Personal Computer Secrets

Bob O'Donnell has done the personal computer community a favor by writing Personal Computer Secrets. He's compiled a considerable store of general computing knowledge and presented it in a readable, easy-to-reference format. Users who are beginning to explore the more advanced capabilities of their Windows-based personal computers will appreciate the clarity and depth of this book.

For starters, Personal Computer Secrets is an introductory book suited to people new to Windows and personal computing in general. It explains what features to look for in all of the components of a new computer and shows you how to install additional RAM and a new hard drive. O'Donnell also covers the essentials of working with Windows applications and managing files.

But Personal Computer Secrets is distinguishable from other introductory-level computer books in its depth of coverage. In addition to the basic information he presents, O'Donnell goes into some detail on networking--and not just in hooking two or three Windows computers together in a workgroup either. Rather, he explains how to configure a real Internet-standard network using the TCP/IP protocols and even shows how to incorporate a Macintosh into the system. Best of all, he shows how to share a single Internet connection among several computers by installing a proxy server--a valuable topic that few books written at this level cover. --David Wall