74 | MAXIMUMPC | DEC 08 | http://www.maximumpc.com
R&D^
EXAMINING TECHNOLOGY AND PUTTING IT TO USEHOW TO
Who needs tech support? Diagnose and resuscitate your ailing broadband
connection like a seasoned pro! —CHRIS COMISKEY
Troubleshoot and Optimize Your
HOW TO
Troubleshoot and Optimize Your
HOW TO
Internet Experience
AN INTERNET CONNECTION
WINDOWS XP OR WINDOWS VISTA
SPYBOT SEARCH AND DESTROY
Free, http://tinyurl.com/5or9tg
AD-AWARE SE free edition
Free, http://tinyurl.com/6lzwnkSUBMIT YOUR IDEA Have a
great idea for a How To project?
Tell us about it by writing to
[email protected].W
ith outsourced support now the de facto standard in the IT and ISP
industries, do-it-yourself computer repair has gone from being an
optional luxury to an outright necessity. You might feel hopeless
and abandoned the fi rst time your network connection gives out, but don’t fret
just yet. Given the right direction, even the greenest of users can fi x a number
of common network errors. We’re going to give you all the tools you need to
become your own network tech support.
You might be skeptical, but LAN/WAN troubleshooting isn’t all that
diffi cult. Upgrades are easy and cheap—if required at all—and the analysis
process is brief and painless, even if you’ve never wired a Cat5 cable or run
a command line ipconfi g. Even better, many of the steps and instructions
are identical in Vista and XP, which goes a long way toward easing the
troubleshooting transition, should you switch from one OS to the other.
While sometimes a call to your ISP is unavoidable, when you do have to do
it, at least you’ll brandish the knowledge to blaze through all the low-level BS
and head straight to a speedy resolution. Don’t let the Internet and networking
companies bully you any longer—it’s time to stand up and take matters into
your own hands.WHAT YOU NEED
TIME = 97 MINUTES