Customer Reviews

Troubleshooting Your PC for Dummies, 2nd Edition

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

[2nd edition review]

If you need this book, you're probably crying or swearing. But Troubleshooting Your PC For Dummies By Dan Gookin (Wiley) will help you solve the problem while putting a smile back on your face.

Chapter List:
Part 1 - What the @#$%&*!?: It's Not Your Fault! Well, It Might Be Your Fault; Stuff to Try First; Telling a Hardware Problem from a Software Problem; The "R" Chapter (Reinstall, Restore, Recycle, Recovery); Your Last Resort: Tech Support
Part 2 - Troubleshooting Minor Irks and Quirks: This Just Bugs Me!; Gosh! This Is Embarrassing!; Startup Problems; Finding Lost Files and Things; Sounds Like Trouble; The Mystery of System Resources (and Memory Leaks); The Slow PC; Keyboard, Mouse, and Monitor Dilemmas; Printer Problems; Dealing with Disk Disaster; Correcting Graphic Disgrace; Internet Connection Mayhem; Web Weirdness with Internet Explorer; E-Mail Calamities with Outlook Express; General Windows Disruptions (Or, Is This PC Possessed?); Windows Can Be Your Friend; Shutdown Constipation
Part 3 - Preventive Maintenance: Maintaining Your Disk Drives; Useful Tools and Weapons; The Benefits of Backup
Part 4 - The Part of Tens: The Ten Rules of Tech Support; Ten Dumb Error Messages; Ten Things You Should Never or Always Do
Appendix: Windows Startup Program Guide
Index

Even though I've been in Information Technology for over two decades, I generally don't do well at PC or Windows troubleshooting. I design business software, and I basically want my hardware and operating system to just work. While I've gotten better at troubleshooting, I'm still interested in any help I can find. Gookin does an excellent job in targeting the specific areas that are most likely to go haywire on your home or work PC, and he then gives you some of the more common approaches to resolving those problems. In addition, he also helps you to take ongoing steps to make sure your PC stays functional and clutter-free for as long as possible. Following the information in this book, there's a relatively good chance you'll be able to extricate yourself from a number of blunders or problems before you start teaching your children new words that shouldn't be repeated in public.

Long-term hardware techies or software/OS geeks will probably know most if not all of this information already. But this is the type of book I could conceivably give my dad in order to help him fix some of his own computer problems when I'm not around. Or he can have it on the shelf so *I* can use it when I show up to fix whatever he did. Either way, this book is a perfect first line of defense and reference when you're desperately trying to resurrect your great American novel from the dead...

IF YOU ARE LIKE ME AND DECIDE TO DO THINGS ON YOUR PC IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT YOU NEED A COPY OF THIS BOOK WHEN YOU GET STUCK. AND YOU WILL. UNLESS YOUR AN EXPERT, THIS BOOK WILL STEER YOU IN THE DIRECTION AND STEPS YOU NEED TO KEEP FROM BUYING A NEWW PC AFTER YOU TAKE A HAMMER TO THE ONE YOUR TRYING TO FIX. I ALWAYS TRY TO GET AS MANY MANUALS FOR WHAT I AM WORKING ON, EVEN CARS. THE WORLD KEEPS CHANGING AND WE NEED HELP TO KEEP UP/ THE BOOK IS INFORMATIVE AND EASY TO UNDERSTAND, NOT LIKE A TECH MANUAL.

This is was published in 2002, and has basic information on Windows 98, ME, and XP. It seems to cover the important things about XP. Overall, the book is good but at least five or six step by step recipes no longer work (I guess) as a result of changes to XP. I gave it 5 stars, but the book alone does not work nor is it current. You must seek additional help on the web or from Microsoft using their automated support to be 100% correct ("Microsoft Help and Support"). So, I recommend the book highly as a loaner from the library, not as a purchase, and use it with Microsoft resources and other web information.

As a reference point, I have a strong technical background in science and engineering and have used all versions of Windows going back for 14 years to Windows 3.1. Overall, I was surprised by the amount of detailed information in the book.

Before using the book, I recommend that you first download all Windows software updates on your computer, both for Windows XP, and all the drivers such as the printer software, and then see if that fixes all your problems. That is free and puts everything on the same basis. I had trouble printing with Adobe 8 on an older computer that I just inherited until the updates were installed. It was running on Windows XP, and the downloads fixed most problems. I did over 100 Microsoft XP downloads (all automated and free) plus Windows Service Pack 2 for XP. I still had some issues so I checked out this book from the library.

As with most readers, as one might guess, I did not start at page 1 nor was I overly impressed by the book at first glance. I had a few specific problems and wanted quick guidance. I looked on the Web as well for help and I looked at the book. I started with one problem which was hard to correct. I went to the book and found it in the index. It was a desktop problem, and in fact there are a few tricks using the "desktop" and the problem was not simply my imagination. The solution by Gookin was simple and it worked. After that, I realized that the book looks superficial but it contains a lot of information that most people are too busy to research on the web or read, or have missed. If you want a quick review on many small points, this is a good reference to keep handy. I did not buy the book; I borrowed it from the library for a few days and read it cover-to-cover, and made some notes on anything that was hard to remember, such as going into specific Window files to change obscure settings.

Some think the book is simple and "for computer dummies" and contains simple topics such as de-frag or file cleaning. That is not exactly what the book says. The book recommends that on certain versions of Windows the process fails and third party software should be purchased such as Norton to manage and clean the computer. I had already figured that out myself, but he had a number of other points as well. The main strength of the book (at the present date in 2007) is to use it as guide or road map of the key points to learn. But, one must review and update the details using Microsoft Help on the web as one learns.

Recommend: 5 stars but as a loaner from the library, or buy used.

This is a very good book for troubleshooting, and if you think you could use this, you probably could. Do you know how to defrag a hard drive? If not, this is for you (it's easy, really).

I got this book because I live in Korea, and my new computer came with Windows XP in Korean; I'd never used XP before, so figuring it out in addition to the Korean was too much for me. I wanted to try this before shelling out for an English OS, and this appears to be good enough. I've been able to figure out almost everything, without even knowing the language that my OS is in. So if you feel like your computer is speaking in a foreign language, well, this book is for you!

Seriously, though, I've decided to pick up PCs for dummies as well, just because there are still a few things I can't figure out, and a lot of the information is interesting to me, and after all, I can't read anything on my OS. If I were you, I'd check out that book before deciding to buy this one. Fortunately you can browse them pretty thoroughly here on Amazon before laying down your money.

This book was right on time. My computer was acting all stupid and, having read the book, I was able to solve the problem.

My grandson, age 14, is the real computer nerd in the family. I gave this to him as a gift. It must be good because he said it really helped.

Troubleshooting your PC for dummies, was very easy to read and the information will be very helpful.