Acknowledgments

Several people have helped me with both the research and production of this book. I would like to thank the following people: First, a very special thanks to my wife and partner, Lynn. Over the last few years she had returned to school full time, in addition to helping to run our business. She recently graduated with full honors (congratulations!), receiving a degree in Multimedia and Web Design. I'm extremely proud of her, as well as all I've seen her accomplish in the last few years. The dedication she has shown to her schoolwork has been inspiring .

Thanks to Lisa Carlson of Mueller Technical Research for helping with product research and office management. She has fantastic organizational skills that have been a tremendous help in managing all the information that comes into and goes out of this office.

I must give a special thanks to Rick Kughen at Que. Rick is the number one person responsible for taking what I submitted and turning it into a finished book. His attention to detail is amazing, and he genuinely cares about both the book and my readers, often going far above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to customer service and support. Rick is always pushing to add extra value to the book and is constantly coming up with ways to improve the overall product. Rick, thanks so much for your dedication and hard work!

I'd also like to thank Todd Brakke for doing the editing for this new project. His excellent tips and suggestions really help to keep the material concise and up to date. I'd also like to thank Charlotte Clapp, Andy Beaster, and Bart Reed, who also worked on the editing for this book, as well as all the illustrators, designers, and technicians at Que who worked so hard to complete the finished product and get this book out the door! The people at Que are a wonderful team that produces clearly the best computer books on the market. I am happy and proud to be closely associated with Que.

I would like to say thanks also to my publisher Greg Wiegand, who has stood behind all the Upgrading and Repairing book and video projects and is willing to take the risks in developing new versions, such as this Laptop and upcoming Server editions, as well as the (read expensive) video clips we are including.

Greg, Rick, Todd, and the rest all make me feel as if we are on the same team, and they are just as dedicated as I am to producing the best books possible.

I would also like to say thanks to Mark Soper and Rich Malloy, who contributed to several of the chapters, adding their valuable input and expertise. Rich also served as a technical editor, and along with William Terdoslavich, did an excellent job in helping me to ensure the highest level of technical accuracy and depth of coverage.

Thanks to all the readers who have emailed me with suggestions; I welcome all your comments and even your criticisms. I take them seriously and apply them to the continuous improvement of my books. I especially enjoy answering the many questions you send me; your questions help me to understand areas that might need to be clarified, as well as to point out additional coverage that should be added.

Finally, I would like to thank the thousands of people who have attended my seminars ; you might not realize how much I learn from each of you and all your questions!

Many of my all-night writing raves are fueled by a variety of possibly less-than -nutritious (but very tasty and loaded with energy) food and beverages. In particular, this edition was fueled by bags and bags of Starbucks coffee processed via a killer Capresso automatic coffee/espresso machine (utter nirvana for an addicted coffee drinker like me), many cases of Coke Classic (no Pepsi allowed ” gotta have the burn!), Red Bull and AMP energy drinks, and cases of Trolli Brite Crawler Eggs and Pearson's Salted Nut Rolls. For special occasions when I really needed a boost, I enjoyed a couple bottles of Skeleteen's Brain Wash, the ultimate energy drink. Why, that covers the three major workaholic nerd/geek food groups right there: caffeine , sugar, and salt!