Bolted Down and Baffling: The Wildest PC Mods Found in Professional Workplaces
If you think the wildest PC mods are reserved for teenagers tinkering in their bedrooms, buckle up. The world of commercial IT support is a goldmine of jaw-dropping, head-scratching, and sometimes downright hilarious hardware hacks—many of them perpetrated by people who absolutely should know better.
Recently, a tale from Reddit’s r/TalesFromTechSupport reignited a flood of memories for veteran IT pros. Imagine showing up to fix a “terminal” desktop at a school in the late ‘90s, only to discover it’s been bolted, literally, to the desk—requiring a full disassembly and a power drill just to move it. As theft deterrence goes, it’s hard to beat, but as far as user-friendliness? Well, let’s just say it left a mark on everyone involved.
When Physical Security Gets Physical... and Absurd
The original poster, u/big_aussie_mike, set the stage with his story of finding a desktop computer essentially welded to a school desk with security bolts hidden under the motherboard. Theft was apparently such an issue that the school mandated the most literal hardware lockdown possible: disassemble, drill, bolt, and reassemble—with the RAM, motherboard, and all. While Mike was lucky enough to only swap some faulty RAM, he marveled at the lengths people would go to keep computers stationary.
And he’s far from alone. The community quickly jumped in with their own war stories of “security” measures that often created more problems than they solved. For instance, u/gijsyo recalled working at a financial institution where desktops were chained to desks, resulting in Kafkaesque bureaucracy anytime someone wanted to shift their PC a few inches. Only hardware support, the guardians of the “master key,” could make the move and update the asset database—a nice bit of job security, at least.
Then there’s the world of makeshift locks. Remember Kensington Locks? As u/Z4-Driver wondered, weren’t these available back in the ‘90s? Turns out, even if they were, they weren’t exactly Fort Knox. Several users, like u/JaschaE and u/NekkidWire, pointed out that a bored teen—or the infamous Lockpicking Lawyer—could pop one open with little more than a plastic pen tube or a bit of wire. It’s security theater at its finest.
Frankenstein Machines and Reluctant Upgrades
Physical mods are just one side of the coin. The other? The lengths IT will go to just to placate users who fear change like the plague. u/fuknthrowaway1’s “8086” story became an instant classic: a single AT&T 6300, originally powered by a 10MHz CPU and 256K of RAM, was repeatedly gutted and upgraded over years until it emerged as a Pentium II with 64MB. Why? Because the “important guy” assigned to it despised change. The IT team would spirit it away under the guise of “long software installs,” retrofit modern components into the ancient case, and deliver it back unchanged in appearance. As u/JaschaE quipped, “Nothing bad ever arose out of that combo o_O.”
Legacy hardware is a recurring villain in these tales. One commenter, u/Penners99, still gets calls to support a carpet factory running NT4 SP6A—because the looms only talk to that ancient OS. As u/udsd007 elaborated, in many industries (think CNC hardware, medical labs, or manufacturing), certification is tied to specific hardware/software combos. Change anything, and you void the certification—so “keep it alive at all costs” becomes the mantra, even if that means driving your techs to madness.
Creative (and Catastrophic) DIY Fixes
Not all mods are about security or legacy support; some are just... creative problem-solving, for better or worse. u/Hagya15 recalled technicians at an electronics manufacturer who, unable to align a PCB with its case, simply drilled a new hole through the board—right through sensitive internal traces. The result: a non-functional, shorted-out board and a lot of wasted time. As another commenter, u/Photodan24, joked, this was the ending they expected from the original “bolted-down” story.
Noise control also inspired some truly questionable “mods.” u/cubert73 shared how users, missing their silent green-screen terminals, stuffed PCs full of polyester fiberfill or wrapped them in moving blankets to muffle the fan noise. The result? Overheated machines tripping thermal shutdowns—thankfully, before anyone started a fire.
And if you think only tech support can get creative, think again. u/Turbojelly described a school with projector mounts held together by custom-cut MDF boards because the school would spring for a £1000 projector but balk at a £50 mounting bracket. Ugly? Yes. Functional? Also yes.
When IT Mods Go From Bizarre to Legendary
Sometimes, workplace mods become the stuff of IT lore. Several commenters reminisced about the “Magic/More Magic” switch—yes, a literal switch labeled “Magic” that (somehow) needed to be set to “More Magic” for the PC to work. No one really knew why, but you can bet nobody dared flip it the other way.
Other stories take a darker turn, like the IBM contractor whose new manager insisted on securing laptops by drilling through desks, keyboards, and even hard drives with a carriage bolt. As u/StarChaser_Tyger deadpanned, “Nobody would steal it now!”—or use it, for that matter.
And sometimes, the mods are less about security and more about “recycling.” u/MrAkai told of a moving company whose IT assets mostly came from items abandoned in storage. Every few weeks, they’d call up tech support to hook up their newest “acquisition”—be it a 32” CRT or whatever else they’d found. If there’s a way to cut corners, someone will find it.
Conclusion: Share Your Tech Horror Stories!
From Frankenstein upgrades to hardware “secured” with nothing but hope and a prayer, these stories prove that when it comes to commercial IT environments, the truth is often stranger—and funnier—than fiction. Have you witnessed a gobsmacking mod in your own workplace? Share your tales in the comments below, and let’s keep this treasure trove of IT madness growing!
After all, as every tech support veteran knows, the only thing more resilient than a legacy system is the creativity of those trying to keep it (or steal it) alive.
Original Reddit Post: Wildest mods in a commercial environment...