I'm building a more comprehensive system similar to the vBHacker, but then one that will still let you (or rather, force you to) make all the file edits yourself. So, the favorite pastime of most people in this thread, as far as installing Hacks goes, is kept the same - you do the file edits manually. It's all the other stuff that gets automated with my system (queries, running custom PHP code, importing phrases and templates, creating menu items automatically, creating template groups automatically, etc.). Oh, and mine is only for vB3 of course...
I'll post a big thread about it tomorrow