Microsoft Windows XP Books:

Windows XP Home Edition: The Missing Manual (O'Reilly Windows)
By David Pogue

Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
As the installed base of Microsoft's newest operating system, XP, grows, guides to its use will continue to proliferate (see also Computer Media, LJ 3/1/02). Upgraders with little previous experience will be drawn to 10 Minute Guide, which highlights changes from earlier versions and explains common tasks step by step. Small and leaving no room for background or troubleshooting assistance, this should be purchased in conjunction with more comprehensive guides, such as The Missing Manual. It provides enough background to allow new home users and upgraders to get up and running, while leaving them feeling as if they have a handle on why and how things work. Ample screen shots and sidebars further this process; recommended for all libraries. Headaches, for beginning to intermediate users, focuses on troubleshooting common XP problems and annoyances, like a too-rapid cursor blink rate. Nutshell is a reference for advanced users of home and professional editions, with an alphabetical format that allows quick lookup of functions and features within larger sections (e.g., networking, the registry, etc.). Each is useful and appropriate for larger libraries.'
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Book Description

Windows XP is the latest, most reliable, and best-looking version of the world's most widely used operating system. The new Windows combines the same stress-tested, extremely stable engine that drives Windows 2000-Microsoft's corporate operating system-with the far superior compatibility of Windows Me. Windows XP offers dozens of important new features. In addition to the vastly more elegant user interface, it offers drag-and-drop CD burning, powerful built-in features for viewing and managing digital photos and music, and a Remote Assistance feature that lets invited PC gurus or help-desk technicians see and even manipulate what's on your screen over the Internet. But one major failing of Windows remains unaddressed in the XP edition: It comes without a single page of printed instructions. In Windows XP Home Edition: The Missing Manual, New York Times technology columnist (and Missing Manual series creator) David Pogue provides the friendly, authoritative book that should have been in the box. It's the ideal users' guide for the world's most popular operating system. The book begins at the beginning: with a tour of the Desktop, the new, two-column Start menu, and instructions for customizing the Taskbar and toolbars. A special focus: Organizing files, folders, and windows for maximum efficiency and minimum clutter. More advanced chapters explore each control panel and built-in application; walk through every conceivable configuration (setting up a PC for Internet use, peripheral equipment, laptop life, and so on); and setting up a small network, including how to share a single Internet connection among several PCs. Finally, special chapters are dedicated to standard rituals of Windows life: troubleshooting, installation, and upgrading. Windows XP Home Edition: The Missing Manual is a one-stop reference for the Windows user. In keeping with the high standards of the Missing Manual line, the book features superb writing, special features for both absolute novices and power users, and complete coverage. If Microsoft could wave its magic software wand and wish for the perfect guide to its flagship product, Windows XP Home Edition: The Missing Manual would appear like magic.

Book Info
David Pogue provides the most authoritative book with coverage of every feature from the new two-column Start menu to setting up an office network and sharing an Internet connection with several PCs. Softcover.


Windows XP for Dummies
By Andy Rathbone

Windows XP for Dummies does a good job in its role as the flagship of the Dummies line, providing Windows novices with a guided introduction to Microsoft's latest and most feature-rich operating system for everyday computer users. Its treatment of computer, Windows, and Internet fundamentals is among the best on the market, and author Andy Rathbone has an appealing way of writing that's simultaneously fun and detail-rich. If you're a Windows novice--meaning you don't know how to undelete a file that's been sent to the Recycle Bin, or what a Web browser is, or what it means to "cut and paste" text--you will get a lot out of Rathbone's work.
Some aspects of this book could be better, such as the part of the networking chapter that calls for an Ethernet hub without noting that a switch, though possibly more expensive, would do the job better, without any additional hassle. The networking coverage also does an inadequate job of explaining how to share a cable modem or DSL connection among several computers. This is a serious shortcoming, and we're getting to the point in our evolution as a society of computer users at which we can assume that everyone knows what the "Cancel" button does and would rather read about the newer, more exciting things that Windows XP can do. Even the dummies aren't that dumb anymore.

But that said--and Rathbone does confine a lot of the really elementary stuff to a skinny introductory chapter--this book is a boon to people who aren't familiar with Windows XP or its immediate predecessors (including Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me). It's also great for people who have learned a little about Windows on the job or from their kids, and want to expand on what they know. --David Wall

Topics covered: Microsoft Windows XP for people completely unfamiliar with the operating system and other recent versions of Windows. Coverage includes how to run programs, move and delete files, connect to the Internet, and use applications like electronic mail programs, Web browsers, and multimedia players.

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