TechTV's Upgrading Your PC
by Soper, Mark EdwardEdition: 2nd
Format: Paperback w/Disk
Pub. Date: 2004-01-01
Publisher(s): TechTV
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Summary
Whether your computer is so new that the box is still sitting in your den or old enough that it entered the new millennium with you, it could be faster, better, and more versatile. This book shows you how to make the upgrades you want, to create the computer you crave. Learn how to discover what you already have and then select and install the most beneficial technologies for better computing... Book jacket.
Table of Contents
| Before You Upgrade | p. 1 |
| Making the Decision to Upgrade | p. 3 |
| The Big Three Benefits of Upgrading | p. 3 |
| Repairs as a Back-Door Way to System Upgrades | p. 6 |
| How Extended Warranties Can Prevent Upgrades | p. 7 |
| Most Popular Upgrades Checklist | p. 8 |
| Upgrade Strategies | p. 11 |
| Why You Need an Upgrade Strategy | p. 11 |
| Upgrading by Task | p. 12 |
| Upgrading by Budget | p. 15 |
| Deciding by Age: Three Years and Out | p. 22 |
| When Upgrades Don't Make Sense | p. 25 |
| Alternatives to Upgrades | p. 27 |
| Fixing Common Hardware Problems | p. 28 |
| Fixing Other PC Annoyances | p. 39 |
| Fixing Problems with Windows | p. 51 |
| Using Windows Hard Disk Tools | p. 65 |
| Troubleshooting Call for Help | p. 70 |
| Taking an Inspection Tour of Your System | p. 75 |
| Three Methods for Evaluating Your System | p. 75 |
| Potential Upgrade Traps | p. 77 |
| Recording Your System Information | p. 81 |
| What Your System Tells You at Startup | p. 85 |
| Using Software to Evaluate Your System | p. 88 |
| Taking a Look Inside Your System | p. 93 |
| Eyeballing Your System | p. 98 |
| Practicing: Some Upgrade Scenarios | p. 115 |
| Preparing for Your Upgrade | p. 121 |
| Don't Upgrade Without a Net | p. 121 |
| Creating Emergency Disks | p. 122 |
| Using the System Restore Feature in Windows Me or Windows XP | p. 128 |
| Making Backups | p. 130 |
| Recording System Information | p. 142 |
| Building or Buying Your Toolkit | p. 147 |
| The Right Upgrades for You | p. 151 |
| Upgrades for Gaming | p. 151 |
| Upgrades for Video Editing and Playback | p. 156 |
| Upgrades for Digital Imaging | p. 158 |
| Upgrades for Broadband Internet | p. 160 |
| Upgrades for Digital Music | p. 162 |
| Upgrades for Education | p. 163 |
| Upgrades for Web Site Building and Programming | p. 165 |
| Upgrading for Performance | p. 167 |
| RAM Your Way to Faster Performance | p. 169 |
| Ten Reasons to Upgrade Your RAM | p. 170 |
| How Your Computer Uses RAM | p. 170 |
| Types of RAM | p. 172 |
| Using Your Memory Sockets Effectively | p. 178 |
| Avoiding Memory Upgrade Pitfalls | p. 179 |
| Buying Your RAM | p. 184 |
| Memory Installation--Pop 'Em in and Power Up Your System! | p. 189 |
| Memory Upgrades for Notebook and Portable Systems | p. 191 |
| When You Need to Upgrade Other Components First | p. 192 |
| Troubleshooting Your Memory Upgrade | p. 193 |
| Speedy Computing with Processor Upgrades | p. 197 |
| Ten Reasons to Upgrade Your Processor | p. 198 |
| Processors 101 | p. 198 |
| Processors at the End of the Trail | p. 200 |
| Socket to Me! How Sockets, BIOS Chips, and Chipsets Determine Your Options | p. 201 |
| Pentium II, Pentium III, Pentium 4, and Celeron Upgrades | p. 205 |
| AMD Athlon, Athlon XP, and Duron Upgrades | p. 212 |
| OEM Versus Boxed Processors | p. 215 |
| Protecting Your New Processor | p. 220 |
| Out with the Old, In with the New | p. 222 |
| Troubleshooting Your Processor Upgrade | p. 233 |
| Unlock Your System's Potential with Motherboard and BIOS Upgrades | p. 237 |
| Ten Reasons to Upgrade Your Motherboard | p. 238 |
| What the Motherboard Does | p. 239 |
| Selecting the Right Motherboard | p. 240 |
| Deciding Between Similar Motherboards | p. 251 |
| The Motherboard Upgrade Process | p. 254 |
| Barebones PCs Are an Easier Way to Upgrade | p. 264 |
| Five Reasons to Upgrade Your BIOS | p. 265 |
| Upgrading the BIOS Chip | p. 266 |
| Troubleshooting Motherboard Problems | p. 277 |
| Upgrading for Greater Storage Capacity | p. 281 |
| Adding a Huge Hard Disk | p. 283 |
| Ten Reasons to Add a Huge Hard Disk | p. 284 |
| What to Do Until the New Hard Drive Arrives | p. 285 |
| ATA the Traditional Way | p. 286 |
| Overcoming Drive Size Limitations | p. 296 |
| Serial ATA--The New Kid in Town | p. 299 |
| Plug It in, Plug It in--USB and IEEE-1394a Drives | p. 301 |
| SCSI--Fast, Powerful, but Unfriendly | p. 302 |
| Selecting the Right Hard Disk for You | p. 303 |
| Shopping for a New Hard Disk | p. 306 |
| Installing an Internal Drive | p. 311 |
| Installing an External Drive | p. 327 |
| Replacing Your Old Hard Disk with a New Drive | p. 328 |
| Disk Preparation with Windows XP | p. 331 |
| Disk Preparation with Windows 98/Me | p. 334 |
| Troubleshooting Your Hard Disk Upgrade | p. 341 |
| Removable Storage to Go | p. 345 |
| Ten Reasons Why Removable Storage Still Makes Sense | p. 345 |
| Thumbs Down! on Floppy Drives | p. 346 |
| Data Backup or Data Sharing? | p. 347 |
| Magnetic Alternatives to Floppy Drives | p. 348 |
| Thumbs Up! for USB Thumb Drives | p. 352 |
| Removable and External Hard Drives | p. 354 |
| Flash Memory and Your PC | p. 359 |
| Back Up Your Digital Life with Tape | p. 363 |
| Installing a Removable-Media Drive | p. 370 |
| Troubleshooting Call for Help: Removable Storage | p. 372 |
| A Burning Desire for Better Optical Drives | p. 375 |
| Ten Reasons You Might Need a New Optical Drive | p. 376 |
| Types of Optical Drives and Interfaces | p. 376 |
| Reading the Riot Act to Read-Only Drives | p. 384 |
| Rewriting the CD Way | p. 385 |
| Rewriting the DVD Way | p. 388 |
| Combo Drives | p. 390 |
| Choosing the Best Optical Drive for You | p. 391 |
| Installing an Internal Optical Drive | p. 394 |
| Installing an External Optical Drive | p. 399 |
| Troubleshooting Optical Drives | p. 400 |
| Upgrading for Better Multimedia | p. 405 |
| Extra Vroom with Faster Graphics and Bigger Displays | p. 407 |
| Ten Reasons to Upgrade Your Graphics and Display | p. 408 |
| Displays and Graphics 101 | p. 409 |
| How Your Motherboard Affects Your Graphics Upgrade Options | p. 411 |
| AGP Versus PCI Slots | p. 413 |
| AGP Slots and Voltage Standards | p. 415 |
| Selecting the Chipset That's Best | p. 417 |
| Key Features to Look For | p. 418 |
| Out with the Old, In with the New | p. 426 |
| Removing the Old Card | p. 426 |
| Installing the New Video Card and Driver Software | p. 429 |
| Configuring Your New Video Card | p. 431 |
| A Bigger, Better Monitor Awaits | p. 432 |
| CRTs | p. 432 |
| LCD Display Panels | p. 434 |
| Traps to Avoid | p. 436 |
| Swapping Your Monitor | p. 436 |
| Fine-Tuning Your New Display and Graphics Card | p. 437 |
| Portable Particulars | p. 440 |
| Troubleshooting Your Graphics Upgrade | p. 441 |
| Help! I've installed a new video card and now my system won't boot! | p. 441 |
| Help! I'm getting video card errors after I installed my new video card! | p. 441 |
| Help! My system can't find the video card or display drivers! | p. 442 |
| Help! I can't select high resolutions or color depths, even though I know my video card has plenty of video RAM! | p. 442 |
| Help! My CRT's display looks like a funhouse mirror when I change resolutions or refresh rates! | p. 442 |
| Help! I decided to reuse an old PCI graphics card instead of buying a new dual-display graphics card and I can't get my system to recognize the new card | p. 442 |
| Help! I just went to the store to buy a new monitor and the salesperson recommends that I buy an extended service plan to go with it. Should I listen to the salesperson's recommendation? | p. 443 |
| PC Audio and More | p. 445 |
| Ten Reasons to Upgrade Your Audio Hardware | p. 446 |
| Understanding PC Sound Standards | p. 446 |
| Evaluating Your Current Sound Hardware | p. 451 |
| Onboard Sound Versus Sound Cards | p. 451 |
| Upgrading to Better Audio | p. 458 |
| Upgrading Your Speaker System | p. 467 |
| Selecting the Right Microphone | p. 472 |
| Troubleshooting Your Sound Upgrade | p. 474 |
| Digital Imaging and Video | p. 477 |
| Ten Reasons to Move to Digital Imaging and Video | p. 478 |
| Understanding Resolution | p. 478 |
| Selecting the Right Digital Camera | p. 479 |
| Selecting the Right Scanner | p. 488 |
| Selecting the Right DV Camcorder | p. 495 |
| Connecting Your Imaging Device to Your PC | p. 501 |
| Troubleshooting Imaging Devices | p. 506 |
| Upgrading Connectivity | p. 511 |
| Get Yourself Broadband--It's (Always) Going Fast! | p. 513 |
| Ten Reasons to Get Broadband | p. 513 |
| Understanding Broadband 101 | p. 514 |
| The Contenders | p. 519 |
| Making the Move to Broadband--The Process | p. 530 |
| Self-Installing DSL | p. 531 |
| Self-Installing Cable Internet | p. 532 |
| Making Sure Your PC is Broadband-Ready | p. 533 |
| Adding Webcams and Other Enhancements | p. 533 |
| Troubleshooting Your Broadband Connection | p. 534 |
| Share the Wealth with a Home Network | p. 537 |
| Ten Reasons You Should Network Your Home | p. 538 |
| Types of Home Networks | p. 538 |
| Installing a Typical 10/100 Ethernet Home Network | p. 549 |
| Installing HomePNA and HomePlug Networks | p. 555 |
| Cabling Do's and Don'ts | p. 556 |
| Adding a Router or Gateway for Easy Internet Sharing | p. 556 |
| Creating a Link Between Wired and Wireless Networks | p. 558 |
| Adding Digital TV and Audio to Your Home Network | p. 559 |
| Controlling Access and Enhancing Security | p. 561 |
| Troubleshooting Your Home Network | p. 563 |
| Wireless Wonders | p. 565 |
| Ten Reasons Wireless Connections Benefit You | p. 565 |
| Types of Wireless Connectivity | p. 566 |
| Discovering If You Already Have Wireless Connectivity | p. 567 |
| Adding Wi-Fi/Wireless Ethernet Capability | p. 567 |
| Adding Bluetooth Capability | p. 581 |
| Troubleshooting Your Wireless Connection | p. 585 |
| Input This! Output That! | p. 587 |
| Adding the Ports You Need for the Devices You Want | p. 589 |
| Ten Reasons to Add Faster Ports | p. 589 |
| Standard Port Types and Uses | p. 590 |
| High-Speed Ports You Can add--And Why | p. 597 |
| Adding USB 2.0 Ports | p. 603 |
| Adding IEEE-1394a Ports | p. 604 |
| Adding USB 2.0 and IEEE-1394 Ports to Your Notebook Computer | p. 608 |
| Specifying High-Speed Ports on Your Next Motherboard or Computer | p. 609 |
| Adding Hubs and Converters | p. 610 |
| Troubleshooting Your New Ports | p. 611 |
| Selecting the Best Input Devices | p. 615 |
| Ten Reasons to Upgrade Your Input Devices | p. 615 |
| Benefits of USB Input Devices | p. 616 |
| Benefits of Wireless Input Devices | p. 618 |
| Tweaking Your System BIOS to Enable a USB Keyboard | p. 619 |
| Choosing the Correct Keyboard | p. 621 |
| Choosing the Right Pointing Device | p. 623 |
| Choosing the Right Game Controller | p. 626 |
| Installing Your New Input Devices | p. 627 |
| Useful Accessories | p. 628 |
| Troubleshooting Your New Devices | p. 629 |
| Output Unlimited with Printer Upgrades | p. 633 |
| Ten Reasons to Replace Your Printer | p. 634 |
| Understanding Printer Types and Technologies | p. 636 |
| Selecting the Best Printer | p. 644 |
| Installing Your Printer | p. 653 |
| Getting the Most from Your Printer | p. 658 |
| Troubleshooting Your New Printer | p. 665 |
| Upgrading System Stability | p. 667 |
| Power Supply Upgrades | p. 669 |
| Ten Reasons You Might Need a New Power Supply | p. 669 |
| Fast Facts About Power Supplies | p. 670 |
| Selecting the Right Power Supply | p. 671 |
| Power Supply Ratings | p. 674 |
| What You Must Know Before You Buy | p. 678 |
| The Replacement Process | p. 682 |
| The Power Supply Protection Detail | p. 687 |
| Portable Particulars | p. 690 |
| Troubleshooting Power Problems | p. 690 |
| Winning Windows Upgrades | p. 693 |
| Ten Reasons to Upgrade to a New Operating System | p. 694 |
| Should You Keep Your Current Operating System? | p. 694 |
| Choosing Your Next Operating System | p. 696 |
| XP's the One--But Which XP Is for You? | p. 701 |
| Think Twice About the Penguin (Linux) | p. 708 |
| The Windows XP Upgrade Process | p. 710 |
| Troubleshooting Your Windows Upgrade | p. 721 |
| Upgrading for Portability | p. 723 |
| Upgrading to Mobile Information Devices | p. 725 |
| Ten Reasons to Go Mobile | p. 726 |
| Your Mobility Options | p. 726 |
| Which Way to Mobility Is Best for You? | p. 736 |
| Making the Most of Your Existing Mobility Devices | p. 736 |
| Troubleshooting Your Mobile Information Device | p. 741 |
| Upgrading Your Portable's Connection with Your PC | p. 743 |
| Ten Reasons to Improve How Your Devices Share Information | p. 743 |
| Upgrading to Better Synchronizing Software | p. 744 |
| Cradles, Cables, and Your PDA | p. 746 |
| Solving File-Format Frustrations | p. 748 |
| Troubleshooting Your Portable's Connection to Your PC | p. 751 |
| Glossary | p. 753 |
| Index | p. 789 |
| Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |
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