Software Books

Nolo's Legal Guide to Starting and Running a Small Business was exactly what I needed to help start my company off on the right foot. I don't have a very strong legal backround and would have been way over my head if I'd tried to forge ahead totally alone but at the same time I didn't want to spend a fortune consulting a lawyer. If you're in a similar situation then Nolo's Legal Guide is the perfect solution. It is well written, well organized, thorough, and very easy to use. It's a great general start-up kit that would be helpful to any fledgling business that I can think of. If I had had to call a lawyer to answer every legal question that arose in the first couple of months (a huge number) then my company may easily have never gotten off the ground. I was so pleased with this product that I have since purchased two more Nolo books (Tax Savvy for Small Business and The Employer's Legal Handbook) that are more directed at business owners who have gotten through the initial start-up phase. Both of these books are also excellent and I would recommend them as follow ups to the Legal Guide to Starting and Running a Small Business.

There are several books in the market on how to incorporate your company based on the state. Even though there is an advantage to these books as you get state specific information for filing paperwork to incorporate, usually there isn't any other information in these books that you can use.

This Nolo guide on the other hand stays kind of generic in the sense that they don't spend too much time in how to fill out the incorporation forms and where to file. Instead, they give good information on every subject you would need to research when starting a small business.

The book starts off by explaining the different legal forms of corporate entities you can choose for your business and details each of these forms in the next three chapters. After this, there are more than 20 chapters devoted to almost any kind of situation you may encounter. For example - there is a chapter on Resolving Legal Disputes, a chapter on Small Business Contracts, a chapter on Home Based Business, etc. Some of the topics I had no prior knowledge of and gained tremendously from - Retail Pricing and Return Practices, Zoning Laws, Deducting Expenses for Business Use of Your Home, Workers' Compensation, Thirteen Common Sources of Money, and Strong and Weak Trademarks.

This is a good book to read when you are STARTING your own business. After that, you will probably need to research more into the topics that are relevant to your situation. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many different legal guides that small businesses can use (from Nolo). Obviously, as your particular situation becomes more unique you need to refer to the specific books that have an advanced treatment of that topic. And finally, it is always better to seek a lawyer's help after being aware of the basics of the Law.

As usual, Nolo does a fantastic job of covering a broad range of topics in a very detailed fashion without losing the reader's attention. There are a lot of examples to explain the various topics and everything is in plain English. I especially like the references to the IRS forms and publications you need in various circumstances. When you go to the IRS website, it isn't clear which form is relevant to you. It's neat that Nolo makes sure to reference the right form when they are discussing a particular subject.

I hope your small business succeeds and that you find this book helpful in getting things started. Be sure to check out the other Nolo books when you are past the initial stages and definitely build a good working relationship with a trustworthy lawyer for times of need. Good luck!

This set me straight on a few things while setting up my business. It is well written and easy to understand. I would recommend this to any 1st time business owner starting out.

Full of the information you expect based upon the title of the book. The information is detailed so you have the guidance you sought.

This book is like an encyclopedia of small business. I'll definitely be returning to this book throughout the years.

I've been an avid Leo fan since I first saw him on the Screen Savers back when TechTV used to be useful. I was actually flipping through the channels on my best friend's TV and stopped on TTV because I didn't get the channel at my house. Leo draws people in by coming off extremely personable in any media he produces. I watched TSS and Call For Help because of him, listen to his KFI radio show, and own every book he's produced and there is a reason for this: Leo Laporte makes technology fun. It's not dry, never bland, and there's always something for everyone, which makes this book a particularly good read.

Each chapter has something for everyone:
1 Computer Gadgets
2 Portable Gadgets
3 Digital Photography Gadgets
4 Home Movie Gadgets
5 Home Audio/Video Gadgets
6 Telephone Gadgets
7 Game Gadgets
8 Automotive Gadgets

What makes this book really stand out from his Almanac line is the page after page after page of beautiful color photos. This is a full color book with eight chapters. Each chapter is divided into subcategories and each subcategory has a one page introduction. Then Leo writes a one page review of his favorite in each subcategory, followed by half a page on between two to eight other subcategorical recommendations. Each product is photographed in color. Model, manufacturer (complete with relevant website), price, and any other relevant info (say megapixels for digital cameras) are documented in a little yellow bubble.

My favorite part (after the color, layout, and general feel-good tone of the book are considered) is the actual content--the reason I bought the book! You will find at least one product you must have (I found 15 and chronicled them on my website). The content ranges from novice to expert, high tech to low tech, and cheap to super expensive. You'll notice that Leo writes about products you may have heard of before but never considered until his recommendation (the Logitech io Digital Pen or the iRobot's Roomba--both on my Amazon wishlist).

I'm looking forward to Leo's other releases, including a gadget guide for Macs, a TiVo guide, and, of course, the 2005 Almanac. Enjoy the read!

A Big Question: First, what does this fellow consider gadgets to be.

Answer, there are hundreds of gadgets here, far too many to mention, but they fall into seven categories:

Computer Gadgets -everything from speakers, to mice, to a little fan that plugs into your USB port.
Portable Gadgets - mostly stuff like PDA's and things to plug into them, but also portable players (music and video), GPS Devices, a robot vacuum cleaner and a robot dog - no, the robot vacuum cleaner does not clean up after the dog.
Digital Photography Gadgets - Cameras, sure, but lots and lots of other stuff from 3-D attachments to filters, cleaning kits and viewers.
Home Movie Gadgets - More cameras, and then more cool stuff like video mixer, software, video capture devices.
Home Audio/Video Gadgets - No cameras this time, but media hubs, jukebox, recorders, home theater, satellite radio systems.
Telephone Gadgets - Some really neat new phones, headsets, hand cranked power adapter. Game Gadgets - controllers of course, but also adapters, switches, even a specially designed game chair.
Automotive Gadgets - GPS, sound, rear view TV, and a data logger that will talk to your cars computer.

I wonder where he could have found all this stuff.

Leo Laporte knows so much about Technology and doesn't use all the "technical talk" when he describes it to people therefore enabling us to understand what Technology can do for all of us these Days. In this book Leo has several different catergories of "gadgets" (he doesn't like that word lol) and reviews a few from each category then makes his pick on what is the best value in that particular section. Due to the fact that Leo is not as of now on TV in the US his books and his weekend Radio Show are the only ways that I'm able to get to listen to him and read about the products that he likes. So Go Buy this Book and I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

Great Job on this book Leo!
- Ryan_Ly (KFI Chat)

2005 is coming up fast, so Laporte and Miller have brought out this book, just before the holiday season. Some of you will certainly enjoy just thumbing through these pages, and trusting to serendipity to be your guide. All the pages are in full colour, and the product photos and textual descriptions are very attractively laid out.

In some ways, the book reminds me of a Sharper Image catalog. But the authors are independent of the vendors. So the product descriptions should be more reliable than in a typical vendor's catalog.

There may be biases in the choices of products. But as Laporte says in the Introduction, the biases are strictly what caught his fancy, and not some vendor's promptings.

The focus of this book is not on formal definitions and theoricals models so much as it is on practical form. But in this book as many other books, does not address these topics in sufficient detail.

Instead, this book emphasizes the use of the security applications, as well as how the applications work and why they are necessary and many other interesting topics.

Yes, this is not the best book about security in linux servers, but yes is a good book for beginners and intermediate users using small LANs.

despite its smallish size (550 pages) this book is packed full of useful info. the first couple of chapters are a whistle stop tour of the all the ways a linux box can be hacked, and the rest of the book describes how to fix these problems. most of the book is intermediate level, but a couple of the later chapters are more advanced. but i think this is a good thing because it means the book goes into much more detail than most others.

If you are a network administrator who needs to get a quick handle on Linux security this would be a very good choice. It covers the basics of security in general (weak passwords, key logging, Trojans, network topology, etc.) as well as security issues that are specific to Linux.

It does a good job of explaining how Iptables are used in a firewall and how to tune the network. Linux Network Security does appear to thoroughly cover all the basic system security considerations including the passwd file, shadowing, enforcing security, using PAM, and SUDO security. The best part of the book is when the author gets to how to choose an appropriate distribution, use a chroot jail, and protect memory.

In addition to the basic Linux security common to all distributions the author discusses role based access control, the Linux Intrusion Detection System, and the secure Linux distribution SeLinux. The book ends with sections on securing the most common services for Linux - Apache, SSH, NFS, NIS, DNS, BIND, and FTP. It also includes a section on keeping your system secure using Tripwire.

If you need additional help on specific issues there are six appendixes which cover recompiling the kernel, kernel configuration for networking, firewall scripts, and cryptography. This book is obviously intended for the Linux network administrator, but the level of knowledge assumed is somewhat confusing. For some pieces it seems to assume no prior knowledge (like Chapters 1 and 2) and for other areas it seems to assume some basic prior understanding of Linux (although admittedly minimal). Keep in mind that there are whole books on some of these items (like securing Apache) so there is obviously much more detailed information available if you have a specific need. Linux Network Security is highly recommended to network administrators who are dealing with a basic file and print sharing network or who need a solid overview of Linux security and some of the security problems with common services.

Security is one of those things that everyone knows they should do but typically doesn't until too late. In spite of all the warnings most companies ignore the pleadings of the assigned security specialist until all of a sudden they are hit in the face with a penetration. And this is the theme of the introductory chapter, except that he explains it a lot better.

The second chapter starts with an explanation of John The Ripper. This is a program that attempts to automatically crack your system's password file. (The John The Ripper program is included on the books CD so you can use it to test your own system.)

By this point he had my attention. It was clear that if he wished he could get into my system and do whatever he wished. I interrupted my reading at this point and changed several system passwords to make them a lot more difficult.

After that I went on to read the rest of the book on finding, fixing and preventing holes in a Linux network. I never realized it was so easy.

The book is a combined explanation of what's happening and a wealth of software on the CD. This software, described in the text part of the book, is a selection of software off of the net. The net has a huge amount of software available. Here the author has selected a dozen or so packages that he discusses enough for you to use and to have some faith that the results you are getting are worthwhile.

Perhaps the best book on Linux security ever.

We use this book almost every day... and we wrote it. It's a compilation of the most useful (and effective) techniques that we know to simplify life with Linux.

In this book, we show you simple ways to streamline security, administration, backup, monitoring, and more. The first few sections are dedicated to tailoring your desktop and command-line environment. You'll find out how to use the KDE network protocols and the GNOME virtual file systems (and how to define file associations in either environment). Quick tips on using the bash shell will streamline your work at the command-line.

The "Good Housekeeping" sections show you how to get the most from your filesystem, install and upgrade Linux software, and even customize (and build) your kernel.

The system security topics we've chosen for this book include PAM authentication, e-mail (and file) encryption, using SUDO instead of su, SSH and SCP. We also cover network and system security tools such as Nessus and Bastille.

We've included a whole section on tuning up servers: Apache, MySQL, sendmail, and more. We'll explain how to install and configure SpamAssassin and show you how to keep the rulebase up to date with a daily dose of RulesDuJour. If you use the Evolution e-mail client, you'll want to read the section that shows how to connect Evolution to SpamAssassin.

Are you a Hotmail or Lycos e-mail user? Find out how to deliver your HTTPMail accounts straight into your e-mail client without navigating through ads in your Web browser.

If you want to try out new software without endangering your system, read the section on building UML jails, with or without
the LIDS security system.

We cover many more topics in this book than we can mention here - this book is a good addition to your library whether you are a Linux newbie or an experienced administrator. We had a lot of fun writing it and hope you enjoy using it.

-- Susan and Korry

I was the technical editor of this book and I can say without a doubt that this book is great. I have been using Linux for many years and have written several Linux books so I have a good grasp of Linux. I was amazed at the information I discovered reading this book and how useful it was to me.

I have used many of the techniques in this book on my home systems as well as the servers I run at work. Many of the techniques are real time savers for some everyday administrative tasks, while others are useful for maximizing your system's performance. I highly recommend this book!

Even though it's a bit beyond where I am right now with Linux, I was impressed with Susan Douglas and Korry Douglas's book Linux Timesaving Techniques For Dummies (Wiley). There are a lot of gems found in these pages...

Chapter List: Making The Desktop Work for You; Getting the Most from Your File System; Good Housekeeping with Linux; Tweaking the Kernal on Your Linux System; Securing Your Workspace; Networking Like a Professional; Monitoring Your System; Serving Up the Internet and More; Backing Up Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry; Programming Tricks; The Scary (Or Fun!) Stuff; Index

In many ways, this reminds me of a Hacks-style book. There are 62 techniques outlined here that you can use to make sure your system is running at peak efficiency or to save you time during normal administration chores. It's targeted for Fedora Core 2, SuSe, and Mandrake, so if you're running one of those distributions, you should be able to benefit from the information. So what are some of the techniques? #44 helps you get a MySQL server up and running quickly. #24 helps you learn how to customize your Linux kernel if you're really into that sort of thing. #22, Spring Cleaning Essentials, is also very beneficial both from an efficiency standpoint (fewer active processes) and a security standpoint (fewer potential paths into your system). All the tips are like this... very practical, and well documented.

And if you've had the impression that Dummies titles are majorly dumbed down, this volume will squelch that opinion. There's nothing in this book that pertains to "dummies". I consider this a good read for someone who has a few months of active Linux experience under their belt, and they want to start exploring a few topics that start to wander from just the basic commands. I'll be keeping this one with the rest of my Linux titles, and hopefully about six months from now I'll realize the full benefit from it.

Usually I always walk away from books titled for Dummies. Mostly because I have been using Linux for some time and I do low level linux C programming and sys admin. I have to respect the work of the book's authors, it is neat and very good. I am sure that this book will help a lot of folks to use Linux and realize how powerfull it is. Best of all, doing it without wasting time.

If you are a Linux beginner you will find this book quite enlighting, if you are a Linux user chances are you will find usefull stuff inside. Also, this is not an expensive book.

Do realize I have never met the authors and I am not associated to them.

The other comments before are from the Authors and from a editor. Hey, it is not a crime to vote for yourself, isn it?

Kudos to the Douglas!

While this probably won't be your only book on Linux networking, it is certainly the best book I have found to give you reasonable coverage of all the major issues a Linux sysadmin needs. The author discusses the most important network applications--DNS, Samba, Apache (including an all-too-brief introduction to web programming), NTP, DHCP, firewalls, and routing--as implemented on Linux systems. Best of all--this book is extraordinarily readable, which is a wonderful surprise in a techie manual. If you are really serious about implementing any of these applications, I would also recommend the Craig Hunt Linux Library, but for a good introduction to make sense of the man pages and HOWTO documents, this book can't be beat.

My only gripe is that Sendmail configuration and administration is far too complex for a book of this scope. The author's introduction to the topic was only deep enough to convince me to disable sendmail on my systems until I had read a more thorough text on the subject.

This book is basically a descriptive example of how to build a Linux-based server for a small office. This book covers the spectrum of the most common necessities: Internet mail (SMTP and POP3), DNS, centralized backups, Samba (allows Microsoft operating systems to share files and printers), setting up FTP, setting up apache (WWW), and configuring the Linux box as a firewall.

In the process, Toth bridges the gap between introductory books and the gargantuan Linux books.

My only negative comment is that Toth used Caldera Linux (which is on the CDROM), so you may run into some minor inconsistencies when trying to implement the information on other flavors of Linux/Unix. But with a little intuition and documentation, you shouldn't have much of a problem.

Description: Linux as a Business OS is a step-by-step, focused tutorial on installing and reliably maintaining a comprehensive Internet solution, including a corporate mail server, Web Server and more on a shoestring budget. Topics include: Set up and Installation, Connecting to the Internet, Basic services-mail and news, Setting up a Web server, Security, Advanced networking, Managing the system--accounts, logs, backups, configuring workstations, and Troubleshooting.

Mr Toth's book is well thought out and well presented. Good examples are used to highlight key concepts. This book gives a very good understaning of Linux networking without going to deep. For me it bridges the gap between a beginners 'Dummies' or 'Idiots' guide and an 'Unleashed' mammoth.

Very useful 4th of 5 components of this prep set. These recorded practice tests simulate the conditions of the sctual TOEFL test, matching it in speed of delivery and variety of speakers. Best way to practice for the test once you've prepped.

I need to learn English THIS year for one way or another but I will learn it. You can write it.

I need to learn English THIS year for one way or another but I will learn it. You can write it.

I need to learn English THIS year for one way or another but I will learn it. You can write it.

As many versions of Authorware I have used (3 through 6.5), this book has proven to be one of the "must have" in anyone's reference library. Great examples and simple explainations of all functions and variables. I only wish Joe Ganci would publish a new revision for Authorware 7.

This book is a must have for any serious Authorware programer. It is easily the best reference for an Authorware Programer and a nice addition to the documentation that comes with Authorware 3.X. This book is filled with usefull and practical tips on how to get things done in the most popular multimedia authoring language around.

Joe Ganci, active contributor to numerous online discussions of Authorware, has created a wonderful reference for those who want to squeeze out the functionality from Macromedia Authorware 3.

This book details how, when and why to use the functions that are invaluable to Authorware power users. I've reviewed this book more throughly at my Authorware book site (http://pobox.com/~betsy/).

Betsy Bruce, Authorware Consultant

Even though Macromedia has released Authorware 5 Attain, this book still is a very handy reference. The explanations and examples are great, if just all programming manuals were this clear and to the point... Highly recommended! /Johan Lundstrom

The best feature about this book is that it shows you screen shots and gives step by step instructions. I have for years been trying to teach myself about Dreamweaver, now this book helps me to better understand what Dreamweaver can do to make your Website really stand out.

Book goes into great depth to show most of the features in Dreamweaver 8. The book puts its topics in alphabetical order so that it is easy to find what you need.

This book is heavy in more ways than one. For one thing, it's a big thick, glossy tome that weighs a lot. However, the good news is that it's worth its wait in gold! Never have a seen such an accessible, comprehensive aid for getting things done with Dreamweaver. It's task and tool based, with every step illustrated in color. Makes it incredibly easy to do use just about every aspect of the product. You just look up the task or tool and voilla! Fortunately, it's accessibility doesn't limit its utility, so this book is also for experienced DW users. I'm amazed at the sophistication of the techniques, even though they're presented in a way that make them head-smacking easy. This just could be the best overall book on Dreamweaver yet.

I teach in the same district as and have worked with one of the authors (Kim Cavanaugh) and found this book on the shelf and decided to pick it up for that reason. I like the layout of it because if you need help on CSS, you simply go to that section because it's in ABC order. As another rater stated, you do need some background in Dreamweaver but I was able to pick up some of the techniques from it. If you want a training book you'll need to look elsewhere but it doesn't tout itself as that kind of book. It's richly illustrated and the steps are nicely described. It will be a great addition to anybody's library.

This book is very helpful and easy to follow. It's a very nice book for anyone trying to figure out Fireworks!

Fireworks made easy!!!

Having bought Studio MX 2004 because I wanted the easiest way to integrate graphics with DreamWeaver, I struggled and struggled to use Fireworks. I use Photoshop, but read how great Fireworks was and wanted to try it. I found that it's HELP is terrible, and not very useful to new users. Then I found Sandee Cohen's book, and all is now clear. This is a great book, walking the user systematically through how to use Fireworks, and emphasizing the ease and simplicity of keystroke shortcuts. Very highly recommended.

Macromedia is clearly devoted to the web page production business. Fireworks is their graphics package that is ideally suited for producing the kinds of images you want on web sites. It is also smoothly integrated into the rest of their packages such as Dreamweaver, which is hands down the preferred web authoring package available at the professional level.

If you're thinking about Fireworks but aren't sure, you can go to the Macromedia site and down load a free trial of the package to see if you like it. As for the literature that comes with it, you will find that this book is a much better option.

The Visual Quickstart Guides us an interesting format where each page has one column of text and another of screen images. The idea is to show and explain at the same time. This is a very easy and quick way to get up and running on a software package. The concept is good, and Sandee Cohen does a great job here.

I bought this book a few weeks ago because I appreciated its aesthetic. I sat down to read it this weekend and I was impressed (and surprised) to find it equal parts conceptual and practical. Mighty Assembly has managed to articulate the challenges of developing interfaces in Flash, where the possibilities can be overwhelming. They use simple language to explain their principles of design and how they apply to developing a cutting-edge, experimental Web site. As a designer myself, I'm drawn to the experimental and appreciate contemporaries who push the medium. It's intelligent, well written, and accessible. I am inspired and highly recommend this book to anyone interested in finding new ways to think about developing in Flash.

A 360 degree tour of the mind of top flash designers in the world. It is truly amazing to see a project through the eyes of the Mighty Assembly design team, who take the reader from ideation through execution. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in producing Flash sites that wow the mind and the eye.

finally a book like this exists (a flash book worth my money), covering one entire web site rather than random pieces of various sites. the content is excellent and well written (even friendly) and the book looks fantastic! i particularly like how the authors move in and out of describing the big picture and the minute details behind creating a web site - its one giant case study worth reading. please, more books like this mighty assembly!

This book is not only well written and a visual delight, but it also contains a wealth of hard earned knowledge that is worth much more than the cover price. A must for anyone designing and developing in Flash.