen upside down. Just press Esc to return the screen to normal.
Heart Attack: This appears to delete every file on the system--but it's perfectly harmless.
Ize: A pair of realistic eyes watches from your victim's desktop and follows the mouse cursor. You can choose eye color and opt for the bloodshot look, as well as control the eyes' winks and blinks.
Prank: This executable file produces an eager little worker who drags the Windows desktop around until it's in the "correct" place.
Screamer: If you don't press the password key and click OK, the computer will scream holy murder.
Sheep: Put these cute little buggers on a coworker's system, then sit back and watch the fun. (Note: To get rid of them, you'll need to press Ctrl-Alt-Del and select End Task.)
Backpak: This set of five "error messages" is sure to get someone's pulse racing. Choose from gems such as "Hug and Pray Win 95 Error" and "Windows Meltdown in Progress."
Bonus: Here's a little treat for coworkers. It tells them they can see their bonus information, but watch the fun when they try!
Command2: Run this executable as you would a normal program and it simulates a psychotic operating system.
Fun Fax: This simulates receiving a fax--and you're limited only by your imagination. Your colleagues can at last get personal memos from Bill Gates.
Glitch: This program generates four kinds of Windows errors, and you can add your own. Errors vanish with any keystroke or with a click on any button.
Win Error: Create fake error messages in Windows 95--from illegal-operation messages to the infamous blue screen of death.
Wobble: Is this monitor on the blink? Nope ... Wobble's making it, well, wobble, on a scale from jiggling Jello to riding out the Richter scale.
The following fake-outs simulate classic Windows applets, but they operate a bit differently.
FakeCalc: Looks like the Windows calculator, but flashes a "General Protection Fault error" when someone tries to use it.
FakeMine: A Minesweeper impostor that acts like FakeCalc.
FakePad: A "NotePad" that generates strange error messages when you try to use it.
Halloween Desktop Theme: Decorate your desktop for Halloween--add spooky .wav files, headless-horseman wallpaper, and fun cursors and icons.
Horror Desktop Theme: Images and sounds based on famous horror movies.
jeffe.wav: Coming to a theater near you--Windows 95! Hear all the thrills, the action, the danger!
Halloween MIDI: A spookier variation on the theme music from John Carpenter's movie Halloween.
Scary Time: Simple Halloween clock for Windows.
Frightcons: Thirteen original icons. Images range from "Click here or DIE" to a MAD smiley face.
Halloween Witch Screen Saver: A witch flies across the night sky dropping pumpkins as a Halloween banner slides down the screen.
JackOSav Screen Saver: A changing jack-o'-lantern glows on your monitor.
Pumpkin Parade Screen Saver: Pumpkins and jack-o'-lanterns bounce across the screen while witches ride their broomsticks across the moon.
Spooks Screen Saver: Halloween items float on your desktop.
Halloween Wallpaper BMP: This fierce-looking Halloween pumpkin has very sharp teeth.
Hell Pit BMP: See the Devil in his lair.
Wall of Blood & Slime BMP: Wallpaper that looks like a gray wall oozing with blood and slime.
Put some Halloween spirit into your correspondence with these creepy fonts and images.
Graveyard Font Collection: Outlined lettering that looks as if it's been carved in stone. The Graveyard and Tombstone typefaces have different headstone designs.
Halloween TrueType Font: This includes the alphabet as well as dingbats made of traditional Halloween characters such as witches, pumpkins, brooms, moons, and bones.
Pirate Bones TTF Font: A display typeface that is made up of bones.
Warlock TTF Collection: A display typeface that has very tall pointy letters resembling a spiked steel fence you might find around a graveyard. Stone Cutter is an outline version of Warlock that looks as if it were carved in stone.
Halloween TIF: Halloween clip art for flyers, invitations, and greeting cards.
Halloween GIF Pack: Demo pack with .gifs--and some surprise bonuses for the Halloween season.
The ultimate in scares this Halloween is the Procrastination Clock. How else could you get a readout in your system tray of the number of hours you have left on earth? Talk about morbid! It's almost as disturbing as the habit of dressing children as monsters to send them begging door to door.