PC Hacks 100 Industrial-Strength Tips and Tools

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Acknowledgments

First, to my friend Rory, whom I met over ham radio. He taught me what a PC is and what to do with it, providing knowledge and whetting an appetite no one else could. We took a leap of faith together concocting our first PC book, The PC Users Survival Guide (M & T Books). (I think his response to my "We're going to write a book about this" was "Who's we?") We made it through another project. Troubleshooting Your PC (Wiley), breaking new ground for all involved, driving inspiration, and creating a momentum that anything is possible, doable, and enjoyable. I carry that spirit of friendship with me every day and am blessed to know such a good person. No amount of "thank you's" can ever fully express my gratitude, but I do thank you very much!

Kudos to Mike Todd, another early mentor and PC community builder. Working with Mike on The Source and other early online systems gave me a sense of belonging and worth to the greater worldwide community of PC users and technology. Today others manage and participate in spin-off communities, but Mike is a pioneer who truly created the first online PC forums. He deserves unique credit for a lot of what has become the helpful PC community spirit we enjoy on the Web today. That community spirit has been apparent in two of our collaborative PC works with Rory, of which we are very proud. I am quite thankful for the opportunity to work with and be inspired by such talents.

Speaking of pioneers, there is Gordon Kraft, founder of DiagSoft. Gordon had the guts and tenacity to gather together some of the sharpest programmers around and literally create the PC diagnostic and utility software business we all benefit from today. He also had the fortitude and tolerance to take me into the fold and let me be a little crazy in our efforts to support our customers and create exciting new products. PC support by remote control was fermented in our minds and created at our hands. Gordon didn't exactly create a PC monster in me, but he did feed and nourish it. While he's been hoping to "capture my brain on disk" (the PC skills part, that is), I'm still trying to sort it all out and index it. Hopefully I've done well with this work.

For further inspiration, and for trying to keep my name on the cover of something on store shelves besides the National Enquirer, Judy B deserves armloads of credit and appreciation. As my acquisitions editor she literally handed me two previous book projects, IRQ, DMA & I/O (MIS:Press), a brain dump of PC configuration references, and Installing, Troubleshooting and Repairing Wireless Networks (McGraw-Hill). No one seems to buy or read either of them, but they were fun projects made most enjoyable by her upbeat encouragement and friendship throughout.

Along the winding, wandering journey of my PC "career" have been many exceptional, talented, skilled, motivating, and inspiring people: the "crews" at DiagSoft and Quarterdeck, two of the finest software companies ever; the people behind the ideas of further automating tech support and PC help at TuneUp.com, CST, and Aveo; the amazingly sharp and inspired but I think as yet unfulfilled talent at Phoenix Technologies/Award Software who make the code that starts our PCs every day; and all of the vendors and products in between Acronis and Xircom. Every one of you gives us something to challenge us and something to accomplish every day that we use our PCs. And, of course, to the millions of users around the world, from the hundreds I fix PCs for (and the ones I do it with—Marina, Richard, Kevin, Jeremy, Philip, Nopporn, and David) every day to those who correspond occasionally by email seeking answers. The PC significantly changed at least a part of our world; I'm just here trying to make some of it better.

Significant acknowledgment goes to Robert Luhn, one of my editors of several years with Computer User and CNET, someone I consider a good friend and certainly a generous mentor in encouraging, promoting, and extending my usefulness as a writer. Without Robert's insight, suggestions, recruitment, and probably no small selling job, this book and many of my other contributions to PC users would not have been possible. Thanks for believing in me!

Last and certainly not least, in fact perhaps the greatest credit goes to my wife, Kathy. She must think I stretched this project out as an excuse to avoid the growing list of home improvement projects, but honestly I didn't. She "signed up" for only a couple months of me living in my "cave," paying more attention to my herd of keyboards and PC parts than anything else, but little did she or I know that my editors and tech reviewers were determined to get the best and most out of me. I hope you know how much I appreciate you and how proud I am to have you in my life!

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