Book Description
Upgrading and Repairing PCs is the runaway best-selling PC hardware book of all time and one of the best-selling computer books ever! This 15th Edition is loaded with the most up-to-date hardware information anywhere. World-renowned PC hardware expert Scott Mueller has taught thousands in his weeklong seminars and millions through his books, videos and articles. This edition contains hundreds of pages of new material, including the latest in processor and motherboard technologies. The DVD offers you more than two hours of high quality video plus a searchable hard drive database, a searchable vendor database, and thousands of pages of legacy PC hardware coverage that can no longer be included in the printed book, but that are invaluable to PC techs servicing older computers!

About the Author
Author Bio: Upgrading and Repairing PCs, Fifteenth EditionUpgrading and Repairing PCs, Fifteenth Edition Author Bio Scott Mueller is president of Mueller Technical Research (MTR), an international research and corporate training firm. Since 1982, MTR has produced the industry's most in-depth, accurate, and effective seminars, books, articles, videos, and FAQs covering PC hardware and data recovery. MTR maintains a client list that includes Fortune 500 companies, the U.S. and foreign governments, major software and hardware corporations, as well as PC enthusiasts and entrepreneurs. His seminars have been presented to several thousands of PC support professionals throughout the world. Scott personally teaches seminars nationwide covering all aspects of PC hardware (including troubleshooting, maintenance, repair, and upgrade), A+ Certification, and data recovery/forensics. He has a knack for making technical topics not only understandable, but entertaining as well; his classes are never boring! If you have 10 or more people to train, Scott can design and present a custom seminar for your organization. Although he has taught classes virtually nonstop since 1982, Scott is best known as the author of the longest running, most popular, and most comprehensive PC hardware book in the world, Upgrading and Repairing PCs, which has not only been produced in more than 15 editions, but has also become the core of an entire series of books. Scott has authored many books over the last 20+ years, including Upgrading and Repairing PCs, 1st through 15th and Academic editions; Upgrading and Repairing PCs: A+ Certification Study Guide, 1st and 2nd editions; Upgrading and Repairing PCs Technician's Portable Reference, 1st and 2nd editions; Upgrading and Repairing PCs Field Guide; Upgrading and Repairing PCs Quick Reference; Upgrading and Repairing PCs, Linux Edition; Killer PC Utilities; The IBM PS/2 Handbook; and Que's Guide to Data Recovery. Scott has produced several video training packages covering PC hardware, including a new 6-hour, CD-based seminar titled Upgrading and Repairing PCs Training Course: A Digital Seminar from Scott Mueller. This course is ideal for those who cannot afford to bring Scott in-house. Scott has also produced other videos over the years, including Upgrading and Repairing PCs Video: 12th Edition; Your PC: The Inside Story; as well as 2 hours of free video training that were included in each of the 10th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, and Laptop/Notebook editions of Upgrading and Repairing PCs. Scott has always included unique video segments with his books, rather than using the same clips every year. Many people have collected each of the older editions just to get the unique video training segments included with them. Contact MTR directly if you have a unique book, article, or video project in mind, or if you want Scott to conduct a custom PC troubleshooting, repair, maintenance, upgrade, or data-recovery seminar tailored for your organization: Mueller Technical Research 21 Spring Lane Barrington Hills, IL 60010-9009 (847) 854-6794 (847) 854-6795 Fax Internet: scottmueller@compuserve.com Web: http://www.upgradingandrepairingpcs.com http://www.m-tr.com Scott's premiere work, Upgrading and Repairing PCs, has sold well over 2 million copies, making it by far the most popular and longest-running PC hardware book on the market today. Scott has been featured in Forbes magazine and has written several articles for Maximum PC magazine, several newsletters, and the Upgrading and Repairing PCs Web site. Scott has recently completed two new works, Upgrading and Repairing Laptops and Upgrading and Repairing PCs Video Training Course, and is hard at work on Upgrading and Repairing Servers, also a new, first-of-its-kind book. If you have suggestions for the next version of this book, any comments about the book in general, or new book or article topics you would like to see covered, send them to Scott via email at scottmueller@compuserve.com or visit http://www.upgradingandrepairingpcs.com and click the Ask Scott button. When he is not working on PC-related books or on the road teaching seminars, Scott can usually be found in the garage working on several vehicular projects. He is currently working on a custom 1999 Harley-Davidson FLHRCI Road King Classic and a modified 1998 5.9L (360ci) Grand Cherokee—a hot rod 4x4.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
In 2003, there has been a bumper crop of new PC technology. And to help you assess it, implement it, fix it, Scott Mueller produced the indispensable 15th edition of his legendary Upgrading & Repairing PCs.

For example, this edition includes detailed coverage of AMD's Opteron, the revolutionary 64-bit processor that delivers remarkable performance without sacrificing compatibility. Intel's latest innovations are here, too -- notably the new Hyper Threading Technology, which gives you two "virtual processors" inside the same Pentium 4.

These processors have immense performance potential, but you'll need new motherboards, memories, and chipsets to deliver on it. Mueller covers the latest, hottest stuff -- from higher bus speeds to dual-channel memory architecture. Along the way, he addresses everything from processor slots to form factors, cases, and power connectors -- the details wherein the devil often hides.

He's equally strong on the "almost new" technologies now coming into widespread use. For example, as part of a detailed chapter on optical storage, he demystifies the bewildering menagerie of DVD standards (DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, DVD-R, DVD-RW). Which ones are likely to last? How do you minimize your risks? What do you need to know about copyright protection and other, umm, realities?

As the value of computers increasingly moves to the network, Mueller has increased the book's coverage of networking, from LANs to broadband Internet connectivity. This edition covers all of today's Wi-Fi wireless standards, slow to fast, cheap to expensive -- with a focus on interoperability issues.

Most computers that need repair or upgrading aren't brand new, so Mueller presents systematic coverage of mainstream technologies, including every significant PC component. You'll find entire chapters dedicated to your PC's BIOS; to hard drives; to audio hardware; to I/O devices ranging from ancient RS-232 to contemporary USB 2.0, Serial ATA, and IEEE-1394b. Where you can upgrade existing devices to get the performance offered by newer interfaces, he tells you.

He covers myriad removable storage media from today's external USB 2.0 and FireWire drives to those failed media formats that doubtless hold your Great American Novel. His detailed coverage of backup/restore issues includes exceptional guidance on trying to recover data that seems irretrievably lost (even data on formatted, repartitioned, or erased hard drives and formatted flash memory devices).

In recent editions, Mueller added a detailed troubleshooting index that identifies hundreds of common PC hardware problems and points you directly to the solutions. That's still here, but the 15th edition adds new coverage on resurrecting dead systems and tracking down the flakiness in flaky systems.

Last but definitely not least, there's a DVD-ROM with two full hours of thoroughly updated digital video, in which Mueller walks you through a laundry list of current PC maintenance and repair tasks. Thankfully, the DVD will run on your home DVD player -- so if you've taken your computer apart and you've got no idea what to do next, you can still have Mueller show you. Bill Camarda

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks for Dummies, Second Edition.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Upgrading and Repairing PCs, Fifth Edition, is the most comprehensive PC support reference available. Discover the best way to assess your system, install hardware, and troubleshoot problems. Learn about the latest state-of-the-art motherboards, processors, memory, and disk drives. This book addresses all PC-compatible systems, from notebooks to towers, as well as Windows 95 and the new Plug and Play standard - providing the most complete and up-to-date technical reference available. This book contains everything you need to know. You'll find detailed information and specifications for every component in your PC, including major peripherals. Special sections detail system capabilities and upgrade options, and troubleshooting tips help you identify and solve problems.

FROM THE CRITICS

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