Absolute Beginner's Guide to PC Upgrades [Paperback]

T.J. Lee (Author), Lee Hudspeth (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0789724170 | ISBN-13: 978-0789724175 | Publication Date: December 2, 2000

Even if you've never opened the case on your PC, the Absolute Beginner's Guide to PC Upgrades will show you how you can add hardware components, upgrade peripherals, and keep current on new version of your operating system and applications. This book tells you what you really need to know about trouble-free upgrading of computer hardware and software. The most common/popular/need-to-do upgrades are covered, such as improving your Internet connectivity, adding more memory, and storage, in a clear, straightforward manner that is both informative and entertaining. TJ Lee and Lee Hudspeth show you how to get the most bang for your hard-earned bucks, from the core upgrades that you need to keep your computer from miring down in obsolesce to the upgrades you may not have considered but should.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Even if you've never opened the case on your PC, the Absolute Beginner's Guide to PC Upgrades will show you how you can add hardware components, upgrade peripherals, and keep current on new version of your operating system and applications. This book tells you what you really need to know about trouble-free upgrading of computer hardware and software. The most common/popular/need-to-do upgrades are covered, such as improving your Internet connectivity, adding more memory, and storage, in a clear, straightforward manner that is both informative and entertaining. TJ Lee and Lee Hudspeth show you how to get the most bang for your hard-earned bucks, from the core upgrades that you need to keep your computer from miring down in obsolesce to the upgrades you may not have considered but should.

About the Author

Lee Hudspeth co-authored the QUE tome The Unofficial Guide to PCs. In addition, Lee has co-authored six books on Office, the most recent being Outlook 98 and 97 Annoyances, Office 97 Annoyances, Excel 97 Annoyances, and Word 97 Annoyances. Lee got involved in the computing industry two decades ago as a student at the USC School of Business while working part-time as a consultant at the computer center. He is the co-founder of PRIME Consulting, Inc., which provides hardware consulting, development, training and add-ins for Microsoft Office and Windows. Lee routinely contributes to PC Computing (circulation 1,000,000) and along with T. J. Lee writes a monthly column in eBay Magazine. He and T. J. Lee publish The Naked PC, an e-zine with a circulation of over 43,000. T.J. Lee is co-author (with Lee Hudspeth and Dan Butler) of The Unofficial Guide to PCs and six books on Office, including the Annoyances titles referenced above. TJ is also a co-founder of PRIME Consulting Group, and has done computer and management consulting for years. TJ also routinely contributes to PC Computing where he and Lee Hudspeth were the primary contributors to the story that won PC Computing the prestigious National Magazine Award (the first time a Ziff-Davis publication has won this "Ellie" award). TJ is a certified Microsoft trainer. He has written countless courseware packages and manuals, co-authored Microsoft Education Services course on Developing Applications in Word, and taught/lectured for thousands of developers and end-users.

Product Details

• Paperback: 592 pages
• Publisher: Que (December 2, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789724170
• ISBN-13: 978-0789724175
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,433,588 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

**Professional Summary**

T.J. Lee has over 21 years experience in the computer industry working with large firms on a wide spectrum of technology implementations. His experience has allowed him to manage, delegate, supervise and control development projects or administrative workflow for a single office, division or an entire business. He can coordinate development efforts and resolve problems between diverse groups within an organization.

TJ is a technical writer and an expert in documenting workflow processes. He has co-authored 11 computer books to date (O'Reilly, Addison-Wesley, and QUE) on subjects ranging from programming to hardware upgrades and has created training materials, lectured, and taught computer seminars around the world. TJ's extensive technical writing skills have always tried to focus on making complex processes understandable to non-technical readers.

**Expertise**

Extensive experience managing groups of technical people on complex projects.

Expert with Microsoft end user products and in analyzing and automating office tasks utilizing these software programs in network environments.

Able to work with management and office staff to analyze and streamline manual tasks and processes while automating online processes using off the shelf and custom written software products.

Certified Public Accountant in the state of California. Auditing experience in the fields of real estate, condominium and PUD associations, and manufacturing. Supervisor level accountant overseeing audits, general ledger and financial statement preparation for convalescent hospitals, condominium associations, and contractor/developers. Performed MAS engagements involving user requirement studies, hardware requirements, procedures analysis and lease-up absorption projections. CPA license status changed to inactive June 1993 and is currently classified "inactive clear."

Consultant on the Perkins Coie conversion from mini-computer based Wang word processing to PC based word processing using Microsoft Word for Windows. Helped develop the Word training materials and performed initial training for Perkins Coie's pilot project at their corporate headquarters in Seattle, WA. This was the first major law firm in the USA to adopt Word for Windows over WordPerfect on the PC platform.

Consultant to Latham and Watkins (LA headquarters, Costa Mesa, and San Diego offices) on implementing personal computers to replace centralized dumb terminals. Taught Microsoft Excel, Lotus Agenda, and Harvard Graphics courses to Latham personnel from managing partners to staff lawyers and secretaries.

Developed PRIME for Office Utilities CD - this product includes an add-on utility set for Word, Excel, and an Office add-in called DocLauncher. Developed four of the utilities in WordBasic and oversaw the conversion of these utilities to VBA. The utilities are currently written as a COM add-in. Performed quality and beta testing as well as marketing and distribution on this project.

Consultant to Avery Dennison creating the specification and budget for the Avery Dennison Divider Magician product (a $100,000+ development project), oversaw the contract developers during development, and did quality and beta testing. Managed all client contact and negotiated all change orders. Developed all of Avery Dennison's WordBASIC macro templates for their label products from Word 2 through Word 6 then converted select WordBASIC macros to VBA for Word 7 through Word 9 (2000).

Consultant to American Honda Motor Company, Inc. Oversaw the development of the user requirement specifications and coding of a file distribution application that made customer survey results available to dealers over their network. Later managed the conversion of this design to a Web based application and oversaw the coding and testing of the final program.
Education

Certifications:
Certified Public Accountant in the state of California (licensed 1986, current status inactive clear)
Microsoft Word for Windows Developers Program (Member)
Microsoft Excel Developers Program (Member)
Microsoft Consultants Relations Program (Microsoft Excel Partner)
Microsoft Certified Product Specialist (Windows)
Microsoft Certified Trainer (Word and Excel)
Citrix Certified Sales Professional (2007) for Application Delivery Infrastructure

Developed and presented the following seminars:
Masters Seminar Microsoft Word 6.0 for Windows
(Sydney, and Melbourne Australia 1995)

PRIME Consulting Seminar Putting OLE 2.0, VBA, & DDE to Work
(Los Angeles, CA 1993, 1994, 1995)

PRIME Consulting Seminar The Hacker's Guide to PackRat
(Baton Rouge, LA 1991, Indianapolis, IN 1992, Costa Mesa, CA 1992)


Developed and presented professional education sessions at the following conferences:

Microsoft Developers' Tools Forum (Third Party WinWord Solutions, WordBASIC Tips & Tricks)

Windows and OS/2 Conferences (Context in Word for Windows, Graphical Word Processing Comes of Age 1991; Development Using Windows Macro Languages,
Document Management 1992)

Microsoft Word Users Conference (Integrating Word with Other Applications: OLE & DDE 1991)

Developed the following training materials:

Developing Applications in Word (co-authored with Microsoft Education Services for Microsoft University 1994)

Putting OLE 2.0, VBA, & DDE to Work (for PRIME Consulting Group, Inc. 1993)

WordBASIC Developer Training (for PRIME Consulting Group, Inc. 1992)

**Published Works**

Computer books on CD-ROM (co-author):

Computer Tips Compendium (2001)

The Book That Should Have Come with Your Computer (1993)

Printed computer books (co-author):

T.J. Lee and Lee Hudspeth's Absolute Beginner's Guide to PC Upgrades (QUE - 2001, English and Turkish)

The Unofficial Guide to PCs (QUE - 1999)

Outlook Annoyances (O'Reilly - 1998, English, Polish, French, and Chinese)

Word 97 Annoyances (O'Reilly - 1997, English, Polish, French, and Chinese)

Excel 97 Annoyances (O'Reilly - 1997, English, Polish, French, and Chinese)

Office 97 Annoyances (O'Reilly - 1997, English, Polish, French, and Chinese)

The Underground Guide to Microsoft Office, OLE, and VBA (Addison-Wesley - 1995, English)

The Underground Guide to Excel 5.0 for Windows (Addison-Wesley - 1994, English)

Developing Applications in Word (Microsoft Education Services, English)

Various magazine and newsletter articles for a number of publications including eBay Magazine, TheNakedPC Newsletter, PC Computing, Office Computing, and Woody's Underground Newsletter.

**Professional Experience**

2001- present McMillan Consulting - Project Manager
Oversee network upgrades and deployments, and the development of comprehensive network/project documentation.

1998 - 2003 TheNakedPC Newsletter - Publisher, Editor, Contributor
Responsible for management of this critically acclaimed bi-weekly computer technology electronic newsletter. This newsletter was favorably reviewed by the Langa List, Netscape Netcenter, Computer Currents, PC World, Andover.net, and Lockergnome. TJ was one of the three founders of this publication and during his tenure as editor subscriptions went from 0 to over 100,000.

1999 - 2000 eBay Magazine - Columnist
Wrote a regular column in eBay's monthly printed magazine on a variety of computer technology topics with the focus on how to get more out of your computer, the Internet, and new technologies in general.

1997 - 1999 PC Computing (Ziff-Davis) - Contributor
Regular contributor to PC/Computing magazine. TJ was a co-writer of the article "Undocumented Internet Secrets" which received the prestigious National Magazine Award. This was the first time a technical publication won this coveted award.

1997 - 1998 Office Computing(Ziff-Davis) - Senior Contributing Editor
A companion magazine to PC Computing this short lived publication focused on actual hand-on how-to projects for mid to advanced users of Microsoft Office.

1996 - 1997 Woody's Underground Office Newsletter - Editor, Contributor
This printed newsletter on the technical aspects of Microsoft Office and general computer technologies received the Computer Press Association's 1997 Best Overall Newsletter award.

1992 - 2001 PRIME Consulting Group, Inc. - Principle
Oversaw day-to-day operation of a computer consulting company focusing on application development using Microsoft Office and web site construction. Managed clients, programmers and technical writers working in different locations using telephone and telecommuting technologies including the Internet.

1990 - 1992 Plan B Consulting - Sole Proprietor
TJ founded this computer/technology consulting firm. Training, development, and general business consulting required additional resources and capitalization resulting in merging with another consulting firm to become PRIME Consulting Group, Inc.

1988 - 1990 Gilbert & Associates - Consultant
A cutting edge consultancy firm at the vanguard of graphically-based distributed computing. While at Gilbert & Associates he was assigned to consult and perform training at firms such as Latham & Watkins, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, and Perkins Coie.

1985 - 1988 Arnold Dubin & Company - CPA
Started as a staff accountant and while employed at Arnold Dubin & Company sat for, and passed the California Board of Accountancy CPA Exam. Worked up to supervisor level accountant overseeing audits, general ledger, and financial statement preparation for condominium associations, and contractor/developers. TJ spearheaded the firms move into management advisory services and computer consulting.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you only have time to read one book on PC's, read this., January 21, 2001

By 

[e-mail] (London, U.K.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Absolute Beginner's Guide to PC Upgrades (Paperback)

Do you know whether to buy SRAM, EDO RAM, SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, RDRAM or SLDRAM?

Do you know the difference in IDE, EIDE, and SCSI?

Do you really know whether it's worth forking out your hard-earned cash at this stage for a DVD drive?

Okay, Okay, of course you do! But until I'd read this book I didn't. Don't let the title put you off. If you are an "Absolute Beginner" then this book is for you, but you would have to be pretty high up the PC Knowledge food chain not to pick up at least half a dozen absolute gems of information.

Like most of us I plough my way through the magazines, e-zines, etc. looking for the pearls of wisdom that will make my system bigger, better, faster and tuned to that peak of perfection. Then I do nothing. This is usually because I have either lost the cuttings or I have lost my nerve.

The first time you "open the box" it is a fearful sight, full of wires and ...er, whatever they are. With this book by your side, they all make sense. Every card, slot, socket, port, chipset...(think of any widget you want!)... is fully explained.

If your question is anywhere between "What is a 3.5 inch floppy disk drive, do I need one and how do I add/change it?" to "What is everything I need to know to be able to build a PC from scratch?" then the answer is in this book.

The authors certainly don't talk down to you, but somehow they have managed to crack that difficult of problem of writing in a style that makes a potentially complex subject seem easy. They actually make you feel that they have written the book specifically with you in mind, and if things do get tough, there are lots of sidebars and an excellent glossary and index to fall back on.

Even if your idea of an "upgrade" is to add a printer or plug in some speakers - it's in the book. Too simple? You want to be at the leading edge and flash the BIOS - it's in the book.

On the other hand, maybe you're not sure whether to take any risks at all, and another thing, is it worth it? Should you just buy a new system? The authors have covered that too - if it's not worth upgrading then that's what they'll tell you.

Everything is organised in a logical linear way. What are the merits of the upgrade, the cost, the degree of difficulty, where to source the parts, what equipment do you need, is there a comprehensive checklist...???(you get the drift). The references and URL addresses alone are priceless and however did I manage for so long without knowing about "SANDRA".

BUT, I nearly didn't buy this book. I was one click away from cancelling my order. The problem? - The title. Maybe "Absolute Beginner..." would be too simple for me. I agree that it's not an advanced book, but I can't for the life of me see why the publishers didn't call it "The Absolute Beginners or Beginners or Intermediate Type of Persons Guide to PC Upgrades". I think a snappy little title like that would have described the book perfectly.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An understandable book about PCs for the Beginner, January 3, 2001

By 

"tswirsky" (Philadelphia, Pa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Absolute Beginner's Guide to PC Upgrades (Paperback)

I am an IT professional who writes software on a PC all day long. Although I once added a tape drive and CD-ROM to my PC (which is now almost ready to be upgraded or replaced), I don't know much about the internals of a PC or things like the difference between the types of slots or kinds of RAM but have always wanted to learn. So when I read about a book that claimed to explain all these things and more such as slots, USB ports, hard drives and CD-RW in a way I could understand, I was very interested. And as soon as I learned it was written by the publishers of an excellent electronic newsletter (TheNakedPC) which I've received for quite some time, I ordered it immediately believing it would be full of useful information presented in a clear and readable way and I am happy to say I wasn't mistaken.

The book is full of all kinds of useful information from web sites that have lists of motherboard and BIOS information to where to find utilities to analyse and tell you what is in your current PC. Each chapter covers a different part such as hard drives and video and, after explaining the options available, goes into step by step instructions on how to add, replace and upgrade the items.

Although I may decide to just order a new PC instead of upgrading mine, this book will help me determine which is the better road to take. I will also be able to make more intelligent decisions about what to look for in a new PC since I now know more about what the parts do and how they work together. And if my PC ever breaks, this will be the first book I grab off the shelf. I feel is was certainly worth purchasing.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Perfect, January 3, 2001

By 

Terry M Johnson (APO, AP United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Absolute Beginner's Guide to PC Upgrades (Paperback)

Whether you're a novice or semi-literate PC user with the desire to either figure out how your system works or desire to upgrade, this book is perfectly simple to read and understand. The subject matter will not go out of date and the authors are reader friendly. If you send them an email, they will respond quickly. I don't have a lot of time to spend reading a book from one end to the other just to figure out a simple process. With this book, I don't have to. This is a lot of book for [the price] and we consumers are lucky it's on the market. Thanks TJ and Lee for making our lives a little easier!