Q&A: Degunking Windows
Author Joli Ballew is writer, technology trainer, and network consultant in the Dallas area. She degunked her own Windows machine while writing this book.
Title: Degunking Windows
Authors: Joli Ballew and Jeff Duntemann
ISBN: 1-932111-840
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What was the Eureka! moment you experienced while writing this book?
I would have to say my Eureka! came the day I saw the cover art. We were halfway through the book and I knew right then that it would be a success. It was one of those great days when you just simply knew. The book had been easy to write (some days I couldn't type fast enough), it was brilliant, and now we had this awesome cover to go with it. Eureka! We've really hit on something! We're working on the next three books in that series as we speak.
Does this book fill a need that others have failed to fill?
This book fills a great void in the market. While there are books on PC annoyances and PC headaches, there really aren't any books that say: Hey, we know you have a nice computer. It has an 80 GB hard drive, 512 MB of RAM, an an awesome processor, and, yeah, it runs like crap and it drives you crazy. We can fix that, and once we get it running smoothly again, here are some things you can do every day, once a week, and once a month to keep that slowdown from happening again.
Why this book? Why now?
XP has been out for a while now, and lots and lots of people have had ample time to gunk up their computers. Because they've never organized or deleted any e-mail, Outlook Express takes 10 minutes to open; because they've never defragmented or deleted temporary Internet files, their computers are just dragging along. Because their photos are all named with numbers instead of with names, they can never find the picture they want. When they boot up their machines they're inundated with popups to register this or that, insert a new ink cartridge, or upgrade to the newest version on BonzaiBuddy. I bet that 75% of Windows users have these problems and just accept the slowdown as a fact of life. They don't have to.
What Hershey's kiss concept (bite-sized, dense, and sweet) do you most want your readers to walk away knowing?
Bite-sized: Delete stuff you don't need. Do that regularly.
Dense: Keep stuff secure. Use a virus protection program and a backup program. Get on a schedule, and, if possible, automate the tasks.
Sweet: Purchase a third party registry checker. The performance improvement you'll get after running it will definitely be "sweet."
What's the one question that no one has asked you about your book that you wish they had?
Was this the most fun you've ever had writing a book?
Answer: Yes indeedy. What made it so fun was that I'd just finished writing a book for Microsoft Press entitled Windows XP: Do Amazing Things, where I downloaded and installed every power toy known to man, every third party screen saver and theme that existed, music, photos, and more. I made a 3 GB movie of my daughter's marching band performance. My computer was slower than slow. Gunked indeed. I had a great computer to work with then, and saw immediate results after writing each chapter. By the end of the book, my computer was back in tip-top shape. It was incredible watching the progress, and I was doing it!
What reading material is on your nightstand? Is it there for show or are you actually reading it?
It's a TV guide. And, yes, I read it. Nothing's there for show, but if you ever do happen to find a book on my nightstand, it'll surely be something by Stephen King, probably the fourth or fifth time I'll be reading the Dark Tower series, or On Writing. Eerie stuff, and the Dark Tower series is excellence in writing.
Which websites top your favorites list?
I'm totally into iTunes right now - www.apple.com/itunes/store/findmusic.html. I also enjoy the Windows XP Expert Zone, browsing Amazon, and I find myself at the Microsoft KB pages quite often.
What is your most hated buzzword?
The year I left teaching the big word was "paradigm." I'm not sure if that's a common word now, but it bugged me then. They kept bringing in words like that and all we really wanted to do was teach kids. Following that I'd have to add to the list metrosexual, ROI (return on investment), and Instant Messaging (seems like it should be Instant Messenging).
Do you have any predictions for the IT year ahead?
I'm just hoping that all of those folks who lost their jobs find others. I have a good friend who lost his telecom job 2 years ago and is managing a bakery at the local Albertsons. I worry that more and more jobs will be sent overseas unless major changes are made.
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