www.diy-computer-repair.com '2007 Copyright Russell Enterprises All Rights Reserved www.diy-computer-repair.com '2007 Copyright Russell Enterprises All Rights Reserved www.diy-computer-repair.com '2007 Copyright Russell Enterprises All Rights Reserved DIY Compter Repiar How to mini guide Monte Russell Copyright 2007 by Monte Russell www.diy-computer-repair.com '2007 Copyright Russell Enterprises All Rights Reserved All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Published 2007 Printed by Monte Russell in the United States of America www.diy-computer-repair.com '2007 Copyright Russell Enterprises All Rights Reserved This book is dedicated to Robert W. Patchen. My friend, co-worker, peer, and mentor. You have a problem? Ask Bob, he knew it all, always with a bit of humor. Bob was the premier Help Desk and all around Computer Engineer. He was so good at his job he always had fresh baked cookies and brownies at his desk. He didn’t bake them, they came from all the customers he took care of so diligently and always shared. Always pleasant but liked his CW music, sometimes it drove me crazy. Bob the Red Neck and very proud of it. Bob passed away from cancer earlier this year. Well Bob I know you will have a large pile of brownies when I get there. www.diy-computer-repair.com '2007 Copyright Russell Enterprises All Rights Reserved www.diy-computer-repair.com '2007 Copyright Russell Enterprises All Rights Reserved Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Chapter 2 Repair 4 Chapter3 Upgrade 29 Chapter 4 Information about Computers 51 Chapter 5 How-to… 86 Chapter 6 Trouble-Shooting Techniques 161 Chapter 7 Build a Custom PC 178 Chapter 8 Laptops 197 Chapter 9 Servers 217 Chapter 10 Data Backup 240 Chapter 11 Hardware Reviews 250 Chapter 12 Software Reviews 268 Chapter 13 Miscellaneous- Web tools, Q&A’s, Biogaphy 285 As always if you need to contact me about these procedures use my support page to send me an email. www.diy-computer-repair.com '2007 Copyright Russell Enterprises All Rights Reserved At DIY-Computer-Repair you can build a custom pc! All you need is the technical assistance and some how to's... at DIY-Computer-Repair! Want to find out how to custom build pc? Read on! We’ll help you learn about computer repair and how you can do the repair yourself. With the information provided you will be able to repair your pc, build a pc from scratch, optimize your system to make it run faster, or hide your pc from hackers! How to build a pc from scratch even if the most technical thing you've ever done is change a light bulb! Note: This page and some others will have links back to my web site, the information for those pages may be updated, so check them occasionally. Some of the information and technical assistance you will find at www.diy-computer- repair.com. Answers to these questions are here, heck there is so much here I can't list it on this page but here are a few things at diy-computer-repair to help you: [Note: the blue text that is underlined is an active link, right click to select the link.] • Save some hard earned money Build a custom PC • It is possible to rejuvenate an old PC! Speed up that PC • Do you have a recovery strategy? Back up that PC • It is easier than you think! Fix that Laptop display 1 www.diy-computer-repair.com '2007 Copyright Russell Enterprises All Rights Reserved • Why a Laptop battery will not last forever! Laptop battery • How to open a Laptop case with out destroying it! • Build a Gaming PC that puts an XBox to shame! • Why your business needs a Server! • Hide your pc from those hackers/criminals/thieves! How to setup a router to make your network disappear from the Internet. • Would you want to build your own custom pc a custom gaming pc? (it's easier and cheaper than you think). • Your system running slow? Why not optimize it? • Hardware Reviews from diy-computer-repair! • Do you need a bootable device? • How do you create an image of your hard drive for recovery purposes? • Have a problem with your Operating System? A small tutorial on the System manager may help! • Software? Well really this is a hardware site!....... ok, you talked me into it, here are some reviews of software I think is essential for the overall well being of your pc: DIY-Computer-Repair Software reviews. • Are you looking for parts? Check out the diy-computer-repair Computer parts Index! • And remember that you can build a custom pc with the help of diy-computer- repair! • UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply), Surge Protectors, Surge Arrestors, Replacement Battery Uninterupable Power Supplies, Surge Protectors • Need help with basic system functions: Computer help - Learn how to use your computer • Parental Monitoring Software U See IT Recommended! You ask yourself 'Can I custom build a pc?' Of course you can! You ask yourself 'Can I repair my pc?' Of course you can! You can repair your car, your dishwasher, your washing machine! There are some things best left to the professional because they have the tools and the training to fix them, but most of this stuff is simple. (I could use that car insurance commercial here but....) 2 www.diy-computer-repair.com '2007 Copyright Russell Enterprises All Rights Reserved I am one of the last anti-geek's left in the world today. There are very few of us now. The original techno-phobes that didn't go off the deep end when we finished college. I realize that you, the average user or the busy business owner, does not have the time nor the education to fix everything, but with a little help and some technical assistance you can fix that broken PC with the help from diy-computer-repair! With the how-to's I have written, you can build a custom PC, you can speed up that old PC, or you can clean out all that junk that has been accumulating on your hard drive for the last four or five years. Or even build a custom Gaming PC, you can find the information here! So what do you need? A new hard drive? How do you know that? You want to upgrade your pc? Why would you do that? You want to change your video to a higher resolution but the video card in your system is stuck at 1024 x 768? What is your online speed? Dial up? DSL? Cable Modem? T1? Check out the glossary of Definitions, find out how to get the most out of your connect speed. Want to know what all that "stuff" inside the pc case is? Check out the computer components pages. Baffle those computer "Guru's" with your new found terminology! Do you have a web site? Need some tools to keep it in tip top shape? As always if you need to contact me about these procedures use my support page to send me an email. [See earlier note about this] 3