Surviving PC Disasters, Mishaps, and Blunders

No matter what kind of computer you have or how secure your computer or network may be, it is a virtual certainty that at least one (if not ten or twenty) of the issues identified in this book will apply to you at some point. Companies have tech support teams and people in charge of developing backup and disaster recovery plans. Home users aren't so lucky. The $30 invested in purchasing this book will more than pay for itself the first time you use the information rather than paying to have someone else fix your system. I liked the Horror Stories scattered throughout the book. These are just short stories to illustrate the dangers that exist or what can happen to people who don't know better. One of the best features for most readers though will be the format of the book and how it is set up in a sort of Q & A format. Just find the question you need to ask and within a few paragraphs of simple steps you will find your solution. One of the strengths of this book is the breadth of scope of the information. The fact that it covers security concerns as well as hardware and software issues make this book a must have for every computer user. Every tech who supports users who have computers should have this book as well.

Every PC is different like our fingerprints. We customize options, install applications, remove default settings and do different things to it. So, a solution may not be the same for two PCs experiencing the same problem. This means trying out various workarounds and fixes. I rarely have trouble addressing the problems I run into with my PC. If I can't do it, then I go to the other pro in the house whose job relates to tech support. Usually between us, the problem gets solved. On rare occasions, we call the manufacturer. Still, we find found in the book tips that we hadn't tried. Others in our shoes might find it useful as well and if someone comes to us asking for help, we can loan them the book when we can't assist. Throughout the book the authors share horror stories, which are good teaching tools so you can learn the lesson from someone else's mistake and avoid making your own. Not only are computers covered, but also PDAs, cell phones, digital cameras and scanners. This is a well-rounded book with coverage on theft, backup and recovery, viruses, spam, junkware and fraud. If you're not into techie things, but want to keep your computer healthy--the book won't bore you. Quite the opposite, as the authors write with humor and down-to-earth feel. An example: after attempting to rescue a hard drive which continues to sputter, try the "defibrillator" method. It states to unplug the computer and remove the computer's cover, and then "yell 'CLEAR!'" and lightly tap the face of the hard drive. How can you not like a book with stuff like that? The authors clearly explain networking and wireless networking. Anyone befuddled by such topics will appreciate the book for those chapters alone. Some problems have simple answers such as, "Is the monitor turned on?" Hearing this from tech support might be embarrassing, but the authors don't talk down to anyone whether or not a solution is super easy or complex. The sections use a handwriting style font adding to the book's friendly nature and engaging writing style. It feels like a buddy helping you figure out the problem or having your own personal support person nearby. In addition to hardware and software troubles, the book includes advice for being proactive such as how to avoid spam and junkware and evade fraud and identity theft. The text is easy to scan for quickly finding things, the contents are well-organized with topics covering almost everything we deal with when it comes to gadgets. When we hit a roadblock, it's painful and frustrating. You can rely on the book to get you through any situation without the attitude that we sometimes face when we ask for help.

When things go wrong with your PC and/or on-line existence, you need quick help in figuring out how to fix it (or how you should have stayed out of it in the first place). Surviving PC Disasters, Mishaps, and Blunders by Jesse M. Torres and Peter Sideris (Paraglyph Press) makes for some pretty interesting reading. Chapter List: Theft and Loss; Hardware Disasters and Mishaps; Software Disasters and Mishaps; Network Disasters and Mishaps; Wireless Networking; Internet Fraud; Spam; Surviving Viruses; Junkware: Malware, Adware, and Spyware; Email and Other Internet Hazards; Travel Mishaps and Disasters; Power Adapters and Batteries; Backup and Recovery; Digital Lifestyle Hazards; Piracy; Index Each chapter starts with a list of "disasters to avoid" and "mishaps and blunders to run from". Within each chapter, there are subtopics that will teach you about certain things (like how data theft occurs, how to prevent and detect data theft, etc.). The rest of the chapter is made up of "how do I" questions that address topics within the chapter. Throw in quite a few "horror story" sidebars based on real life experiences from the authors, and you have a pretty readable and practical book. It was tempting to originally think of this book as a troubleshooting guide... a resource you would turn to when you had to fix something. But really, it's more of a "be prepared" guide. Reading this material *before* you need it will save you a heap of head- and heartaches. This isn't the book that contains a bunch of technical step-by-step instructions on how to get into hardcore repair of your wireless router. It may help you, but it's best to use the material to stay out of trouble in the first place. And the digital lifestyle hazards chapter is *definitely* better to use as preventative medicine. It's easier to reset a PDA than shut down a stalker... Good material for those who are not uber-geeks who live in cyber-space. It's a book that could easily pay for itself in short order...

There's basically only four kinds of things that can go wrong with your PC: lost or stolen, hardware failures, software failures, stolen data. Each of these, however, can really mess up your day. Each of these however can be not solved but made much better with just a bit of advance planning. Losing your computer and/or crashing the disk drive is easy to fix if you have a backup, or if like Beethoven you remember everything in the manuscript you lost on the train. Most of this book, however, turns out to be software oriented. It's here that the bad guys can attack your system from afar with virtually no chance of getting caught. Perhaps they just want to screw up your life with a virus they created just for fun. Perhaps they want to send you a never ending stream of advertising, even customized based on keeping a record of what web sites you've visited. But perhaps they also want to capture your credit card number so that they can use it to buy a new computer (to be shipped somewhere in Africa). The first thing I look for on books like this is CoolWebSearch. If they talk about it, they know whereof they speak. And sure enough CoolWebSearch is discussed on page 231. The book says: "Removing ... can be an extremely complicated process. He'd absolutely right. When one of my companies machines gets one of these, sometimes all I can do is go back to the last system restore file, or even start over with a new version of the operating system. Invaluable help if you do just a little bit of work in advance.

This book is potentially the most important book for beginner and intermediate computer users to purchase. As I read the horror stories I felt like the authors had peered into my life and the lives of many of my closest friends. It taught me so many things without making me feel like a complete idiot. It also settled my mind to know that I am not the only person making some stupid mistakes with all this technology. Thank you Jesse Torres and Peter Sideris for writing this book!