REVIEW - The Complete Idiot's Guide to Fixing Your #$%@ PC


Title:

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Fixing Your #$%@ PC

Author:

Michael Miller

ISBN:

Publisher:

Penguin (1999)

Pages:

398pp

Reviewer:

Francis Glassborow

Reviewed:

June 2000

Rating:

★★☆☆☆


Let me start by stating the obvious, unless you are pretty knowledgeable already then the best way to fix your computer is to find an expert locally who will do it for you. Some people are willing to spend the time learning enough to maintain their own cars but most pay someone else. Furthermore as cars have become increasingly high tech it has become increasingly difficult (and dangerous to your wealth) to try doing anything more than simple cleaning for yourself.

It will be expensive and probably too late to call in the expert after you have messed up.

Having issued the mandatory warnings, if you really want to acquire skills in maintaining your own computer(s) this book is a fair place to start. I would suggest that you first read the whole book and try to understand as much as you can. If you still want to go ahead and learn machine maintenance read it again slowly. Now go and back up everything and put aside some money for when you screw up.

Now you are on your own and the book will help you up to a point.

Let me give you an example. In the chapter on what to do if your mouse stops working it tells you to 'click' on a button. That will be more than a little difficult given the problem you are trying to fix.

By the way this is not a book about upgrading so do not expect much help with fitting something such as a new graphics card.

In summary, this is not a bad book to have if you confine yourself to simple problems, and pass the more complicated ones to an expert. Unfortunately, the biggest problem is to distinguish simple problems from others and here the book gives you little guidance.


Book cover image courtesy of Open Library.





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