Solvent 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 Solvent 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 Solvent application is included in an archive with both the Solvent 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 Solvent (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 Solvent so you know what to expect and how to turn it off. Also, please use this practical joke responsibly.
Solvent is an application that makes the Finder's desktop melt away like an ice cube in hell or tax dollars in Washington, D.C. To restore order, just click the mouse button.
Installing Solvent
There are different installation directions depending on what version of System software your victim's Mac uses. If you aren't sure, look in the Apple menu in the Finder. If the first item is About This Macintosh, the Mac is running System 7, otherwise it's probably running System 6.
System 7
Drag Solvent into the Startup Items folder inside your victim's System folder. Each time your victim turns on the computer or chooses Restart from the Finder's Special menu, the Mac immediately launches the contents of the Startup Items folder when the desktop appears.
Since the names of startup items appear in the menu bar when launched, you can cover your tracks by renaming Solvent. Click once on the file name to highlight the name. Wait for the name to be surrounded by a box (indicating that it's ready for editing), then press the Space bar to replace Solvent's name with a blank space. Not only does this keep the file name from appearing when the program launches, it also assures that Solvent is the first Startup Item launched, because the Mac goes in alphabetical order.
To temporarily prevent the Mac from launching Solvent under System 7, hold down the Shift key during startup until the desktop appears and the cursor becomes an arrow. This tells the Mac not to load any extensions and not to launch any of the Startup Items.
To permanently deinstall Solvent, start the Mac while holding down the Shift key, then remove the Solvent file from the Startup Items folder and restart.
System 6
Put Solvent anywhere you want on your victim's startup volume. Click once on the Solvent icon, then choose Set Startup from the Finder's Special menu. Click the MultiFinder radio button and the radio button marked Solvent. This sets up the Mac so that each time your victim turns on the computer or chooses Restart from the Finder's Special menu, Solvent immediately launches when the desktop appears.
Since the names of startup items appear in the menu bar when launched, you can cover your tracks by renaming Solvent. Click once on the file name to highlight the name, then press the spacebar to replace Solvent's name with a blank space. Not only does this keep the file name from appearing when the program launches, it also assures that Solvent is the first Startup Item launched, because the Mac goes in alphabetical order.
To temporarily prevent the Mac from launching Solvent under System 6, hold down the Command key during startup until the desktop appears and the cursor becomes an arrow. This tells the Mac not to launch any of the Startup Items.
To permanently deinstall Solvent, start the Mac while holding down the Command key, then locate the Solvent file and drag it into the Trash.
If you choose to start up with Solvent using the Finder instead of MultiFinder, its name won't appear in the menu bar, but holding down the Command key won't prevent Solvent from launching. In this case, to disable Solvent you must start the Mac with the mouse button depressed, then locate the Solvent file and drag it into the Trash.
