Are you the only guy in your office with some computer skills? Do you have a co worker who spends their whole day on Myspace, Youtube or hello kitty fan club sites? If you can follow these simple steps they wont be getting any where near those sites for some time.
If you are using windows pc there is a thing called a host file. If you are a web developer or designer, chances are you are very familiar with this file. I typically use it to test new websites by giving my computer an address to associate with the website I am working on. Now that might sound difficult and confusing to people who have never used one but it is really easy.
So here is what you do. For this example we will make it so every time I go to yahoo.com what will actually pop is google.com. If you are doing this to a friend or co-worker I’m sure you can think of something far more funny.
Step one: Find your host file
Go to the start button on the bottom right click and then select Run
After click run depending on what version of windows you are using you will enter one of the following (will will assume you are using Xp professional)
Windows 95/98/Me c:\windows\hosts
Windows NT/2000/XP Pro c:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
Windows XP Home c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
Now hit ok.
Step 2: Editing your host file
A new window should now be open with some files inside. Select the host file by right clicking and hitting edit. I use edit plus for this but note pad will do just fine.
Now this file might look a little confusing but really its very simple. On the very top it reads something like this
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
what this is saying is that for every website you list you must list the IP address with it. In order for me to make yahoo become Google I first need to find out Google’s Ip.
So go back to the run menu, by clicking start the run.
This time just type cmd and click ok
Once you see a black and white screen you are going to go ahead and type the word ping with one space and the name of the website you want.
What this does is gives you the ip associated with google.com. The IP I received was 64.233.187.99
Now write down the IP and head back to your host file. (you are almost done)
At the bottom of the host file you will typing in the following.
64.233.187.99 Yahoo.com
What this did was associate Google’s IP with yahoo’s name. To turn this off simply add a pound (#) before the IP.
Click save and you will be done. Close out all web browsers and re-open.
Now type in Yahoo.com, Google should pop up like this.
Tadaaaaaa ! You can now confuse the crap out of you co-workers. The key to this hack is gaining access to their PC. I recommend having all the info ready before you start the prank, unless you have a lot of time.
Lastly you can do this for multiple sites at once. It can be very frustrating to whom ever you do it too.
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