Create your own joke program - how it works

You can create your own "joke program" in Windows quickly and in just a few steps. All you need is a text editor. In our example, we explain exactly how to proceed.

Create joke program under Windows

Usually you need programming knowledge and any text editor to create your own program. However, little previous knowledge is sufficient for uncomplicated applications. Once you have created your first joke program, you can send the application to your friends and acquaintances, for example to open a number of pop-ups you have specified on a computer or to force the computer to restart.

• A text editor is essential for programming applications. You can use the editor that is already preinstalled by Windows for your own joke program. However, we advise you to use the "Notepad ++" text editor as it will point out possible errors and simplify your programming work.
• Keep in mind that prank programs fundamentally affect computer security and are malware. Depending on your structure, you can do considerable damage on the running PC. In our example we show you a harmless application.

Instructions: Create your own shutdown

The so-called "shutdown" is the best-known joke program: it lets you shutdown or restart the computer after a specified time. You can interrupt the shutdown at any time by entering the command under "Execute".

1. First open a text editor and enter the command "shutdown -s" without quotation marks on the first line.
2. Once you have done this, select the "Save as ..." option under the "File" menu and save the file you have created on your computer.
3. When saving, you must change the file type from ".txt" to ".bat". If you accidentally save the file as ".txt", the text editor only opens the programming environment with the command you entered.
4. You can now send the joke program to your friends. As soon as someone runs this program, the computer shuts down after 30 seconds.
5. To hide the fact that the file is a prank program, you should also change the application icon and the file name in the file properties.
6. If you accidentally ran the program yourself, you can interrupt the shutdown at any time within the time period. To do this, press [Windows] + [R], enter "cmd" in the command prompt and type in the new window the command "shutdown -a". Confirm the termination with [Enter].

• By default, the shutdown -s command specifies a period of 30 seconds. You can also determine the time span yourself. Instead, enter "shutdown / s / tx" in the first line of the text editor. For "x" enter the time after which the computer should be shutdown (in seconds).
• In addition to the "shutdown -s" command, there are many other shutdown input options. For example, the computer is restarted with "shutdown / r". A summary of the most important shutdown commands can be found in the image overview.

To make your programming work in Notepad ++ easier, you should install additional Notepad ++ extensions for the text editor.