Editor Reviews:

Product Description:
Operating a personal computer requires more than just dealing with the PC itself. As anyone with even a modicum of computer experience can attest, there are all types of hardware devices which you must become familiar with disk drives, printers, monitors, and sound cards, just to name a few. And, naturally, each is fraught with its own set of bugs and snares. PC Hardware Annoyances, the latest installment of O'Reilly's highly successful Annoyances series, aims to optimize these peripheral systems by offering easy fixes to their most annoying traits. With over 40 titles to his credit, author Stephen Bigelow identifies all those annoyances that make you cringe in frustration. Then, through the use of snappy, entertaining, and practical solutions, he shows you how to clear each obstacle one step at a time. After that, the rest is up to you. Designed for PC users of all levels, this handy guide doesn't bore you with long dissertations on the workings of the technology at hand. Instead, it offers straightforward, easy-to-understand troubleshooting solutions. For maximum ease of use, PC Hardware Annoyances is broken up into several broad hardware categories. They include desktops, laptops and PDAs, graphics, sound, hard drives, CD/DVD drives, network, and printers and scanners. And while you may not use each of these accessories currently, chances are it's only a matter of time before you'll need their technological services whether it's for work or recreation. What makes PC Hardware Annoyances especially timely is the growing trend among computer owners to simply upgrade their PCs as they age, rather than replacing them altogether. With peripheral devices becoming increasingly affordable, there's no reason not to. But as with any do-it-yourself project, trouble lurks around the corner if you don't have the right guide. Having difficulty setting up your color inkjet printer? Trying to burn a music CD? Is your modem misbehaving? The remedy: PC Hardware Annoyances, of course!

Rating : - resource-full book, but little for the average computer user

Do you know how to get to Mouse Properties in the control panel without instructions? If not, then you might not be able to follow half the material in this book.

Examples of Annoyances addressed in this book:
"I replaced my CMOS backup battery just a few months ago, but I still see occasional CMOS battery errors..."
"I updated my BIOS and need to clear the CMOS RAM, but my motherboard lacks the proper jumper..."
"I want to overclock my PC..."
"Will my system crash if two PCI devices share the same IRQ line?"
"I tried to install DDR333 DIMMs along with my existing DDR400 DIMMs... I thought the modules were compatible..."
"I ran the System File Checker for Windows XP and got a DLL cache error."

There are a few easier topics that an average computer user like me can find useful and understandable ("My CD-RW drive refuses to eject my audio CD."), but the examples above are typical of the difficulty level of the content.

I'm a big fan of the Annoyances series, and this is a book meant for those who are keenly interested in computers, so I'll make sure to go back and read it after I've accumulated more knowledge. In the meantime, it'll serve as a standby reference to consult if a particular hardware problem comes up.