Upgrading and Fixing Computers Do-it-Yourself For Dummies

Introduction 1 Part I: Getting Ready to Upgrade 7 Chapter 1: Start Here First 9 Chapter 2: Assembling Your Tools 23 Part II: Making Your Computer Work Better 27 Chapter 3: Keyboards, Mice, Game Controllers, and Monitors 29 Chapter 4: Printers and Scanners 51 Chapter 5: Adding More Memory 67 Chapter 6: Adding or Replacing a Hard Drive 73 Chapter 7: Adding a DVD Drive 101 Chapter 8: Fine-Tuning Your Computer’s Sound 109 Chapter 9: Beefi ng Up Your Computer’s Video Card 119 Chapter 10: Replacing the Power Supply or Laptop Battery 129 Part III: Teaching an Old Computer New Tricks 139 Chapter 11: Creating a Home Theater with Windows 7’s Media Center 141 Chapter 12: Upgrading a Computer for Editing Movies 155 Chapter 13: Repurposing an Old Computer 161 Part IV: Communications 171 Chapter 14: Adding or Replacing a Modem 173 Chapter 15: Linking Computers with a Network 185 Chapter 16: Filtering Out Evil with Firewalls 199 Part V: Introducing Parts to Windows 207 Chapter 17: Hiring the Right Driver for Windows 209 Chapter 18: Installing or Upgrading to Windows 7 227 Chapter 19: Troubleshooting and Fixing Windows 7 247 Chapter 20: Moving from the Old Computer to the New Computer 265 Part VI: The Part of Tens 277 Chapter 21: Ten Ways to Find Help Online 279 Chapter 22: Ten Cheap Fixes to Try First 287 Appendix: The Rathbone Reference of Fine Ports 293 Index 303