Windows^xp Pro - The Missing Manual, 2^nd Edition

The book that should have been in the box…

                David Pogue, Craig Zacker, & L. J. Zacker

A Book review - by John Calhoun

This book is co-written by three very experienced and knowledgable professional computer book writers, and is backed up by a creative team of five more experienced writers, editors and graphic artists. They are directly or indirectly responsible for many dozens of books, including quite a few in the “For Dummies” line of books.

This book has a lot of information not included in the tiny manual that comes with Windows^xp. If I were Microsoft, I’d be embarassed to put out a program as complicated as Windows^xp with the manual that comes with it. They titled it “Microsoft Windows^xp Professional – start here”. The only thing they did right was titling it, because that’s all it is: a start! It’s only 30 pages long, and it just barely accomplishes it’s title, and leaves you hanging, wanting more. If you want Microsoft’s “real” manual, it’ll cost you another $40 to $50 !

This book, on the other hand, is 668 pages, not including the index or table of contents. This is an illustrated book, but only in black&white/grayscale. But who needs color? This book has what you’re looking for: help and information. Some of it’s features are FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions), Gems in the Rough, Nostalgia Corner, annotated screenshots, Tips, Up to Speed, Power Users’ Clinic,Troubleshooting Moment, Workaround Workshop, and History Class. These are all highlighted dialog boxes that cover specific areas of information and questions that the typical reader may have. This book is great for beginners as well as advanced users. It is written in easy to understand language, and doesn’t use a lot of technical terms unfimiliar to beginners, but it still gets to the point and tells you what you need to know. Even experienced users will gain a lot of knowledge from this book.

The book takes you on a tour of Windows^xp from the Start Menu, all the way to Networking. Hooking up to the Internet is covered too, including Security and firewalls. There’s even an appendix covering the menus in Windows^xp and explains the choices in each one and what they do, and another one covering the Registry and RegEdit. Another one covers installing Windows^xp Pro, how to prepare for installing and the different methods of installing as well as recommendations. You can even go to the book’s website, listed at the end of this review, and take a look at the Table of Contests, as well as the entire Index in the back of the book. You can even download a sample chapter in Adobe Reader (.pdf) format.

There’s no CD-ROM included with this book, but you can get the “Windows^xp Pro: The Missing Manual” “Missing CD” online, which is basicly nothing more than the websites of the shareware programs mentioned in the book.

The book publisher gives you a discount when ordering multiple books, as well as free shiping with a minimun order of only $29.95.

Title: Windows XP Pro: The Missing Manual
Second Edition: November 2004
Series Website: The Missing Manuals

Publisher’s Website: http://oreilly.com
ISBN: 0-596-00898-8
Pages: 704

List Price: $29.95