Some tricks for 4-1

[Arden]

Ah, the end of March. The wind is blowing, the sun is shining, and April Fool's Day draws near. I have here some suggestions for tricks you can play on your fellow Mac users (don't worry, they're harmless).

• One thing you can do is use Multiple Users in 9 or User accounts in X to disallow people to use the computer. If you're an admin or the "owner," simply archive and remove people's accounts, or change their passwords if you have the right access. To fix, just restore their original settings.
• Here's some Applescript code that will make your computer shut down:
  

  tell application "Finder"
  shut down
  end tell

  Call this script "Disk Optimizer" or some such nonsense and place it in Startup Items to cause no end of annoyance for people besides yourself. (If you want to get around this, hold space at startup and deactivate it.)
• If you're particularly adept at manipulating icons, you can switch people's desktop aliases or favorites aliases with something else. Possible uses include making another program launch when you double click an icon (launch Netscape instead of Safari, for example), running something else entirely (an Applescript saying "Ha ha!"), or even shutting down the computer (see above ). Simply push command-R to reroute an icon to a new program. To undo, do the same in reverse or replace the alias with a fresh alias.

Hope you all get some use out of these! Remember, these are merely for fun, but they should not be used against someone who will not be very happy about it. Use discretion always. Happy April Fool's Day!