Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part I: Getting Ready to Upgrade 7

Chapter 1: Start Here First 9

Chapter 2: Assembling Your Tools 23

Part II: Making Your Computer Work Better 27

Chapter 3: Keyboards, Mice, Game Controllers, and Monitors 29

Chapter 4: Printers and Scanners 51

Chapter 5: Adding More Memory 67

Chapter 6: Adding or Replacing a Hard Drive 73

Chapter 7: Adding a DVD Drive 101

Chapter 8: Fine-Tuning Your Computer’s Sound 109

Chapter 9: Beefi ng Up Your Computer’s Video Card 119

Chapter 10: Replacing the Power Supply or Laptop Battery 129

Part III: Teaching an Old Computer New Tricks 139

Chapter 11: Creating a Home Theater with Windows 7’s Media Center 141

Chapter 12: Upgrading a Computer for Editing Movies 155

Chapter 13: Repurposing an Old Computer 161

Part IV: Communications 171

Chapter 14: Adding or Replacing a Modem 173

Chapter 15: Linking Computers with a Network 185

Chapter 16: Filtering Out Evil with Firewalls 199

Part V: Introducing Parts to Windows 207

Chapter 17: Hiring the Right Driver for Windows 209

Chapter 18: Installing or Upgrading to Windows 7 227

Chapter 19: Troubleshooting and Fixing Windows 7 247

Chapter 20: Moving from the Old Computer to the New Computer 265

Part VI: The Part of Tens 277

Chapter 21: Ten Ways to Find Help Online 279

Chapter 22: Ten Cheap Fixes to Try First 287

Appendix: The Rathbone Reference of Fine Ports 293

Index 303

About the Author

Andy Rathbone is a bestselling author of computer reference books including Windows For Dummies , which has sold millions of copies in its several editions. Andy has also covered consumer technologies such as TiVo and MP3 players.