Amazon Fire tablets often come with a plethora of annoying restrictions, but XDA Developers forum member Datastream33 has created an all-in-one solution that can help users get around those. The tool is called Fire Toolbox, and is available for Windows and Linux. Harnessing the power of the Android Debug Bridge, or ADB for short, the tool makes it easy to modify a wide range of Fire Tablet models in a number of ways.

The full capabilities of the software include doing things like installing the Google Play Store, sideloading apps, making changes to otherwise locked system settings, installing custom launchers, and more. The creator's post on the forum, where you can download the toolbox, includes a fairly comprehensive compatibility list, as well as setup instructions. For the most part, all you'll have to do is enable USB Debugging and ADB in the settings menu on the tablet you want to modify, then install the Toolbox and a few pieces of related software and drivers on the PC you'll be using to do the modifications.

There are some caveats with this software, as with any time that you're modifying a device to work in ways the manufacturer didn't intend. One of the usual ones with software like this is that you run the risk of bricking your device, and can consider your warranty void, but in this case, things are a bit less scary. Fire Toolbox is engineered in such a way that it never actually touches the system partition of the storage on your Fire Tablet.

This means that the device's core system software remains intact, and one doesn't really need root privileges to use the software. Should anything go wrong, or the user simply decide they want the factory software back, a reset will sort things out. The release post for the software also includes an FAQ, and users in trouble may find answers by searching the thread to see if anybody else has had the same issue.

One big caveat that does still apply is that Fire Toolkit has a number of things it can do to older Fire Tablets, and those running older software versions, that it can't do to newer hardware and software. This means that an old Fire Tablet that's lying in a drawer somewhere may get a whole new lease on life, whereas one purchased just a couple of weeks ago will have more limits on what can be done with it.

There's also a box that can be checked when purchasing a Fire Tablet on Amazon that will link it to your account: leaving this checked will make the device pull an update as soon as it first boots, so it should be left unchecked if a Fire Tablet is being purchased to be used with this toolkit. In addition, Linux users won't have the same seamless installation experience as Windows users, and should expect to have to install a few drivers themselves to get the ADB up and running. It's also worth noting that Fire Toolbox was designed with the Fire Tablet in mind, so related devices, such as the Fire Stick lineup, are unlikely to see any benefit if connected to a PC running the software.

The 10.1-inch Fire HD 10 tablet with just enough RAM to do things such as getting daily news comfortably can currently be had for around $120 on Amazon.com

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