12 HARDWARE Hardware hacks: just the sounds of it can make grown men and women shiver. Visions of sizzling soldering irons, of system boards, cards, and cables scattered in an unholy mess, of a PC turned into toast. In fact, though, it's much easier to hack your hardware than you might imagine. As you'll see in this chapter, you'll be able to mod your PC's case, overclock your PC, troubleshoot hardware, and more without having to turn your PC into a wreck. Of course, if you're the type who likes to take things apart, we've got plenty of hacks for you, including a great hack on how to replace a Zune hard drive with a bigger one. And if all you want to do is troubleshoot hardware problems, we've got hacks for you as well. HACK 171: Mod Your PC's Case Make an off-the-shelf case suit your decor! PC case appearance and design have progressed, well, all the way from boring beige to silver, grey, charcoal and black; but none of those may suit your Dutch blue and white, French cottage, radical red, or "environmentally friendly" green motif. While you can shop www.cyberguys.com, www. thermaltake.com, and similar case-modding web sites to find new case colors and designs, you'll make a lot of work for yourself converting from one case to another and may not find the physical size or design you need. With just a touch of mechanical skill, a couple of cans of spray paint, some masking tape and patience, your classic "old" PC can take on a bold new look. Spice up your case with lighting effects and built-in accessories and a customized PC will be a prized contribution to your den. With this hack you'll see examples of simple do-it-yourself customizations you can complete in a weekend, and probably for under $100. You'll have to shop in advance online for some of the goods if you don't have a well-stocked local PC warehouse like Fry's or Central Computer, and at your local home improvement center for paint and tape. You can then settle into the garage to have some fun tearing your PC down to the bones. Colorized Case and Display This part of a custom case hack is probably the most complex and time consuming if you take it down to the smallest details; from screw heads to DVD-drive buttons and drawers, everything gets a touch of color. You will need some basic hand tools for disassembly of the case and a can or two of your choice of spray paint. First, take one ordinary beige PC and LCD panel (Figure 12-1). Disassemble the case, removing the side, top, and front panels. Then remove the switches and LEDs from the case front panel (Figure 12-2). 568 BIG BOOK OF WINDOWS HACKS