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William Keeley has several books in progress. Each one has content added as Yahweh gives William inspiration. William hopes that readers find these books as useful as his first, "Tech Tactics Money Savinbg Secrets." In each of these books, William sticks to his theme of using very low cost, common sense solutions to solve problems and accomplish tasks. He hopes that these books will be released in the coming months. Tech Tactics Computer Repair Secrets Knowledge contained in this book is tremendously useful. This book not only covers computers in the traditional sense, it also covers devices not normally considered to be a computer. Let's face it. There is a computer in just about everything electronic. In fact the distinction between computers, cameras, telephones, televisions, and other entertainment and educational devices become more blurry by the day. With the newer televisions on the market today, one can use their television to surf the web, play games, listen to music, or do many other things. The same can be said for smart phones. People use their phones to check their email, play games, read books, watch TV, or even record video. As technology (and slave labor) makes each device less and less expensive as time goes by, the actual device hardware becomes less valuable in relation to the information contained on the device. This book covers techniques for getting valuable information from a faulty device as well as determining if such a device should be repaired or replaced. This book also covers some of the common problems associated with computers and other other related devices. While this book concentrates on repairing desktop and laptop computers, it also shows how to fix common problems with other devices. It is impossible for this book to cover every device in detail. Even if this book were one thousand pages long, new devices will be manufactured soon after this book is released. Because of this rapid pace in technology, this book will cover information on how to find resources to take care of problems associated with these new devices and how to find repair how to information on-line. This book is written for the power user. It is intended for readers who know how to do basic computer tasks and who are also able to look around the operating system and locate options for changing settings. In some cases, step by step instructions are provided. However, with the many different computer and operating system configurations, it is nearly impossible for step by step instructions to apply to every computer or operating system configuration. A good candidate for using this book is the computer hobbyist, power user, or recent college computer science graduate. A person who is able to download and successfully install programs without much trepidation or difficulty and who is also able to burn a CD or DVD should be able to follow most intstructions in this book. This book is not intended for a computer illiterate audiance, nor is it intended for a person who is not able or willing to take the time to do a little reading or follow instructions. A degree from MIT or similar school is not required to be able to use this book, however a bit of time, patience, and diligence is. Although this book delves a bit into the academics of how computers work, it is mostly a task oriented book that teaches some of the tricks of the trade for aspiring computer repair personnel. This book teaches troubleshooting and repair techniques using a minimum amount of equipment and money. It is intended to help those who are considering setting up a computer repair service or those who just want to be able to repair their own computers. The information in this book can be used to set up a repair facility on a shoestring budget. If a reader understands the information presented in this book, he or she should be able to successfully repair just about all personal computers currently on the market. This book, rather than being an academic text, is a practical text teaching the tricks of the trade that are not taught in many of today's schools. This book, like the other books in William Keeley's Tech Tactics series is meant to provide information on how to accomplish a task with very little or no startup costs. In this case, this book talks about how to produce and publish various media from book and newsletters to quality Cd's and DVD's. This book not only discusses the equipment needed but also free software that can accomplish the task at hand. The free software discussed in this book comes without strings attached, without spy ware, and without ad-ware unless otherwise spelled out. Tech Tactics Publishing and Production Secrets While there are many tools out there for the Windows operating system that are discussed in this book, many of the better ones run in Linux, BSD, or MacOS, or any other derivative or clone of Unix. This is due to the fact that Linux and Windows developers generally come from two different schools of thought. Windows developers generally think about how they are going to make money from the software that they write. In other words, they code for cash. Much of Windows code, even though it is free to use remains closed source. This is sometimes due to the fear of violating third party licensing agreements, etc. Sometimes it is done just for the purpose of control. Linux developers generally think about how they can make the software they write more useful or how to perform a task better. They write code in the hope that it will be useful for them and due to the GNU Public License, any code that is produced and distributed must include the source so that others can improve upon it. The GNU Public License is not a license meant to restrict or discourage the development of useful programs and other intellectual property. It is meant to encourage the development of useful programs and intellectual property. In other words, the GNU Public License has done for software innovation what traditional copyrights were supposed to do but now discourage. This book is not about converting people to use Linux, but this short paragraph will mention ways of trying it. Most people who try it and use it for a month or two end up staying with it and not going back to Windows. One does not have to wipe his or her hard drive to try Linux. There are many other ways of trying it. One, different versions or distributions of Linux can be downloaded as live CD's or boot CD's. Two, a virtual machine such as Virtual Box (http://www.virtualbox.org) can be installed on Windows, and Linux can be installed within Virtual Box. For those who have relatively recently made machines or relatively updated machine should try this option. Some versions or distributions of Linux may not work on some hardware, but one should try several before giving up. With the thousands upon thousands of free software applications with no strings attached, Linux is a great bargain for those who want to get away from the pay, pay merry-go-round. Much of the software is exactly what is needed for an outstanding publishing and production platform. Is it possible for some twenty something living in his parent's basement to become a published author, music producer, or movie director? Is it possible for that twenty something to do it with just a computer, camcorder or even a camera phone? The answer to these questions is yes. Inexpensive computers and electronic gadgets combined with the power of the Internet has finally given the establishment book and magazine publishers as well as music and movie moguls some real competition. Individuals as well as small outfits can now make media that competes directly with establishment fare. In the Information Age, one can go as far as his or her talent and marketing skills will allow. Gone are the months of frustration of receiving rejection letters or no response at all from companies to which scripts, manuscripts, or recordings have been submitted. Cutting loose the big boys means that the author, musician, actor, director, or screenwriter is now on his or her own. He or she has to not only create content, but must also convert the content to forms that the buying public will consume. He or she must also promote the creation and in some cases, sell it directly to customers. There are companies that will do the printing, copying, packaging, and handling sales for the creator. In many cases, these companies will be reasonably priced and allow on demand publishing and production. This book will tell the reader what to look out for and how to handle material submission. Now that the possibilities of success has been discussed, the struggle must also be discussed. Most people don't know this but the average author sells only about 12 books. These books are usually sold to friends, family, and acquaintances. In many cases, these people never even read the book. They buy the book for the novelty of being able to say that they know a "published author." For music Cd's, less than two and a half percent of albums released in 2009 sold 5000 copies or more. In other words, those who expect to get filthy rich producing and publishing their creations are very likely to be deeply disappointed. However, this does not mean that there will not be any that do get filthy rich. The same forces that bring competition to the big outfits are the same forces that bring the same competition to the small guy. The big guys have huge advertising budgets that can help them stand a little bit above the competition, so they have the advantage in this regard. If there is such a small chance in making it big, then why get into publishing and production in the first place? This is a good question. A published author can add one more things to his or her resume in order to stand above other job seekers. A published author may in some cases use his or her book as a credential in lieu of a college degree. In some cases, the publish author may seek college credit based upon the published work. Audio and Video producers also have reasons for production. A church may want to record services so that a wider group of people can be reached, a company may want to do a video feature of a product, a citizen may want to influence government policy, a citizen journalist may want to shed light on corrupt practices, or a couple may just want their wedding day preserved for posterity. Just as the printing press was very useful in spreading the Good News of the Kingdom, a video or audio production can accomplish the same thing. A book, manual, video, or audio recording may also be produced in order to teach people how to perform a certain task or use a certain product. When this information is distributed on paper media, disc media, or via the Internet, if can save a company money in technical support costs. A well done how to video can be even used to advertise a product or service. There are many reasons why to get into publishing and production. These are just a few. |