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I'm one of today's best-selling computer book writers, with more than 15 million books in print.

This Web site keeps you up-to-date on me, my books, and your computers. Each week, I answer a reader's question on-line.

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Windows 7 For Dummies

Windows 7 For Dummies

The perfect plain-English guide to the much-anticipated release of Windows 7!

Archive for 'Hardware'

Managing disk space by deleting one partition and expanding another

Q: My 250 GB hard disk has two partitions: one-third of the drive is the C: partition, the other two-thirds is on the D: partition. I’d like to delete my empty D:  partition, and expand the C: partition to fill the entire 250 GB of space.
How do I do this? Do I need a professional?
A: [...]

Disabling the Caps Lock key

Q: I keep hitting the Caps Lock key inadvertently, which messes up my typing. Is there a way to disable it?
A: The simplest way to disable the Caps Lock key is to whittle down a small wine cork or pencil eraser, and slide it beneath the key so it can’t be pressed. A small piece [...]

How do I add Bluetooth to my PC?

Q: I bought a Rocketfish bluetooth wireless mouse, and it didn’t come with a receiver to plug into the computer. I read on the back, and it said I needed a Bluetooth-enabled computer. Is there anything I can buy to make my computer Bluetooth-enabled, like a receiver or something?
A: A group of companies created [...]

Adding a second PC to a wireless network

Q: I have a desktop PC in Windows XP Professional. I bought a laptop (Aspire) with Windows Vista. Can I use the same router to use the internet with both computers? The router I bought is wireless.
A: Yes, you can use the same wireless router with both your old desktop PC and your [...]

Securely erasing a PC’s hard drive

Q: I’m donating my old PC to charity. How can I wipe off all my old data, including any credit card numbers, tax information and household budgets?
A: Deleting everything on your hard drive, or reformatting your hard drive doesn’t truly eliminate its information. Many data recovery specialists can still recover the files, a fact handy [...]