Most computer users think that fiddling with the insides of their PC is taboo. They fear that by removing the screws that hold the case on, they're crossing into forbidden territory. And even for those who know they can open the box and fix or upgrade their PC, analysis paralysis often stops them in their tracks:

Which upgrades offer the best bang for the buck? How do you pinpoint the faulty component that's making your system freeze? What about compatibility issues?

Get ready to get unstuck and get your PC running fast and running right. Repairing and Upgrading Your PC delivers start-to-finish instructions, simple enough for even the most inexperienced PC owner, for troubleshooting, repairing, and upgrading your computer. Written by hardware experts Robert Bruce Thompson and Barbara Fritchman Thompson, this book covers it all: how to troubleshoot a troublesome PC, how to identify which components make sense for an upgrade, and how to tear it all down and put it back together. This book shows how to repair and upgrade all of your PC's essential components:

• Motherboard, CPU, and Memory. Choose the optimal match of these core components to keep your PC running at top speed

• Hard Drive, Optical Drive, and Removable Storage

• Give your computer what it needs for long-term and short-term storage

• Audio and Video. Enhance your computing experience with the right sound and graphics devices for your needs

• Input Devices. Pick the best keyboard and mouse to keep your hands happy and healthy

• Networking. Set up secure wireless networking to keep the bits flowing between your computers and the outside world

• Cases and Power Supplies. Keep everything running cool and reliably

With its straightforward language, clear instructions, and extensive illustrations, this book makes it a breeze for PC owners of any skill level to work on their computer.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 35 Ratings

Too Old - 2008-12-31
Reviewer Rating:
This might have been useful in 2000 when it was first printed, but references to Windows 98 don't help much in a Vista world. Why publish a 2nd edition without updating the information?

Farewell to Hardware Headaches - 2008-10-22
Reviewer Rating:
I had my first computer in 1997, and upgraded to a new motherboard in 1998, in 7th grade. Whenever my mom took me to the local library, I would peruse the PC magazines. When I got Internet access, I read hardware reviews on recent startups such as Tom's Hardware (1996), AnandTech (1997), and Ars Technica (1998); and shopped on PriceWatch (1995). The PC upgrade genre is all too familiar to me. I was young back then, too enthusiastic about clicking every menu item on the screen, and absorbed prodigious amounts of information in the process. As time went on, I pursued more academic subjects such as math and physics because, honestly, computers cause me stress.

_Repairing and Upgrading Your PC_ (2006) by Thompson & Thompson takes the stress out of this otherwise fun activity. First of all, the book has a standard outline:
Ch.1-3: introduction
Ch.4: motherboards
Ch.5: CPUs
and so forth. Each chapter is comprehensive. Their bits of advice appeal to a wide range of audience, a feat that online reviews often fail to accomplish. With the exception of a few sections on CPUs, chipsets, memory, and so forth, the book is still relevant in 2008. In this sense, this book is superior to the fragmented Building the Perfect PC, Second Edition by the same authors.

The best aspect of this book is that it helps the reader to avoid costly mistakes. Such valuable information is brewed from experience. For example, it claims that Seagate hard drives are more reliable than Western Digital, Samsung, and Hitachi. I would accept this claim based on my limited experience that two of my four WD hard drives failed - a Raptor and an RE2 WD5000YS.

Its chapter on optical drives is excellent. Finally, knowing its procedure for washing keyboards is worth the cost of this book - as I hate touching oily objects, and the so-called washable keyboards cost at least twice as much as this book.

Highly recommended.

Great Book!! - 2009-09-10
Reviewer Rating:
This is a great book. It helps you determine what is important to make your computer faster and what is just a new things that needs to work out the kinks. It is a great resource if you want to build a new system. It also has websites you can go to to keep up with the newest technology.

Really readable - 2009-03-22
Reviewer Rating:
This is the most readable computer text I've ever seen. The chatty format covers a lot of great information in an interesting way. The photos were superb too. Highly recommended.

Cover and binding damaged - 2008-08-28
Reviewer Rating:
The content of the book is good. But I wanted to write a review when I learned I would have to pay return shipping for a product that arrived damaged. The paperback cover is glued on, and it came unglued, and I can't get it to re-attach. The binding itself is also torn, and the first part of the book, the pages are loose at the bottom half.
I'm extremely upset at having paid for a new book and received this junk. I dont have a printer, and am not paying return shipping to get my money back, so I'm stuck with it. My only option is to let others know what happened to me. It wont hold up to repeated use, since it is a technical manual.

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