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...101 Chapter 8: Fine-Tuning Your Computer s Sound...109 Chapter 9: Beefing 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 COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL 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
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...................................................9 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..........................................23 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
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..................29 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...........................................51 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...........................................67 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.................................73 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
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............................................101 Choosing a Compatible DVD Drive...101 Identifying Your Computer s CD/DVD Drive Type...103 Installing an External CD/DVD Drive...105 Installing an Internal CD/DVD Drive...106 Chapter 8: Fine-Tuning Your Computer s Sound..............................109 Choosing a Compatible Sound Card...109 Installing a Sound Card...111 Plugging the Right Sound Cable into the Right Jack...114 Installing a Sound Box...115 Connecting Your PC s Sound to Your Home Stereo...116 Routing Sound Through an HDMI Cable...118 Chapter 9: Beefing Up Your Computer s Video Card..........................119 Buying the Right Video Card...119 Finding a compatible video slot...120 Finding a compatible video port...121 Deciding what features are worth your money...124 Installing a Video Card...125 Chapter 10: Replacing the Power Supply or Laptop Battery...................129 Choosing a Compatible Power Supply...129 Deciding How Much to Spend...130 Setting Up an Uninterruptible Power Supply...131 Replacing Your Desktop PC s Power Supply...132 Replacing the Battery on Your Netbook or Laptop...136 Part III: Teaching an Old Computer New Tricks...139 Chapter 11: Creating a Home Theater with Windows 7 s Media Center.........141 Buying a TV Tuner...141 Identifying the Cables and Connectors on Your Computer s Television Tuner and Your TV...143 Installing a USB TV Tuner...146 Finding Your PC s PCI-Express 1x and PCI Slots...148 Installing an Internal TV Tuner...149 Connecting Your TV Signal to Your Computer...151 Connecting Your Computer s High-Quality Sound to Your Home Theater...153 Chapter 12: Upgrading a Computer for Editing Movies........................155 Transferring Movies and Photos from a Camera or Camcorder to a Computer...156 Upgrading a Computer for Video Editing...158
xiv Upgrading & Fixing Computers Do-It-Yourself For Dummies Chapter 13: Repurposing an Old Computer..................................161 Adding a Second Monitor to Your New Computer...162 Creating a Portable Hard Drive from Your Old Hard Drive...163 Removing the Old Hard Drive and Adding It to Your Main Computer...166 Turning Your Old Computer into a Backup Unit...167 Cleansing Your Old Computer s Personal Information Before Passing It On...168 Part IV: Communications...171 Chapter 14: Adding or Replacing a Modem..................................173 Choosing a Compatible Modem...174 Dialup or POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service)...174 Cable modems...174 DSL (Digital Subscriber Line)...175 Installing an External Dialup Modem...176 Installing an Internal Dialup Modem...178 Helping Windows 7 Set Up a Dialup Modem...181 Installing a Broadband (Cable or DSL) Modem...183 Chapter 15: Linking Computers with a Network..............................185 Choosing the Right Networking Equipment...185 Buying the Right Parts for Your Network...187 Installing Wired or Wireless Network Adapters...188 Connecting Your Router to Your Wired Computers and Modem...190 Setting Up a Wireless Router...192 Setting Up Windows 7 Computers to Connect to a Wireless Network...193 Connecting to and Sharing Files with Older Computers on Your Network...196 Chapter 16: Filtering Out Evil with Firewalls................................199 Turning On (or Off) Windows 7 Firewall...200 Allowing or Stopping a Program from Poking Through Windows 7 Firewall...203 Manually Changing Windows 7 Firewall Settings...204 Part V: Introducing Parts to Windows...207 Chapter 17: Hiring the Right Driver for Windows.............................209 Choosing a Compatible Driver...210 Discovering Whether You re Running a 32-Bit or 64-Bit Version of Windows...212 Automatically Installing a New Driver...213 Running a Driver s Installation Program...214 Installing Drivers That Refuse to Install...216 Finding a New Driver...219 Updating an Old Driver...222 Rolling Back to an Earlier Driver...224
Table of Contents xv Chapter 18: Installing or Upgrading to Windows 7...........................227 Understanding Windows 7 s Hardware Requirements...227 Choosing between 32-Bit and 64-Bit Windows 7...228 Running Windows 7 s Upgrade Advisor...229 Upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7...233 Installing Windows 7 over Windows XP or onto an Empty Hard Drive...237 Upgrading to a Better Version of Windows 7 on a Netbook...243 Chapter 19: Troubleshooting and Fixing Windows 7..........................247 Installing and Running Microsoft Security Essentials Antivirus Software...248 Running Older Programs Well in Windows 7...251 Installing Windows XP Mode to Run Incompatible Windows XP Programs...255 Freeing up Disk Space with Disk Cleanup...259 Making a Windows 7 System Repair Disc...261 Troubleshooting Problems and Boosting Your Computer s Performance...262 Chapter 20: Moving from the Old Computer to the New Computer..............265 Choosing How to Transfer Your Files...265 Picking and Choosing the Files, Folders, and Accounts to Transfer...266 Collecting the Files from Your Old Windows XP Computer...268 Placing the Files and Settings on Your New Windows 7 Computer...272 Part VI: The Part of Tens...277 Chapter 21: Ten Ways to Find Help Online..................................279 Finding Help through Search Engines...279 Searching Google for specific information...279 Mastering the art of pinpoint Google searching...281 Searching within a specific Web site...282 Checking the Manufacturer s Support Web Site...282 Microsoft s Support site...283 Serial number and service tag Web sites...284 Manufacturer s Web sites in other countries...284 Community Support Web Sites...285 Tom s Hardware Guide...285 Wikipedia...285 Acronym Finder...285 NewEgg...286 Amazon...286 Chapter 22: Ten Cheap Fixes to Try First....................................287 Plug It In...287 Turn Off the Part, Wait 30 Seconds, and Turn It On...287 Install a New Driver...288 Google the Error Message...288 Find and Remove Malware...289
xvi Upgrading & Fixing Computers Do-It-Yourself For Dummies Avoid Viruses by Not Opening Unexpected Attachments...289 Run System Restore...290 Check for Overheating...290 Install a New Power Supply...291 Run Check Disk...291 Appendix: The Rathbone Reference of Fine Ports...293 USB (Universal Serial Bus)...294 FireWire (Also IEEE 1394 or Sony i.link)...295 E-SATA...296 HDMI...296 Standard VGA Video Port...297 Flat-Panel LCD Video Port (DVI)...297 Ethernet (RJ-45)...298 Telephone (RJ-11)...298 Stereo Sound...299 Coaxial Cable...300 RCA (Composite)...300 Optical/Toslink...301 The Legacy Devices...301 PS/2 mouse and keyboard...301 Serial connectors...302 Parallel (printer) connectors...302 Index...303