Customer Reviews

Peter Norton's Upgrading and Repairing PCs

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I have two years hands on experience with pc's and win-95. I am used to my employers computer tech entering and saying something like '16 mb of ram is more than enough for this office and adding more would not speed up things or prevent the need to reboot every 3 hours' Then I ask "well why does the same computer you have with 128 mb run faster"? 'well thats just luck'. So I decided to buy a book to explain. I think Peter Norton is the PC tech I have been talking to. The book gives a BASIC DESCRIPTION of the guts of the PC but does not explain in detail the reason you want one upgrade over another and it certainly does not tell you how to do something in enough detail to make it a smooth install. For example what if you change EDO chips and get an error? Just the possibility of that occuring should stop some novices from screwing up there system and finding a tech to perform the install for them. No, this book is not a guide. It provides just enough info for the novice user to screw up his/her computer. BEWARE!!!!! By the way when the tech left the co. and we installed 64 mb of ram the computers ability to receive info from the server doubled and the units quit crashing every 4 hours with lack of resources warnings.

This 1997 book covers the many areas of a 'beige box' to help you understand the workings of the hardware. Its aim is to help you to extend and enhance your PC, and is intended for intermediate to advanced users. The operating system is Windows 95, the then latest version. It covers topics that are rarely explained in the monthly hobby magazines. This provides an objective treatment instead of one oriented to the advertisers. You should know that you rarely ''repair'' a PC or its components. Failing components are replaced by new ones, like batteries in a flashlight. Upgrading is much more likely, especially with a slightly older PC. This book is written on a level that the average person can understand. The Glossary defines the terms used, the Index covers the preceding pages. Chapter 4 'Troubleshooting' should be read thoroughly. Part II explains the inside workings of a PC. CD-RW has replaced the often trouble-prone tape back-up devices. AGP has supplanted PCI graphic cards. Chapter 12 'Hard Disks' does not document the different jumper settings for IDE devices (p.260). That is too important to omit! Figure 8.1 on page 173 does not show soldered cache. Page 233 says a motherboard with a single IDE controller cannot support a CD-ROM drive (not true for a 386 or 486 made after 1990).

Whether you read the whole book page by page, skim through it, or just read selected topics, you will become more knowledgeable about the components that make up a personal computer. [This is from the first edition.]