The Unofficial Guide to PCs (The Unofficial Guides)

A guide for novice users covers PC selection, purchasing, set-up, customizing, and maintenance

Most computer users reach a point at which they're generally familiar with computers and able to get work done with them but still lack the depth of knowledge needed to make computer use really productive and fun. The Unofficial Guide to PCs represents a boost to these "perpetual intermediates." It's packed full of important knowledge and valuable tips that you can use to take full control of your computer.

This book doesn't waste time on mouse tutorials--it dives right into the productivity tricks of experienced users. Users will find easy-to-implement changes that really improve the utility of commonly used programs. For example, you'll learn how to get nine recently used files--rather than the standard four--to appear at the bottom of Microsoft Word's File menu.

There's a lot of hardware coverage too. Unfortunately, although the authors helpfully provide an apples-to-apples comparison of many Intel processors, they neglect to cover anything newer than the Pentium II Xeon 450 (including the entire Pentium III family) and advise against buying AMD and Cyrix chips without explaining why. Aside from that, The Unofficial Guide to PCs is a winner. --David Wall

Topics covered: Tweaking Windows 98 to meet user needs, performing scheduled backups, getting answers from the Internet, setting up simple workgroups that enable printer and file sharing, and hardware comparisons.