Introduction...1 Part I: Getting Ready to Upgrade...7. Chapter 1: Start Here First...9 Chapter 2: Assembling Your Tools...23

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1 Contents at a Glance 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 Chapter 8: Fine-Tuning Your Computer s Sound Chapter 9: Beefing Up Your Computer s Video Card Chapter 10: Replacing the Power Supply or Laptop Battery Part III: Teaching an Old Computer New Tricks Chapter 11: Creating a Home Theater with Windows 7 s Media Center Chapter 12: Upgrading a Computer for Editing Movies Chapter 13: Repurposing an Old Computer Part IV: Communications Chapter 14: Adding or Replacing a Modem Chapter 15: Linking Computers with a Network Chapter 16: Filtering Out Evil with Firewalls Part V: Introducing Parts to Windows Chapter 17: Hiring the Right Driver for Windows Chapter 18: Installing or Upgrading to Windows Chapter 19: Troubleshooting and Fixing Windows Chapter 20: Moving from the Old Computer to the New Computer COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL Part VI: The Part of Tens Chapter 21: Ten Ways to Find Help Online Chapter 22: Ten Cheap Fixes to Try First Appendix: The Rathbone Reference of Fine Ports Index...303

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3 Table of Contents Introduction...1 About This Book...1 Where to Start...2 Read These Parts...2 Don t Read These Parts...2 How This Book Is Organized...3 Part I: Getting Ready to Upgrade...3 Part II: Making Your Computer Work Better...3 Part III: Teaching an Old Computer New Tricks...3 Part IV: Communications...4 Part V: Introducing Parts to Windows...4 Part VI: The Part of Tens...4 Icons Used in This Book...4 Where to Go from Here...5 Part I: Getting Ready to Upgrade...7 Chapter 1: Start Here First Determining When to Upgrade...10 Determining When You Shouldn t Upgrade...11 Upgrade Do s and Don ts...11 Do upgrade one thing at a time...12 Do make a restore point before every upgrade...12 Do watch out for static electricity...12 Do hang on to your old boxes, manuals, warranties, and receipts...13 Don t force parts together...13 Don t bend cards...13 Don t rush yourself...14 Don t open up monitors or power supplies...14 Do Your Prep Work...14 Turn on Windows Update...15 Making sure System Restore is working...17 Identifying your Windows version, CPU, and amount of memory...20 Identifying parts inside your computer...21 Chapter 2: Assembling Your Tools The First Tools to Grab...23 Turning Household Items into Tools...24 Magnetized Screwdrivers and Dust Blowers...25 Monitoring Your Computer s Power Draw...25 Dealing with a Lost Manual...26

4 xii Upgrading & Fixing Computers Do-It-Yourself For Dummies Part II: Making Your Computer Work Better...27 Chapter 3: Keyboards, Mice, Game Controllers, and Monitors Updating Your Keyboard...29 Buying a keyboard that s compatible with your computer...30 Deciding what features are worth your money...30 Making Way for a New Mouse...32 Buying a mouse that s compatible with your computer...33 Deciding what features are worth your money...33 Upgrading Game Controllers...34 Replacing a Monitor...35 Buying a monitor that s compatible with your PC...36 Deciding what features are worth your money...36 Installing a Keyboard...38 Installing or Replacing a Mouse...40 Installing or Replacing a Game Controller...42 Connecting a Monitor to a PC or Laptop...43 Connecting a TV to a PC or Laptop...45 Attaching a Second Monitor to a PC or Laptop...48 Adjusting Your Monitor s Settings...50 Chapter 4: Printers and Scanners Updating Your Printer...51 Fixing Common Printer Problems...54 Updating Your Scanner...55 Installing or Replacing a Printer s Ink Cartridge...58 Installing a Printer...59 Keeping Words from Running off the Page...61 Installing a Scanner...63 Scanning with Windows 7 Software...65 Chapter 5: Adding More Memory Deciphering Memory Advertisements and Packaging...67 Buying the Memory Your Computer Needs...69 Installing Memory in Your Computer or Laptop...70 Diagnosing Failing Memory...72 Chapter 6: Adding or Replacing a Hard Drive Upgrading a Hard Drive...74 Buying a compatible drive...74 Deciding what features are worth your money...75 Choosing how to add more storage space...76 Installing a Portable Hard Drive...77 Backing Up Your Windows Drive with a System Image...79 Identifying Your PC s Drive Type...81 Upgrading or Replacing Your Windows Drive...83 Reinstalling Windows from a System Image...85 Adding a Second Internal Drive...88 Partitioning and Formatting a Second Internal Drive...90

5 Table of Contents xiii Defragmenting a Hard Drive...93 Checking for Disk Errors...95 Extending a Partition to Fill a Drive...97 Setting an IDE Drive s Jumpers...99 Chapter 7: Adding a DVD Drive Choosing a Compatible DVD Drive Identifying Your Computer s CD/DVD Drive Type Installing an External CD/DVD Drive Installing an Internal CD/DVD Drive Chapter 8: Fine-Tuning Your Computer s Sound Choosing a Compatible Sound Card Installing a Sound Card Plugging the Right Sound Cable into the Right Jack Installing a Sound Box Connecting Your PC s Sound to Your Home Stereo Routing Sound Through an HDMI Cable Chapter 9: Beefing Up Your Computer s Video Card Buying the Right Video Card Finding a compatible video slot Finding a compatible video port Deciding what features are worth your money Installing a Video Card Chapter 10: Replacing the Power Supply or Laptop Battery Choosing a Compatible Power Supply Deciding How Much to Spend Setting Up an Uninterruptible Power Supply Replacing Your Desktop PC s Power Supply Replacing the Battery on Your Netbook or Laptop Part III: Teaching an Old Computer New Tricks Chapter 11: Creating a Home Theater with Windows 7 s Media Center Buying a TV Tuner Identifying the Cables and Connectors on Your Computer s Television Tuner and Your TV Installing a USB TV Tuner Finding Your PC s PCI-Express 1x and PCI Slots Installing an Internal TV Tuner Connecting Your TV Signal to Your Computer Connecting Your Computer s High-Quality Sound to Your Home Theater Chapter 12: Upgrading a Computer for Editing Movies Transferring Movies and Photos from a Camera or Camcorder to a Computer Upgrading a Computer for Video Editing...158

6 xiv Upgrading & Fixing Computers Do-It-Yourself For Dummies Chapter 13: Repurposing an Old Computer Adding a Second Monitor to Your New Computer Creating a Portable Hard Drive from Your Old Hard Drive Removing the Old Hard Drive and Adding It to Your Main Computer Turning Your Old Computer into a Backup Unit Cleansing Your Old Computer s Personal Information Before Passing It On Part IV: Communications Chapter 14: Adding or Replacing a Modem Choosing a Compatible Modem Dialup or POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) Cable modems DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) Installing an External Dialup Modem Installing an Internal Dialup Modem Helping Windows 7 Set Up a Dialup Modem Installing a Broadband (Cable or DSL) Modem Chapter 15: Linking Computers with a Network Choosing the Right Networking Equipment Buying the Right Parts for Your Network Installing Wired or Wireless Network Adapters Connecting Your Router to Your Wired Computers and Modem Setting Up a Wireless Router Setting Up Windows 7 Computers to Connect to a Wireless Network Connecting to and Sharing Files with Older Computers on Your Network Chapter 16: Filtering Out Evil with Firewalls Turning On (or Off) Windows 7 Firewall Allowing or Stopping a Program from Poking Through Windows 7 Firewall Manually Changing Windows 7 Firewall Settings Part V: Introducing Parts to Windows Chapter 17: Hiring the Right Driver for Windows Choosing a Compatible Driver Discovering Whether You re Running a 32-Bit or 64-Bit Version of Windows Automatically Installing a New Driver Running a Driver s Installation Program Installing Drivers That Refuse to Install Finding a New Driver Updating an Old Driver Rolling Back to an Earlier Driver...224

7 Table of Contents xv Chapter 18: Installing or Upgrading to Windows Understanding Windows 7 s Hardware Requirements Choosing between 32-Bit and 64-Bit Windows Running Windows 7 s Upgrade Advisor Upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows Installing Windows 7 over Windows XP or onto an Empty Hard Drive Upgrading to a Better Version of Windows 7 on a Netbook Chapter 19: Troubleshooting and Fixing Windows Installing and Running Microsoft Security Essentials Antivirus Software Running Older Programs Well in Windows Installing Windows XP Mode to Run Incompatible Windows XP Programs Freeing up Disk Space with Disk Cleanup Making a Windows 7 System Repair Disc Troubleshooting Problems and Boosting Your Computer s Performance Chapter 20: Moving from the Old Computer to the New Computer Choosing How to Transfer Your Files Picking and Choosing the Files, Folders, and Accounts to Transfer Collecting the Files from Your Old Windows XP Computer Placing the Files and Settings on Your New Windows 7 Computer Part VI: The Part of Tens Chapter 21: Ten Ways to Find Help Online Finding Help through Search Engines Searching Google for specific information Mastering the art of pinpoint Google searching Searching within a specific Web site Checking the Manufacturer s Support Web Site Microsoft s Support site Serial number and service tag Web sites Manufacturer s Web sites in other countries Community Support Web Sites Tom s Hardware Guide Wikipedia Acronym Finder NewEgg Amazon Chapter 22: Ten Cheap Fixes to Try First Plug It In Turn Off the Part, Wait 30 Seconds, and Turn It On Install a New Driver Google the Error Message Find and Remove Malware...289

8 xvi Upgrading & Fixing Computers Do-It-Yourself For Dummies Avoid Viruses by Not Opening Unexpected Attachments Run System Restore Check for Overheating Install a New Power Supply Run Check Disk Appendix: The Rathbone Reference of Fine Ports USB (Universal Serial Bus) FireWire (Also IEEE 1394 or Sony i.link) E-SATA HDMI Standard VGA Video Port Flat-Panel LCD Video Port (DVI) Ethernet (RJ-45) Telephone (RJ-11) Stereo Sound Coaxial Cable RCA (Composite) Optical/Toslink The Legacy Devices PS/2 mouse and keyboard Serial connectors Parallel (printer) connectors Index...303