BKPCANSR.RVW  940718

Alpha Books
11711 N. College Ave.
Carmel, IN   46032-9903
"The PC Answer Book",  Barrett, 1992, 0-672-30227-6, U$12.95/C$16.95

The introduction is aimed at an audience which is basically computer illiterate
and even afraid of the machine.  The intent, as the subtitle has it, is to
present "quick, easy solutions to common PC problems".  An admirable goal, but
probably not fulfilled in this case.

In the first place, Barrett doesn't seem to be able to gauge his audience.  At
one point, he assumes they have never seen a directory listing, at another he
assumes they can write batch files.  The chapters deal with components of the
system and as all experienced troubleshooters know, the relation between
symptom and problem part is not always obvious.  Therefore the "Help! Table"
which lists questions about problems and then gives the appropriate page
reference should be a handy resource.  It isn't--the questions are listed
serially as they appear in the chapters, and is just as hard to find the right
answer as in any system manual.  A table of connectors found on the back of the
machine could be very helpful--except that it does not show the reader what the
difference between a "DIN" and "DB" cable might be.

The book is also incomplete.  In spite of the wide range of causes that can
result in very similar symptoms, the vast majority of problems get only one
solution.  Again, that solution often assumes that the reader can diagnose
memory problems or edit CONFIG.SYS in order to fix or more finely diagnose the
trouble.

The language is friendly, but ultimately this book is likely to fail users who
rely on it.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994   BKPCANSR.RVW  940718
 
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Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733
Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" (Oct. '94) Springer-Verlag