Maintenance

This book contains a great deal of useful information. The chapters about building a PC or server from scratch were great. Some of the info was difficult to find, a lot of relative information sprinkled among different chapters (IDE drive jumpers, for example, are partially explained in 3 places; you must read all three to feel comfortable working with them)

also, the book only came with one CD (3rd edition) containing a FreeBSD distribution. Half of the ports failed upon installation, and there could be more installation documentation in the book itself (the man pages aren't accessible until post-install). I bombed my Win32 partition installing the boot loader, not real hard to do, needs a lot more explanation.

The writing style along with the many diagrams and photos are incredible. This book covers hardware, software, even networking and shows you 5W + 1H. You can depend on this book to build up your knowledge. This book is not only a good reference for computer service professional, but also a great book in preparing for the A+ certification exam. The price of this book is reasonable.

I bought this book and proceeded to build myself exactly the computer I wanted with confidence. It gives you enough useful general knowledge so that you don't feel afraid of the terms or descriptions of equipment anymore, and you realize that building a computer is going to be so difficult as you once thought. The author has definite preferences for various manufacturers, and the advice was good, so that I avoided some of the pitfalls of the junk that is out there. It is very informative, useful, and comprehensive. It cannot cover every piece of equipment made, of course, and someone who needs every piece described in detail will not be able to use it as well as someone who can understand the concepts involved. The author cannot be there to hold your hand-you have to have a brain to do the work. I think anyone who would rate this book badly would be someone who wants exactly their situation described, and to be told exactly what to do, because they are fearful or perfectionistic to a fault. The money I have saved using this book is worth ten times the price, and the knowledge I gained is priceless, because now I understand how computer go together.

Currently I hold an MCSE, MCP+I and MCT. I've been in the industry for about 15 years and for the last 2 years have owned my own small consulting firm. I wanted to take the A+ because I never had and thought I should.

This book was great for getting to the point without bogging you down in the tedium. A little simplistic at points, it made sure that you had the basics that you would need to pass the test. I actually bought the Exam Prep/Exam Cram books for this test. I only read about 4 pages of the Exam Prep before I was completely bored.

I passed this test with a 93% and I attribute it mostly to the organization of this book.

I have over 10 years experience as a PC tech, but am not yet certified. I recently purchased A+ cert core exam, and it is clear and concise. The author gets right to the point and covers the information without playing trivia games.

Absolutely the best book out there to ace the A+ exams. I have a collection of six different A+ study guides and I found myself always referring back to the Accelerated A+ study guide for better explanation. After a while this book was all I was reading. Come to find out this book was all I needed to not just pass but ace the A+ certification exam. If you want a book that explains it to you like it is with out putting you to sleep and without skipping over vital info this is the book to get. It starts from the ground up and takes you all the way to the advanced material. Most importantly it does it with out losing you. I felt like an expert after this book. Accelerated A+ Study Guide for both DOS/Windows and Core exam is literally all you need.

I ordered this book and the High Performance Honda Builders Handbook Volume 1 and I highly recommend that book rather than this. Poorly written book but it does have the basics in it. And yes I returned this book back for a refund.

As a beginning tuner, I have found this book to be very helpful. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in modifying their Civic, Prelude, Accord, or Integra. The information is presented in a fairly organized fashion, so it is easy to follow. Most of the parts and processes are described accurately in their cost and difficulty to install/perform. There are a few brand-name plugs, but most of the names mentioned are truly high quality parts (and not just paying sponsors).

The author seems very knowledgable about the topic, though there are some disheartening typos... Like VTEC being spelled VTECH... not usually the sign of a Honda expert!

A beginning tuner will enjoy learning the basics of engine design. Kojima wisely describes an engine as a giant air pump, and explains the importance of air flow very well. Thanks to this book, I knew exactly what size intake and exhaust to buy when I swapped an H22 engine into my 92 Accord (unfortunately, the info given on swaps is limited). There is also a good deal of detail when it comes to cam design and timing, head modifications, bottom end modifications, piston design, etc.

The majority of this book is focused on forced induction, such as nitrous oxide, supercharging, and turbocharging. The author clearly favors turbocharging, and goes fairly deep into some math and theory. There is definitely a wealth of information on turbocharging for anyone who is interested.

The book also seems geared toward the B series engines, with the H series being a bit of an afterthought. Still, I was able to learn very much useful information. I still learn a bit every time I pick it up! Definitely worth the money for a beginner. Experts may not find much new information here.

Being a ameteur tuner, I bought this book and learned so much. Every question I had was answered regarding B series and even more! It doesnt go insanely into depth about some things mentioned in the book, but it goes into depth where its needed. It even gives you suggestions for OEM part swaps to gain hp for less money. excellent buy... a must have for any honda enthusiast!

This Is An Old Edition!!! It is from July, 2003. Don't make a mistake and get this.

Make sure you get the 2nd edition of this book called Mac OS X Disaster Relief, Updated Edition. It was released in December, 2002. Do a search to find it.

When I was using OS 8.x and 9.x, I always referred to Ted Landau's Sad Macs, Bombs and Other Disasters for troubleshooting. About 95% of the time, my answer was there. Well, Mac OS X Disaster Relief is the OS X equivalent. And this updated version includes a "special Jaguar supplement," dedicated to solving problems in OS X 10.2.

I noticed on Amazon.com, that they mention the third edition of this book due out in September of 2003. I wonder if it will contain info on "Panther," OS X 10.3, which is supposed to be released around that time?

Many of you may know Ted as the creator of the MacFixit web site. In Mac OS X Disaster Relief, he covers the gamut from how to solve common problems, to rare ones, to geeky things like editing your preferences files to turn off blinking cursors. Or make files invisible (or vice versa). Though this is definitely an OS X book, he does tell you how to troubleshoot a few OS 9 things that may affect your OS X.

He devotes some pages to solving OS X crashes, and to the various disk repair utilities like Drive 10, Norton Utilities, etc. Interestingly, he seems to think it is safe to use Norton Speed Disk to optimize your hard drive (page 255). He also explains that this kind of optimization is entirely different from the kind of optimization that happens as part of an installation of software.

There is also a good section on internet and network troubleshooting. In that section, I think I may have found a solution I've been looking for. AppleTalk does not work when it is active on multiple ports (page 471). That may explain why I'm having trouble printing over ethernet.

In one section, he talks about backing up your OS X boot volume using 'ditto,' an app built into OS X. He further explains that Carbon Copy Cloner is just a GUI front end for ditto, for those who don't want to use the Terminal. And he tells you about other apps like 'psync' that will do the same thing.

This book tells you how to do a lot of very basic troubleshooting. If you want to get under the hood and dink around (technical term), customize, or troubleshoot at a deeper level, it will help you do that, too.

I usually have a tall stack of books in the [Mac] review pipeline, and new additions are added to the bottom of the pile. Sometimes it takes titles a while to surface, but when Ted Landau's Mac OS X Disaster Relief arrived, it went promptly to the head of the pile.

When I began reading the actual troubleshooting sections, I began to worry.

"Did I make a mistake upgrading to Mac OS X?"

When I was half finished with the troubleshooting sections, I worried some more.

"Maybe I made a mistake owning a Macintosh."

By the time I finished the book, I was really worried.

"Maybe I should just get rid of all my computers!"

After reading page after page of gruesome OS X problems, I felt spooked. But after a cup of warm milk, I remembered that I'd never seen many of these gremlins, and probably never will. My OS X installation runs well most of the time. But I have had troubles that took quite a while to eradicate. I wish I had Mac OS X Disaster Relief close at hand before my last experience with a disk I could not unmount.

Mac OS X Disaster Relief is not the kind of book you buy to get a warm and fuzzy feeling about OS X's incredible stability, and how its bulletproof Unix foundation never crashes. You won't find any of the marketing happy-talk that spews from the depths of Apple's PR machine.

What you will find is page after page of specific and detailed fixes to both common and uncommon OS X problems. Ted Landau knows his stuff; he is probably best known for the creation of the MacFixit web site, and for his Sad Macs, Bombs, and Other Disasters. Sad Macs dealt with OS 9 troubles, and Mac OS X Disaster Relief is a more-than-worthy successor.

There's no fluff in this meaty book. My brain was working overtime on many pages, thinking about the variety of different problems and solutions. Landau devotes comparatively little space to OS X overview, except in places where a fundamental understanding of OS architecture is needed. While there is the usual discussion of Aqua, and OpenGL, the bulk of Chapter 4, Understanding Mac OS X, is spent on a thorough exposition of the contents of /Library and /Users/"Home"/Library. Each folder, beginning with Application Support, and ending with StartupItems, is covered in detail. While this information could be found by consulting MacFixit, Macintouch, Apple's KnowledgeBase, Mac OS X Hints, and Google.com/Mac, your Mac would be obsolete before you found it all. Mac OS X Disaster Relief is the best compendium of "what part does what job" I have ever seen for OS X.

Before reading Mac OS X Disaster Relief, I thought I knew a bit about OS X. I should, after plowing through over a dozen OS X books, each one saying it is the best in the field. But Landau is the first to say OS X has at least 7 ways of crashing at startup. (Apple does like to give the user flexibility...) Chapter 5, Crash Prevention and Recovery presents the startup sequence in slow-motion detail, and you learn exactly what happens (and what can go wrong) at each step in the process.

Crash problems are mercifully left behind when you arrive at Chapter 6, Problems with Files: Open, Copy, Delete, and Beyond. One of the first "gotchas" that drives an OS X newbie to run screaming from the room in frustration is the inability to empty the Trash, or to even put files into the Trash. Fixing Trash headaches is kid's play for Landau, and you'll learn several ways to solve this problem.

The best part of Chapter 6 is the lucid discussion of aliases, symbolic links, and hard links. Not being a Unix geek, I never understood the differences between these three "pointers to files" and how they differed from Mac OS 9 aliases. Landau set me straight in less than a page.

I could easily recite how useful the Troubleshooting Printing, and Troubleshooting Networking, File Sharing and Internet sections are, but that would be redundant. Every section is good, with golden nuggets of knowledge throughout.

Obviously, I love this book; its the best OS X book I've read since I reviewed David Pogue's OS X The Missing Manual. My copy of this masterful work is already dog-eared, and I've had it only three weeks. Mac OS X Disaster Relief is a MUST addition to any OS X user's library. You can read it straight through, from start to finish, as I did, or you can use it as a reference for when you encounter trouble. Either way, it will be worth far more than what you paid for it, as Landau will certainly save you time, probably save you money, and maybe save you some hair loss.

MacMice Rating: 5 out of ...

After having passed both A+ test's with this pack as my only study guide i would say it needs some work. Though this book won't be good much longer because of the new test i still wanted to let people know that you should look somewhere else besides just this source. These books missed several key points on the core exam that i can remember, one of them being ESD, i had 3 questions about ESD that were no where in the books ESD section. Another thing was the use of the multimeter which there was little more than a definition of in these books and yet i had 3 questions on them for the test. I would use this and one other completely different source with a lot more practice questions/test's if i had to take the exam again.

This is the perfect self-study tool for the A+ Certification. While I mostly used the "Cram" book (which was more general - better for those who have hands-on experience) I found the Prep book to be absolutely comprehensive. If you do purchase this package, keep in mind that the practice tests are far more difficult & ambiguous than the real test. I definately contribute my success on the test to this study guide. I passed the Core test with an 88% and the Windows/DOS with an 86%

I have nothing but praise for Certification Insider and this Exam Prep/Cram in particular. The information was quite thorough and yet easy to understand. I felt quite prepared to take both the Core and Windows exam. The "study alerts" and "tips" were extraordinarily helpful and I passed both exams in the FIRST TRY!

I found that the book lacked certain basic information. for example: when restoring an old boat, one must typically contend with transporting the boat (perhaps mention of trailer, and cradle designs), or de-masting and storage, removing the multi-layers of antifoulant paint, correct the grazing of the gelcoat. For the interiour, one may decide to substitute teak for mahogany, white oak, etc, but there is no mention of altenate woods for cabinetry and interior work. For the deck anti-skid, how can you mold parts of the missing anti-skid, if you dont want to use threadmaster M. I just found the book a little bit less than basic.

I don't know where to begin thanking Casey and recommending him at the same time. A feeble attempt follows:

This is the MOST valuable of my 80 or 90 boatbuilding books, hands-down. It doesn't matter what construction material you are using, or what your level of expertise. At the very least, it is a fun, witty, and motivating book. Even if you come out of it with no more knowledge than when you started (I guarantee that will not happen), it will give you the necessary wisdom and motivation to stay the course. It was the first 'boat building' book I ever purchased, and it alone motivated me to stop dreaming about a boat, and to start building/rebuilding one. And it was to this book I turned whenever a project was frustrating (this is almost daily, for the uninitiated--and he explains this, too). It was also the book I used as a primary reference, and it served me very well in the rebuilding of two medium-sized boats. It has since served me equally well in the building of boats from plans, though you will need more than he offers for this (that does not mean instead of this, but in addition to his book, another will be necessary).

Whether you are going to build a boat from scratch, or you are going to refurbish an older boat (he makes a hard sell), this book MUST be read. If you have only one book on your shelf pertaining to the construction/reconstruction/maintenance, this should be it. You will never forget it, and you will recommend it to others as strongly as I am to you. Your boat will feel naked without it.

I think I have over a hundred books on sailing and boating.
"This Old Boat" is my most recent addition, which I bought
simultaneously with another of Casey's books "Sailboat Hull and
Deck Repair". I consider them to be two of the most important
books for sailors that are boat owners.

One can take two routes with
boats, buying new and paying a fortune, or going the inexpensive route
and doing the work yourself. There is something to be said for each.
I'm a sailor, I don't like working on boats. I had my fill as a child
working on my Dad's boat. Nevertheless, I'm presently engaged in
refitting an awesome older boat to modern standards. I love every bit
of it.

Casey's books are essential references for me. I've managed
to pick things up from magazines and working on other boats over the
years, but I still found these books not only insightful and powerful
motivators for me. One job that I have been reluctant to do, a deck
modification project has suddenly become do-able for me. Reading his
book made it clear to me that these jobs are not as hard as they first
seem to be. It is difficult to cut up a nice looking deck, but if you
plan the project right, you can transform your deck layout for
single-handed sailing, fix a de-lamination problem and a multitude of
deck leaks all at one time.

I strongly recommend this book and his
Sailboat Hull and Deck Repair.

Buy these books. Map out a strategy
and then focus on one project at a time. Good luck and smooth
sailing.

Conrad
Senior S/V ECHO

Many Microsoft users have noticed how over time, their spiffy new machines seem to get slower and slower. But the sheer complexity of the operating system defies many users' abilities to understand or fix this.

Therefore the authors wrote this book. To help those who are not systems administrators or gurus. They specialise to the XP operating systems, but point out that the tips given here typically also apply to earlier Microsoft operating systems, like NT, 98 and 2000.

The most useful hint is really the lowest tech of all. Manually rummage through and delete files that you no longer need. Granted, it's dangerous to do this in an arbitrary system directory. But under normal usage, users tend to put files into only a few standard directories. The authors recommend you spend some time there to remove the unneeded stuff. Basically just general housekeeping. But like real housekeeping, many of us just put this off.

Of course the book has other hints, and these are more technical. If the above hint sounds like it might be useful, then consider getting this book for the others.

I have to admit that computers are similar to cars to my way of thinking--I can drive them competently enough, but I have no idea what goes on under the hood and don't really care. My son, the computer geek of the family, always untangles the problems and fixes whatever program I manage to crash. He gave me a copy of Degunking Windows last weekend with a not very subtle hint that it would teach me to fix my own problems, and maybe even keep out of trouble. He also mentioned that most of the things in the book could be done in a few minutes and wouldn't require taking the back off or rewiring anything. Never having read a computer book before, I wasn't very eager to start with this one. I was pleasantly surprised. At the very front of the book it goes through a list of things you can do based on how much time you have. I tried the ones you could do in ten minutes. When I managed those without breaking anything, I looked for other things that I could clean up. I started really reading the book and found that the instructions were very easy to understand. There were also plenty of pictures and diagrams so I was sure that I was doing everything correctly. The writer also puts in warnings of things to watch out for--so it's pretty foolproof. The email section was particularly helpful--I was guilty of almost every problem in that chapter, but now I proudly sport a clean mailbox! I haven't done everything in the book yet, and some things seem a lttle beyond me, but overall I think it's great for anyone that wants to clean things up and be able to find things easier. Thanks to the authors for finally writing a computer book that anyone can understand!

Prompted by my brother the computer (and Mac) expert to "Get a self-help book about Windows and stop bugging me every other month when something goes wrong!" I decided to start simple, and found "Degunking Windows" in my search for computer self-help. What a godsend! Not only are the processes in this book well-organized and straightforward, the fix-its are easy and enlightening. Did you know that when you download some programs (like screensavers or free games) from the Internet, they include "spyware" that bugs your computer and lets people see what you're doing and look into your life? This book not only told me about spyware, it led me through the steps to get rid of it. Guess what? It found four or five spy programs I didn't even know I had. Thank you!!!

As a former layout editor, I found the format and design of the book to be clear, engaging, and easy to work with. The introductory pages have several "degunking" options for the time-pressed that allow you to choose your own level of cleanup based on how much time you can afford to spend at any particular sitting. I started, ambitiously, with the half-day degunking, but computers give me hives, so I had to walk away for a while. But each day I picked up where I left off and was able to get through the degunking process in a very short while. The processes in this book are, done in order, a great way to do a major overhaul on your system. They also provide you with useful tricks for daily, weekly, or monthly maintenance on your computer to keep the gunk from reaccumulating. Kind of like those shower sprays: first you clean the tub like a madman, then just mist every day after your shower, and Voila! no more mildew.

"Degunking Windows" was my first computer self-help book, and what a good choice for a self-admitted technophobe. Appealing to my compulsive side, getting my system organized was easy, exhilirating, and, dare I say fun? (I did say I was compulsive...) Buy this book. You will be happy you did. Or you can just talk to the fungus that grows out of the cracks of your grout... Whatever turns you on.

I have dozens of books on Oracle and this one is right up there with the best. The author obviosuly has a wealth of experience and its the first Oracle book I've read that acknowledges some people run Oracle to actually achieve something in a business environment and not just for the academic exercise. Its therefore full of practical advice and is also bang up to date. I would certainly recommend it to any DBA in a mission-critical environment who wants to make their life a whole lot easier.

i love this book! It's maybe the first book to cover the end to end management of Oracle completely not just the server, in a modern way. Oracle brags about how admin is easier these days and this book shows why it's true. But there should be a warning on the cover. Old school DBAs who spend lots of time on row chaining, microplacement of database files, fragmentation, STATSPACK (which is covered) for performance etc won't like it. I finally ditched tar and dd for backups and started using RMAN based on the RMAN chapter in this book. I just wish i'd done it years ago, but i guess I was stuck in denial. If you want your eyes opened on how to manage Oracle in the future not the past buy this book!

I love this book! It covers many subjects areas in depth that other books just don't, see contents list. Oracle brags about why 9.2 can reduce admin overhead by 40% and this book shows you how. Old school DBAs that spend all their time on defrag, obsessed with file placement, STATSPACK for tuning etc probably won't like it. I finally stopped using dd and tar for backup and started using RMAN as a result of this book. Now i wish i did it years ago. If you want to manage Oracle in the future not the past, buy this book.

This is a great book it is the first that I purchased before diving into automobile painting and I still frequently reference it. It is a bit dated by today's standards but, still covers the basics very well. I also own John Pfanstiehl's Automotive Paint Handbook (which is also excelent) and Don Taylor's & Larry Hofer's Paint & Body Handbook and this compares favorably to both of those. Pay attention to the captions there is a lot of good information to be found there. All in all it is a great book and I recommend it. It is a great reference to have around.

This was a wonderful book, that just got updated to make it even better. The only things I didn't really like about the old book is that all of the pictures were in b/w and it was begining to become a bit dated. Now with color photos and updated content, this book is pretty much perfect.
Also, ignore the reviews that say it's outdated. They were written before the updated version came out.

This edition of How To Paint Your Car has been updated to current technology, paint products and procedures. For anyone who is contemplating painting their own vehicle or even having someone else do it, this book will answer many questions for you. This is certainly a must have for anyone who is interested in automotive painting.

This is a good book made even better with the addition of color photos.

It gives you a good basic about Rotary engine. But it won't give you any secrets. It just that same old information. No step by step methods. Just some same old information. Nothing more, nothing less. If you think it's like "How to Modify your RX7" by Al Downing and Dave Emanuel book. No, don't count on it.

I have just finished this book, plus the three extra omitted chapters, and I felt compelled to write this review. As a weekend mechanic, I appreciate how well- written the book is. So far I have learned so much more useful information in the past few days than I have in the past 7-8 months since I bought my 1993 RX-7. I particularly like the straight forward approach that you don;t always get with the various magazines. I already started doing a few things to the car that I didn't know needed to be upgraded so that I may avoid potential problems (the 3rd generation RX-7 is a great car, but it can be unreliable). I would recommend this book to all rx-7 owners

My girlfriend recently bought me a copy of this handbook. My first car was a 1G RX-7. Since I am coming across some money I have plans to buy a 3G (my dream car) within the next 6 mos. Ancas' handbook has been the single most informative and valuable reference in my decision making process. I emailed the author [...] and he gave me access to to the "3 Mystery Chapters" that were cut out of the book even though I bought it here at Amazon.com. I highly recommend this book to anyone who owns (or wants to own) an RX-7