Product Description

∗ The perfect one–stop reference for anyone who has just bought a new PC, covering everything from the hardware and the operating system to software, the Internet, and home networking
∗ Written in Dan Gookin′s trademark style, the book is humorous, crystal clear, and refreshingly jargon free–a computer guide that′s actually a pleasure to read!
∗ Revisions to this edition include thorough coverage of the latest Windows operating system, Vista, along with new or updated coverage of DVD burning, password disks and security, networking procedures, voice recognition, assistive technologies, scanning and digital imaging, wireless peripherals, and TV adapters
∗ PC shipments grew by a healthy 12.6 percent in the first quarter of 2006

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #33016 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-14
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 408 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Explaining the fundamentals of personal computing to those who would rather read words than look at pictures, PCs for Dummies tells you everything you need to know in order to use an IBM-compatible PC running Windows 98. Dan Gookin's prose is technically astute and fun to read.

This isn't the book for you if you're looking through a computer catalogue and wondering what all the jargon means (Buying a Computer for Dummies covers that). Rather, this book will help you when you've got the machine into your home and you need to know what to do next. Starting with the process of unpacking the box and plugging in all the cables, this book shows you what to do with your new machine.

After assembly is out of the way, Gookin shows you how to get around in Windows 98 (and Windows 95, which is almost identical). He explains concepts like files, directories, and applications, and frequently explains the exact procedures involved in common tasks like adjusting screen resolution. Once you've heard all about the basics, Gookin goes on to explain modem configuration, printer problems, productivity software, and a fair amount about Internet use. --David Wall, Amazon.com

Review
"Easy and entertaining...explains computer terms and walks you through the more complicated aspects of computer life." —New York Daily News

“…I would implore any elderly person thinking about getting a computer to go and get one…” (Teesside Evening Gazette, 19 May 2003)

“…excellent and fun to read…” (Mourne Observer & County Down News, 23 July 2003)

Teesside Evening Gazette, 19 May 2003
"..I would implore any elderly person thinking about getting a computer to go and get one.."

Customer Reviews

Don't even think about buying this book
My wife bought this book some years ago when we got our first PC as we're both pretty computer-illiterate (or were then). I can honestly say that over the years I have consulted this book on numerous occasions when things have gone wrong, and not once has it been any help. In fact, I would go further, it has never failed to complicate a problem rather than simplify it. Consult the index? What you are looking for is never there. Seek a simple explanation to a basic problem? You'll be given a facetious and unintelligible answer (if you can find any answer at all). Worst of all, it is done in the unfunniest, most relentlessly jokey, matey tone that I have ever encountered. Don't waste your money.

What's a Start Menu...............!?
The first thing you notice bout this book - is that it is funny. But after a while it starts to get a bit annoying as the book seems more like it's `trying' to be funny than actually being funny.

Anyway - I am pretty good with PCs (messed around with them for years) and decided to flick through this book that my mum-in-law has recently acquired.

It does a good job of separating the technobabble from the technology and gives good steady walkthroughs of what it deems to be the essentials. I'm sure though that everyone has their own idea of what is `the essentials' and so the book may never satisfy everyone.

The good thing about the non-reliance on techno-speak is that the book doesn't date too badly. I've seen an old edition of this book (2001 edition) and it is still pretty relevant today. It gives an example of a fast PC with 256MB of RAM which is laughable these days - but the book is still handy.

It isn't just the software side of things either that this book tackles - it deals with adjusting your monitor settings, what the various ports on your PC are for, what various components do. I'm not a massive Windows user myself, but the author explains at the beginning of the book that this covers only PCs running Windows based operating systems.

In a nutshell - This is a brilliant book for a PC novice. It doesn't make the reader feel daunted, and it should help inspire confidence. It is funny (even if it does grate after a while!), and even if you can only get your hands on a copy of an old edition - much of the information will still be relevant (unless you are using the ultimate PC slower-upper: Vista! In which case you'll probably need a more recent version as the others may only cover up to XP).

Maybe for dummies, but probably not for beginners
I bought this book for my mother who, with no prior experience of any kind, recently bought a computer.

The concept of 'windows', 'files', 'folders' and 'programs' were entirely alien to her and this book didn't help much in providing the answers. She found much of the content repetitious, and the loud humour off-putting. This book wasn't the answer to her absolute beginner needs.

So could nothing help? Was it my mother or was it the book?

Well she's since gone on to buy two other books, supposedly for beginners, and these have helped her progress to the stage where she is now teaching my father how to use the PC.

In short, there are better solutions out there.