Backwords is one of the 33 harmless practical joke programs included in my book, The Macintosh Joker, published by Hayden (ISBN 1-56830-079-4). For details on ordering an autographed copy direct from the author, read the Bargain Books file which accompanies this ReadMe file, or visit <http://www.netcom.com/~owenink>.
I've made this sample of Backwords available to give you an idea of the kinds of programs that are included in The Macintosh Joker. Please respect the fact that I own the copyright to this text file. That means you may not distribute these files for profit, but you may share them with others for free, provided that the Backwords extension is included in an archive with both the Backwords ReadMe and Bargain Books text files intact.
If you have any questions, you may reach me as follows:
Owen W. Linzmayer
2227 15th Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94116-1824
<OWL@Bigfoot.com>
Now, enough of all that formal legalese stuff and the book plug. Check out the following instructions for using Backwords (reproduced word-for-word from the book, except illustrations have been removed to keep this file to a reasonable size).
Make sure you read the entire file before installing Backwords so you know what to expect and how to turn it off. Also, please use this practical joke responsibly.
With the Backwords extension installed, your victim's Mac displays all text in reverse. The icons appear in their normal places, but with their names displayed backwards. Likewise, windows open normally, but their title bars are reversed. And all the menus in the menu bar operate, only it's difficult for your victim to tell what they're doing because the text is flip flopped.
Even characters your victim enters into a word processor appear in reverse order as they are typed. But rest assured, nothing really changes permanently. If your victim opens a document when Backwords is installed, it looks as incomprehensible as our nation's tax code. But once you deinstall Backwords, everything returns to normal.
Installing Backwords
To install Backwords, just drag it into the System folder on your victim's startup volume. Under System 7, an alert box appears explaining that the file belongs in the Extensions folder. Click OK and let the Finder put it in the right place. Then choose Restart from the Finder's Special menu to complete the installation.
To deinstall Backwords, remove it from the System folder and restart. This is somewhat tricky for two reasons. First, the file names appear reversed in the Finder, so you must look for Backword's unique icon of a reversed letter B (it helps if you choose By Icon from the Finder's View menu before installing Backwords). Second, you need to know how to choose Restart from the Finder's Special menu when all the menu names and choices have been reversed. Unless you have made other modifications to the Finder, under System 7 the Special menu is the last one on the right in the menu bar (it's second from the right under System 6), and Restart is the second from the bottom of the Special menu (except on PowerBooks, where it is the third item from the bottom). So choose tratseR from the laicepS menu.
Using Backwords
Backwords is very effective all by itself, but it can be even more fun if installed at the same time as Vanish, the extension that makes all text disappear. That way, if your victim finds one of the extensions and trashes it, the next time they restart, the other extension is still around to wreak havoc. Pretty nasty, huh?
