A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC : Enhanced Edition

by Jean Andrews

• ISBN13: 9780619000646
• ISBN10: 0619000643
• Additional ISBN(s): 9780619000387, 9780760050835
• Edition: CD
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-05-01
• Publisher: Course Technology Ptr
• More Book Details
• Purchase Benefits

Summary

Finally, education's answer to the PC Repair and Maintenance course: A Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC--Comprehensive Enhanced is the most thorough, step-by-step text available for learning the processes and procedures of supporting personal computers. Whether the goal is to support your own PC, obtain A+ Certification, or train to become a PC repair technician, this book gets you there. Jean Andrews brings clear, conversational writing to technical topics to make tough material easier--no electronics experience is assumed or necessary. A Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC Enhanced redefines what a reference manual should be. And the dozens of hands-on projects that close each chapter will have you working on actual computers in no time.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. XX
How Computers Work - An Overview	p. 1
Hardware	p. 2
Software	p. 12
How Software and Hardware Work Together	p. 45
How Software Manages Hardware Resources	p. 46
The Booting Process	p. 64
Protecting Data, Software, and Hardware	p. 71
The Systemboard	p. 83
Types of Systemboards	p. 84
The CPU and the Chip Set	p. 87
ROM BIOS	p. 99
RAM (Random Access Memory)	p. 105
Wait States	p. 108
Buses and Expansion Slots	p. 108
On-Board Ports	p. 119
Hardware Configuration	p. 119
Interrupt Request Number (IRQ)	p. 121
DMA Controller	p. 124
Power Supply Connections	p. 124
Floppy Drives and Other Essential Devices	p. 141
Floppy Drives	p. 142
Keyboards	p. 172
Computer Video	p. 175
Pointing Devices	p. 179
Introduction to Hard Drives	p. 191
How a Hard Drive Is Physically Organized to Hold Data	p. 192
How a Hard Drive Is Logically Organized to Hold Data	p. 193
Using DOS to Manage a Hard Drive	p. 208
Formatting and Optimizing the Hard Drive	p. 220
Hard Drive Technology	p. 233
Removable Drives	p. 244
Hard Drive Installation and Support	p. 261
Installing a Hard Drive	p. 262
Utility Software	p. 277
Data Recovery	p. 291
Hard Drive Troubleshooting and Data Recovery	p. 313
Hard Drive Troubleshooting Guidelines	p. 324
Troubleshooting Fundamentals	p. 333
Troubleshooting Perspectives	p. 334
Protect Yourself, the Hardware, and the Software	p. 334
Tools to Help Support Personal Computers	p. 337
Handling Viruses	p. 342
How to Isolate Computer Problems and Devise a Course of Action	p. 343
Troubleshooting Guidelines: Peripheral Devices	p. 351
When a PC Is Your Permanent Responsibility	p. 364
Customizing a Personal Computer System with Peripheral Equipment	p. 381
The Right Tools for the Job	p. 382
Basic Principles	p. 386
Using Ports and Expansion Slots for Add-on Devices	p. 393
CD-ROM Drives	p. 411
Understanding and Managing Memory	p. 429
Physical Memory	p. 430
How Memory Is Used by DOS and Windows 95	p. 437
Managing Memory with DOS or Windows 3.x	p. 445
Managing Memory with Windows 3.x	p. 456
Managing Memory with Windows 95	p. 460
The Ultimate Solution: Windows NT	p. 464
Memory Troubleshooting Guidelines	p. 465
Upgrading Memory	p. 468
Electricity and Power Supplies	p. 485
Introduction to Basic Electricity	p. 486
Measuring the Voltage of a Power Supply	p. 490
Exchanging the Power Supply	p. 498
Energy Star Computers (the Green Star)	p. 501
Surge Protection and Battery Backup	p. 505
Supporting Windows 3.x and Windows 95	p. 519
Supporting Windows 3.1 and Windows 3.11	p. 520
Supporting Windows 95	p. 545
Microsoft Support on the Internet	p. 577
Understanding and Supporting Windows NT Workstation	p. 587
Windows NT vs. Windows 95	p. 588
The Windows NT Environment and Architecture	p. 598
Installing and Customizing Windows NT	p. 616
Supporting Windows NT and Applications	p. 624
The Windows NT Registry	p. 637
Windows NT Diagnostic Tools	p. 646
Mutimedia Technology	p. 657
Multimedia on a PC	p. 658
Multimedia PC Requirements	p. 661
Video Cards and Monitors	p. 668
Devices Supporting Multimedia	p. 674
Supporting Printers	p. 690
Purchasing a PC or Building Your Own	p. 703
Selecting a Personal Computer to Meet Your Needs	p. 704
Preparing to Build Your Own PC	p. 708
Building a Personal Computer, Step by Step	p. 710
Communicating over Phone Lines	p. 759
Communications Layers	p. 760
All About Modems	p. 763
Communications Software	p. 786
Troubleshooting Guidelines	p. 796
Faster Than Phone Lines	p. 799
Networking Fundamentals and the Internet	p. 809
An Overview of Networking	p. 810
Networking with Windows 95 and Windows NT Workstation	p. 831
PCs and the Internet	p. 847
Some Examples of Network Services	p. 870
Network Troubleshooting Guidelines	p. 882
Viruses, Disaster Recovery, and a Maintenance Plan That Works	p. 897
Preventive Maintenance	p. 898
Viruses and Other Computer Infestations	p. 901
All About Backups and Fault Tolerance	p. 911
The Professional PC Technician	p. 941
What Customers Want	p. 942
Providing Good Service on Support Calls	p. 944
Recordkeeping and Information Tools	p. 954
Professional Organizations and Certifications	p. 959
Staying Abreast of New Technology	p. 961
Protecting Software Copyrights	p. 962
Error Messages and Their Meanings	p. A-1
Hard Drive Types	p. B-1
ASCII Collating Sequence	p. C-1
The Hexidecimal Number System and Memory Addressing	p. D-1
Troubleshooting Guidelines	p. E-1
Glossary
Index
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.