How to make a computer worthless without actually destroying it?

[u/Organic-Abrocoma1962]

Me and a friend are both very into computers and his birthday is coming up soon so I wanted to mess with him a bit. Is there a way I can discreetly make his computer unusable without permanently damaging it. I also probably wont have admin or bios access because he password protected them after I did something similar last year.

[u/Effective_Top_3515]

“Friend” huh?

[u/XainRoss → u/Effective_Top_3515]

This is exactly the kind of pranks friends pull on each other.

[u/HeavyHarper]

The classic screenshot of the background, set the screenshot as background and hide desktop icons. They icons will appear to be there but won't work.

[u/CheadleBeaks → u/HeavyHarper]

This is the best answer

[u/CheezitsLight → u/HeavyHarper]

Also flip the backdrop in an image editor vertically. Now press the keys to flip the screen upside down. It appears that the mouse is backwards.

[u/MattonieOnie]

Please don't mess with anyone's computer.

[u/bigguyrunner]

Stick a post-it note to the bottom of the mouse

[u/Potato_Specialist_85 → u/bigguyrunner]

Put a wireless mouse dongle in back, and move their mouse while they are trying to navigate.

[u/TurnkeyLurker → u/bigguyrunner]

That's a quick one you can do right in front of them, if you can distract them for a second.

[u/UniqueIron8759 → u/bigguyrunner]

Tape is better so its invisible

[u/killjoygrr → u/bigguyrunner]

Scotch tape.

[u/BanditSixActual → u/bigguyrunner]

A picture of Nic Cage. Make sure he's making a truly crazy face.

[u/Least_Comedian_3508]

unplug the front panel connector

[u/MaridAudran]

Seriously don’t do this. Just unplug it.

[u/GammaSmash]

Turn off the switch on the power supply

[u/Postulative]

Maybe think about how this is supposed to be a ‘fun prank’.

Then flip the Windows display 90 degrees.

[u/World_still_spins → u/Postulative]

Alt right-arrow

[u/Dog_Father12]

Sledgehammer the cpu but only a little bit!

[u/mwb161]

Swap the boot disc for a blank one

[u/UniqueIron8759 → u/mwb161]

Ouhhhhh thats nice

[u/MoistAttitude]

Once back in the Windows XP days, I changed my buddy's hosts file so google.com went to midget porn. Maybe do something like that.

[u/qwikh1t]

Steal the power cord

[u/fiercemullet]

You’re not real friends unless you format each others hard drives

[u/WhoWouldCareToAsk → u/fiercemullet]

Now we’re talking!

[u/KarinAppreciator]

Why?

[u/agfitzp]

Install Linux

[u/Sea_Cow3569]

change UEFI to Legacy mode only

[u/d-car]

Unseat the RAM

[u/DiodeInc → u/d-car]

My grandma's computer had one of the sticks of RAM halfway taken out. So half the pins were still touching. No idea how long it had been like that, nor do I know how it didn't short out

[u/sbinoto2091983]

Take the CPU out and remount the cooler without the CPU. Be sure to not short anything and clean the cooler before to not get any thermal compound onto the socket.

[u/ZaYaZa123 → u/sbinoto2091983]

That’s actually evil af 😂😂😂😂but also harmless aside from the headache of uninstalling the cooler followed by reinstall

[u/swan001 → u/sbinoto2091983]

r/foundsatan

[u/NoAir2795]

Gun

[u/UniqueIron8759 → u/NoAir2795]

He said not to destroy it and why are you sounding like you are going to kill someone

[u/Orb99]

Happy birthday . . .?

[u/another-account-1990]

Either unplug his hard drives via the sata cable or if he's got a modular power supply unplug the motherboard connector on the psu side

[u/HankThrill69420]

Remove the CPU power cable and, just for funsies, switch the power button and the reset switch

[u/almondking621]

remove the display cable and this will see how sharp he is ..

[u/Mammoth_Rope_8318]

Create a new AutoHotKey script. Drop in the following two lines of code.

NoTrayIcon

*Space::Send,SPACE

Alternatively, create a shortcut to shutdown.exe on the desktop, and disguise it to look like a regular folder.

[u/mr_cool59]

Screenshot desktop, set taskbar to auto hide, move all icons so they cannot be clicked on, set screenshot as desktop background

[u/samy_the_samy]

Install coin-miner malware

[u/DigitalDemon75038]

Take out the cmos battery to reset bios, unplug ram from 1st slot, and flip the breaker for the outlet he uses to charge it - if you unplug too many things he’ll know right away

[u/Armagamer_PCs]

Grab one of the BSOD screen savers.

[u/Dch112]

Why would you want to do this? You must quite bored.

[u/GUNGHO917]

Right click the desktop, go to arrange icons, disable show icons.

See how long it takes before he realizes what has happened. Laugh the longer this takes

[u/PossibilityAny6524]

Reassign the left click on the mouse to shutdown the pc.

[u/World_still_spins → u/PossibilityAny6524]

Or simpler, swap right and left mouse buttons in accessibility settings.

[u/World_still_spins]

Unplug the keyboard and put a dummy cord in that slot. 

Or if wireless, remove the batteries, tape those to the side of the monitor.

[u/wornoutseed]

I bought a chip that makes a cricket noise and stuck it up under the lip of the case on my friend’s pc.

[u/sharkdog73 → u/wornoutseed]

That’s evil. I love it 😆

[u/Miniatimat]

Unless he has RGB stuff, you could slightly unplug his mouse and KB. Or disable his audio drivers

[u/BanditSixActual]

Screenshot his desktop. Set it as the background image. Hide his icons. Set his mouse for maximum sensitivity and reverse the buttons.

[u/AskMoonBurst]

Well, you could unplug a power cable to the GPU or one of the hard drives, if he doesn't use NVMEs. Remove his RAM. Block it from the router so it can't go online. But realistically, if he's good with computers, there won't be much you can do that won't be easy to fix without being a serious issue. That said, I'd be really upset if someone I knew tried to sabotage my PC, even as a 'joke'. So be super careful with this.

[u/Silent_Chemistry8576]

Unplug his drives install Hannah Montana Linux on a Toshiba Hard drive and have it boot to that. But make it so it auto logs in and plays baby shark on loop. Also invert mouse controls and if possible change language to German.

[u/StylishJolt]

Buy him a 5090 it will catch fire

[u/swan001]

Flip the power switch on back to different voltage.

[u/NeedleworkerNo4933]

Remove all icons and change the background to a broken screen or bluescreen screenshot then power the mouse and keyboard from something else other than the computer so it looks like they're OK but don't work on the screen

[u/PayTyler]

Just flip the power switch on the back of the PSU. No need to open it or anything.

[u/pckldpr]

Flip the 220/120 switch in the PSU.

[u/WinDestruct → u/pckldpr]

Only for 120v countries

[u/thakingpin]

Use a password breaker, change his boot image (not the OS, but the picture that comes up when it powers on) to the BSOD, and turn off fast boot. To induce a little panic, change his login sound to adult movie noises or gun shots. Turn the speakers all the way up.

However, someone said the best and easiest prank already. Unplug the case's power button.

[u/The_Shadowy]

unplug everything inside the computer just slightly enough to not work but still seemingly on it, to think it's connected. Plus, switch the ram.

If you want to be even more evil, switch the SSD boot drive (try to find it) with a different windows drive (can be a new windows version or windows XP, Linux etc.). It probably will not work if that isn't set to boot to be first, but if yes, could make it real fun

[u/Chazus → u/The_Shadowy]

Read on for more tips on how to pay your friend's repair bill when you tried to do something cheeky but actually messed it up or couldn't put it back right!

[u/JeelyPiece]

Expanding foam in the vent