The Complete PC Upgrade & Maintenance Guide, 12th Ed. [Hardcover]

Book Description

Series: Complete PC Upgrade & Maintenance Guide | Publication Date: August 1, 2001

Based upon Mark Minasi's world-wide PC upgrade and maintenance seminars, this 12th edition text gives PC owners and support personnel information on dealing with the most common PC problems. It provides: new material on digital audio; an improved SCSI chapter; a new "Hardware Management Via Sortware" chapter; new hardware Internet sources; increased coverage of video capture topics; and an updated vendor list. Two CDs are included.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Updated every year, this book immediately distinguishes itself from similar titles with its sheer volume and comprehensive coverage. Minasi, CNN's resident computer expert, covers basic tasks such as disassembling a PC to advanced topics like formatting SCSI devices. This edition includes helpful illustrations of common upgrades a first in the book's 12-year history as well as two CDs (one is an hour-long instructional video, and the other contains more than 25 diagnostic tools). The latter are likely to get lost or stolen, but the book's text still stands strongly on its own. A more affordable but less in-depth guide is Preston Gralla's How To Expand & Upgrade PCs (Computer Media, LJ 6/1/01). Minasi's title is highly recommended.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Back Cover

The Complete PC Upgrade and Maintenance Guide, Twelfth Edition is a problem-solving wonder. In simple, easy-to-follow language, it shows you how to prevent disasters, fix the ones that occur, and maximize your PC's power and longevity. Based on author Mark Minasi's popular $800 seminars, this book is an unbelievable value. For only $59.99, it teaches you everything you need to know to meet your PC challenges.

Coverage includes:

• Buying or building a new PC
* Preventing hardware disasters
• Upgrading memory
• Replacing power supplies
• Installing EIDE hard drives
• Adding SCSI ports
• Partitioning and formatting EIDE and SCSI drives
• Protecting your PC from viruses
• Solving data backup challenges
• Adding and repairing removable media devices: DVD drivers, CD-ROMs, and others
• Troubleshooting printers
• Installing communications devices
• Upgrading mice and keyboards
• Installing video and sound cards
• Tackling networking issues
• Choosing a new PC or building one
• Troubleshooting Internet connectivity
• Solving special laptop problems

CD DESCRIPTION: On the first CD, you'll find over one hour of instructional video in which PC expert Mark Minasi teaches you his field-proven upgrade and repair techniques. These videos are a great resource and an unbeatable value. On the second CD, you get over 25 system tune-up and diagnostic tools-utilities that help you monitor and fine-tune your PC's performance, restrict access to programs and data, and recover quickly when disaster strikes. Plus there are more than 500 pages of bonus materials including an exclusive chapter on recovering data and fixing hard disks as well as a vendor guide!

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1664 pages
• Publisher: Sybex Inc; 12th Bk&Cr edition (August 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0782129900
• ISBN-13: 978-0782129908
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.6 x 2.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,556,525 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mark Minasi, CS Directory Services MVP, is one of the world's leading Windows authorities. He teaches classes in two dozen countries and is a much sought-after speaker at conferences and industry gathering keynotes. His firm, MR&D, has taught tens of thousands of people to design and run Windows networks. Mark has written over 15 books for Sybex, including the market-leading Mastering Windows Server 2003 and The Complete PC Upgrade and Maintenance Guide.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most authoritative book I've ever owned or read, March 23, 2002

By 

Optimus Prime (Madison, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete PC Upgrade & Maintenance Guide, 12th Ed. (Hardcover)

I've taken several technical support certification courses, and this was the textbook I used in half of them. Mark Minasi is an excellent writer who is able to "dumb down" all the minute details and translates very well the technical jargon of the trade. Minasi is also the writer of several Windows 2000 books which I've also read, and I've taken a fondness for his ability to start really big and progress quickly into smaller details without ever losing my interest or attention.

The chapters on hardware installation and introduction to networks are the best written and most authoritative material I've used to learn the subtle aspects of TCP/IP, ethernet, and token/bus ring topologies. Also, the chapters on computer upgrading and "building a dream computer from scratch" are well laid-out and detailed for avid geeks like me who like to destroy and build machines from scrap piles. I guess the best thing to say about this book is that it fostered an even deeper interest in computers than I had before reading.

One of the best perks of this book is that there is a moderate balance of graphics, charts and diagrams to go with his text. There is hardly anything intimidating about his presentation; novice and intermediate learners will have no problem getting to grasp every topic in this book. The twelfth edition also makes several revisions, particularly with misstated bandwidth numbers for Firewire and USB in the last edition). I haven't had a chance to test out the CDROMs, but several of my peers have recommended the video installation procedures, where Minasi goes over all the basics (like how to ground yourself properly, installing master/slave IDE devices, setting up SCSI cards, etc.)

I don't like giving heavily-biased support for any book, product or service, but in all honesty, this is by far the best and most authoritative source I've ever used to fix any hardware-related issue with a computer. There is no topic I can think of that doesn't get covered, and he throws in a little history and conceptual technology as well to spur more interest in the future technology.

In conclusion, the book is well worth the price, and I highly doubt most beginning and intermediate-level IT people will ever need to go beyond this edition as a reference source.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!, August 11, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Complete PC Upgrade & Maintenance Guide, 12th Ed. (Hardcover)

I have been looking forward to the release of Minasi's 12th ed. and I was not disappointed! I found it to move way beyond just "the basics". If you take the time to read this book from cover to cover you will not have many pc questions that go unanswered. This book does a great job of introducing you to the basics while guiding you into the more advanced areas of pcs. The way the info in the book is sectioned makes it very easy to reference back to quickly. Wether you have never touched a computer before or have many hours into pc repairs, this book will help. I highly recommend this book to all who are interested in learning about pcs.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars PC UPGRADE AND MAINTENANCE GUIDEt, October 10, 2001

By 

Mr. Murel N. Smith (Douglas, AZ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete PC Upgrade & Maintenance Guide, 12th Ed. (Hardcover)

This book is very well written in language that is easy
to read and understand. As a novice in the maintenance
of PC's this book better explains the problems that I
am encountering.