BKPCHACK.RVW   20041231

"PC Hacks", Jim Aspinwall, 2005, 0-596-00748-5, U$24.95/C$36.95
%A   Jim Aspinwall
%C   103 Morris Street, Suite A, Sebastopol, CA   95472
%D   2005
%G   0-596-00748-5
%I   O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
%O   U$24.95/C$36.95 800-998-9938 fax: 707-829-0104 nuts@ora.com
%O  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596007485/robsladesinterne
  http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596007485/robsladesinte-21
%O   http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596007485/robsladesin03-20
%O   Audience a Tech 3 Writing 2
%P   285 p.
%T   "PC Hacks"

The various titles in the "Hacks" series contain lots of individual
tips.  The points cover a wide range of subjects and skill levels,
although most are intermediate to advanced.  Most readers will,
though, find something of interest or use, regardless of their
specific pursuits: there will be something helpful, somewhere, and it
probably won't be too difficult to use or install.  This book is not
quite the same.  There is lots of fascinating information, but much of
the utility will only come with some exploration, additional research,
and experimentation on the part of the user.  (Oh, and this is
definitely for Wintel machines, with some nods to Linux.)

Chapter one deals with the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System
programming) and (primarily) the settings held in CMOS (Complementary
Metal Oxide Semiconductor) memory, which provide the fundamental
aspects of machine performance.  System board settings are reviewed in
chapter two, although much of the advice tends to emphasize upgrading
to PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) and USB (Universal Serial
Bus) connections and devices.  (The mystery of COM port assignment is
not clarified: this section in particular could use additional
detail.)  CPU overclocking is discussed in chapter three, although
this section makes frequent recommendations to go to the documentation
for your particular system board and BIOS.  (There are some careless
mistakes: table 3-2 has confusing entries due to the difference
between the total and incremental increase in CPU speed, and aluminum
actually has a fairly low thermal conductivity in comparison to some
other metals: it's just cheap.)  Chapter four's overview of memory
concentrates to a large extent on the now aging 9x and ME Windows
versions.  It does note the advantage of a performance increase if you
turn off virtual memory and paging, but probably doesn't emphasize it
enough.  Disk partitioning and basic recovery is probably more
difficult than chapter five points out.  As an old virus researcher, I
know all too well the dangers of FDISK /MBR.  Hard disk performance,
and the improvement that can be made with cache and parameter
settings, is covered in chapter six.  Chapter seven looks at video
performance, primarily concerned with downloading utilities, and
mostly system specific.  Input and output devices, in chapter eight,
has more on COM ports, including a few errors, such as table 8-1 on
page 180 that shows COM3 not using any IRQ line at all, and the
statement on page 188 that "COM2 and COM4 ... both use COM3" (rather
than IRQ3).  Chapter nine, on the boot process, is primarily concerned
with creating systems that will, with proper partitioning, boot
multiple operating systems, but also deals with the MSDOS.SYS,
CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT, and BOOT.INI files.  Some miscellaneous
recommendations for antivirus, backup, and copying files are in
chapter ten.

While there is value in this book, I am at a bit of a loss as to
recommendations.  It isn't for novices, and even intermediate users
may find parts of it difficult.  On the other hand, experts will be
frustrated by the age of some of the material.  Amateur hardware
hackers and hobbyists will likely get the most out of it, was my first
thought.  On the other hand, I was recently astounded to find a senior
technical support worker who had no idea what a BIOS password was, so
maybe the audience for this book is wider than I believed.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 2005   BKPCHACK.RVW   20041231