Internet Annoyances: How to Fix the Most Annoying Things about Going Online

Preston Gralla first cut his teeth in the online world by dialing into bulletin boards back in the mid-1980s, using an all-powerful 2400-baud modem. He then graduated (or descended, depending on your point of view) to dialing into online services such as Delphi, CompuServe, and America Online, and eventually into the Internet itself (via various annoying means). He now has seven computers at home, which he's networked wirelessly to a broadband Internet connectionwhich means that he encounters seven times the Internet annoyances of the average user.

Preston is the author of more than 30 books about the Internet and computing, including Windows XP Hacks and Windows XP Power Hound. He was the founding managing editor of the trade newspaper PC Week and a founding editor and then editor and editorial director of PC/Computing. He was instrumental in helping establish the ZDNet online service and was on the startup team for a new online service called Interchange that never saw the light of day, thanks to a little thing called the World Wide Web. He was executive editor at both ZDNet and CNET. Preston has also written about computers and technology for a wide variety of newspapers and magazines, including USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, PC Magazine, Boston Magazine, and the Dallas Morning News (where he was a technology columnist), among many others. He writes several online columns, including one for PC Magazine and one for PriceGrabber.com, and is editor in charge of O'Reilly's WindowsDevCenter web site. He's won a number of awards for his writing and editing, including one for Best Feature in a Computer Publication from the Computer Press Association. Under his editorship, PC/Computing was a finalist for the National Magazine Award for General Excellence.

As a well-known technology expert, Preston has made numerous TV and radio appearances, including on CNN, the CBS Early Show, MSNBC, ABC's World News Now, and many others. He has also contributed regular commentaries about technology to National Public Radio's All Things Considered.