This trick comes from here (April 4th 2010).
You can cause explorer.exe to exit on a Windows machine (XP, not known if it works in Vista or 7) using a simple trick.
- Click the start menu, then the shutdown button.
- Hold CTRL, ALT, and SHIFT and click the Cancel button.
Explorer now exits, leaving all other programs running.
To restart explorer, do this:
- Press CTRL-SHIFT-ESC to start windows task manager.
- Click File -> New Task (Run)
- Type explorer and hit enter.
Though it’s a bit late for April Fools, I’m sure this would make for a good prank nonetheless. This is also great for kiosk machines where you don’t want users having access to the start menu or task switcher.