How to Create a Fake and Harmless Virus

If you're a prankster and would like to pull a trick on your computer-literate friends, then you can create a fake and harmless virus and email it to them. The easiest harmless viruses you can make are the ones that shut down a computer or monitor after a specified amount of time, open and close a CD drive or log the user out of Windows XP.

·        Right click your mouse on your desktop. Select "new" from the drop-down menu and then click on "shortcut."

·        Type the command you'd like the computer to perform in the shortcut wizard box. For example, if you want the computer to shut down, you'd type "shutdown." Type it all in lower case letters as one word.

·        Add the amount of time you want the command to be performed after the shortcut has been clicked. This will typically be in seconds. After the word "shutdown," add a space, the letter "s" for seconds, another space, then the letter "t" for time. Add another space and then type in the amount of seconds you'd like.

·        Create a place for a comment to show up when the fake virus is activated. After you've typed in the amount of seconds, press the space bar, a hyphen and then a lowercase "c." Type your message in quotation marks.

·        Hit the "Next" button at the bottom of the shortcut wizard box. The next window that pops up in the wizard will be one to name the shortcut. Give your fake computer virus a realistic name. Click on the "Finish" button and your fake virus will appear on your desktop.