Click to viewFrom classic topics like Windows tweaking and iPod how-tos to more recent favorites like the iPhone or Wii, our most popular how-to features of 2008 souped up your hardware and squeezed more from your PC.


We enjoy pointing our readers in the direction of cool software, web sites, and other various tips, but what we really love is writing up detailed how-to guides that walk you step-by-step through how to actually do something. Let's take a closer look at the most popular how-to Lifehacker features of 2008:


iPod touch owners looking to get iPhone calling functionality out of their devices flocked to this guide for turning your iPod touch into an iPhone. It's the kind of thing that could make you decide to forget the iPhone altogether and go with an iPod touch.



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If you're using a consumer grade point-and-shoot Canon digital camera, you've got hardware in hand that can support advanced features way beyond what shipped in the box. With the help of a free, open source project called CHDK, you can get features like RAW shooting mode, live RGB histograms, motion-detection, time-lapse, and even games on your existing camera.


Tomato is an open-source router firmware that adds advanced functionality to your old $60 router. What's not to love? It's free, it will often work on the router you already own, and it's easy to use. For an alternative, check out how we turned your $60 router into a $600 router with DD-WRT even further back.





When the iPhone and iPod touch 2.0 software update hit devices this summer, users were thrilled that they could enjoy Apple-approved third-party apps on their hardware—but that doesn't mean they don't want to have their cake and eat it, too. Our guide to jailbreaking your iPhone running 2.0 software walks you through how to jailbreak your device and install unsanctioned third-party apps worth jailbreaking for.



iPhone Apps Worth Jailbreaking For By this time next week, major iPhone announcements will probably make jailbreaking your iPhone or… Read more



Before the release of the iPhone 2.0 software update and the PwnageTool, you still had your jailbreak needs. This guide walked you through how to jailbreak any pre-2.0 iPhone or iPod touch in a mere 45 seconds.




When you wipe your PC's hard drive clean and reinstall Windows with that old installation disc, you don't want to connect your fresh, unpatched and vulnerable system to the internet only to download 176 new updates from Microsoft. This guide showed you how to slipstream the latest Windows Service Pack 3 into your XP install disc so your fresh installation of Windows is also sporting the latest and greatest updates from Microsoft.




When you're installing Windows in a virtual machine or on old, slow hardware, you want the leanest, meanest and fastest-running configuration possible. This how-to guide walks you through how to create a slim, trim, and lightning fast version of Windows.



Get Vista's Best Features in XP Despite the fact that most of you prefer XP to Vista and would rather Microsoft extended XP's… Read more


Got a lust for Vista goodies but not for—well, the rest of Vista? This walkthrough will show you how to get Vista's best features in XP.




Despite the fact that it ships with a DVD drive, for whatever godforsaken reason, the Nintendo Wii doesn't support DVD playback. Not only will be be playing back DVDs after following this guide, but you'll also be able to run other homebrew applications, games, and even play burned backups—all without any hardware hacking or modchips.





Commercial DVDs are far too expensive to let scratches turn your video into a glorified coaster, but most people still don't back up their DVD collection. After following this guide, the ease with which you can rip full DVD backups to your hard drive will leave you with no excuse not to.



Protect Your Privacy When Downloading Click to viewEarlier this week, a Lifehacker reader caught downloading copyrighted material using Read more


Whether you're downloading copyrighted material or not, no one likes to have their activities online monitored. This guide details how to protect your privacy online.




If you don't feel like shelling out $100 a year to get push email, contacts, and calendar on your iPhone, you can still get it all on your own. You just need to know how.




We've all been there at some point: You delete an important file, somehow it skips your Recycle Bin altogether, and for all practical purposes, it's disappeared into the ether. Before you hit the big red panic button, this guide will walk you through how to recover deleted files from your hard drive with free software.




You may love the Linux life, but there are those annoying times when—for whatever reason—it'd be nice to fire up a Windows app. With a little know-how, you can run Windows apps seamlessly inside Linux.




VLC is far and away the most popular desktop media player among Lifehacker readers, and for good reason. Not only does VLC play nearly any file you throw at it, but it can also rip DVDs, convert videos for your iPod or iPhone, and much more. Photo by R'eyes.




You may not need to do it every day, but it seems like everyone needs to pull music from an iPod or iPhone to their computer at some time or another. This handy little guide details how to copy music from your iPhone or iPod to your computer for free.




Got a favorite Lifehacker guide on or off this list that we covered in '08? Let's hear about it in the comments.