38 Amazing Things You Didn't Know Your Tech Could Do

Do you often wish that the tech you own or use had superpowers, or that you could transform ordinary gear into something really great -- possibly for free? With our amazing instructions, you can!

In this package of six articles, we have 38 tips on getting the most out of your hardware and the Web. Many of the useful features we describe are undocumented; others you can enable with an extra tweak.

We'll show you how to transform your netbook into an e-book reader, how to use body warmth to squeeze out one more message from a dead cell phone battery, sling files from PC to PC with Bluetooth, and much more.

This story centers on five tricks that will enhance your use of your desktop or laptop, with two networking tips thrown in for good measure.

Have an unused internal hard drive sitting around? Maybe you upgraded a laptop hard drive to a bigger capacity, or you pulled an internal drive from a desktop PC before selling it. You can put either kind back to work as extra, free storage.

Inside a desktop PC: 2.5-inch laptop and 3.5-inch PC SATA drives use identical connections, which means that a recent laptop hard drive can work instantly.

If you want to install a laptop drive in a PC, remember that it won't fit correctly in the regular screw mounts. If you're attaching it permanently, position it so that the airflow is unimpeded -- stick it against the inside of the case or in a free drive bay. Secure the drive with zip ties or removable double-sided tape. Of course, you won't have such trouble with a 3.5-inch SATA drive, which will fit.

Then, connect either drive to a free SATA port on the motherboard (you'll likely need a SATA cable) and connect to a plug leading from the power supply. You can add a power adapter if the only free plugs are older and too big to fit the SATA power port. If no free power cables are free, add a Y-splitter to branch off from an existing, used cable. All of these parts are available for a few dollars.

An older ATA drive also will work in your PC. Unlike with the plug-and-play SATA interface, with ATA you might have to adjust a jumper pin on both the extra and current drives; check your PC's instructions or browse online for help. A 2.5-inch ATA laptop drive needs a $10 physical adapter to attach to a 3.5-inch drive's cable.

Connect the drive to a free power and data cable. If all the ATA interfaces are filled, consider connecting it in place of your floppy drive if that's an option.