Most hacks on the Q require you to have a Registry Editor such as the popular Resco Explorer 2005 (see image below). However there are also free alternatives, including HTC's simple regeditSTG, or PHM Registry Editor. Once you have one of these editors installed on your phone, you can open and edit your registry. The registry on your cell phone is pretty much identical to the registry your PC at home uses. It's critical you carefully make these edits and backup the original files before making them. If you make one mistake, you could potentially cause your phones operating system to become unstable and unusable. So you should be fairly technically savvy before venturing into your registry and making system changes.

For those of you who would like to make some registry edits but don't want to tinker in your registry manually, you can purchase software that makes these changes for you. Applications such as Smart Tweaker can perform many of the more popular hacks with a nice, clean user interface that keeps you from making the registry changes manually.

The up side to making these changes is that you may seriously improve the performance of your phone. You may also customize your phone to your liking with things like custom boot screens, no "click" sound when you take pictures or many other tweaks.