The complete idiot's guide to upgrading your PC / Jennifer Fulton.

CONTENIDO
Contents at a Glance
Part 1: First Steps Down the Opgrade Path 1
1 The Top Ten Things You Need to Know 3
Find out why it's worth going through this much pain to upgrade
2 Taking a Look Around the Back 7
Discovering what kind of connectors your PC has
3 Taking a Look Inside 17
What makes a computer tick
4 Finding Out What Kind of Computer You Have 39
How to find out what your PC has without tearing it apart
5 What You Should Know Before You Upgrade 55
Distinguishing between what you really need and what you want
6 Upgrades That Make Windows 95 Happier 65
What it takes to run a modern operating system
7 Examining Your Alternatives 79
How to get the most out of what you already have
8 When Upgrading Was Not Your Idea 93
How to find what's broken so you can replace it
Part 2: Easy Upgrades 103
9 Dealing with a Funky Keyboard 105
Got the upgrade jitters? Try this one first
10 Mousing Around 115
you dirty rat!
11 Painless Printing 125
What to do when the printer poops out
Part 3: Really Revving Up Your PC 143
12 Before You Open That Box 145
Protecting yourself from disaster
13 Getting Your PC to Go Fast 159
Giving your PC a better brain (CPU)
14 Solving a Hard Disk Problem 177
Adding a new hard disk gives you more room for software
15 Make Mine More Memory! 191
Why increasing RAM helps your programs run better
16 Getting a Clearer Picture 207
Taking advantage of modern video capabilities
17 Replacing a Floppy Drive 221
What to do when the floppy drive stops floppin
18 Powering Up the Power Supply 235
After you upgrade everything else, you may need to tum up the juice!
Part 4: Upgrades That WiII Make Your Neighbor Jealous 243
19 Adding a CD-ROM Drive 245
Wanna play the latest games and your CDs too?
20 Sensational Stereophonic Sound 259
Jumping into the multimedia arena
21 Adding a Modem 269
Yes, there's a world outside of your desktop
Part 5: Getting Your PC to Figure Out What You've Done 279
22 Getting DOS to Recognize Your New Toy 281
Dealing with the stupid CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files
23 Getting Windows to Recognize Your New Toy 289
After you add a new component, come here to configure it
24 Fiddling with Ports, IRQs, Addresses, and Duch 299
What to do when your PC's parts start fighting
Index 309