Hardware Books

This book was invaluable when trying to upgrade our companies RIS server from Windows 2000 to Windows 2003 and then to WDS from there.

This book is a great resource for helping to plan the deployment of XP. I've been able to use many of the ideas and tips from the book to help redesign my deployment plan for my own company. A great job was done by Jerry in writing and explaining the different ways to deploy XP. Excellent Job, Excellent Book!!!

The "Desktop Deployment Resource Kit" is exactly what I have been
looking for. Standardizing all of my desktops to Windows XP will be a challenge and the most challenging part seems to be honing in on what my team needs to know.

This book lays it out so you can read through topics quickly while keeping the big picture in play. When I begin my project I am sure it will be a constant companion to help me though some of the tough spots.

Thanks Jerry!

I write this review partially evaluating the information it contains, but also how it has held up over time. This book came out in late 2003 and it is now early 2006. A successor to Windows XP is already known, but that doesn't mean that Windows XP is on the way out or that companies will not just now be deploying that OS either for the first time, or redeploying as a refresh to encompass service packs, hotfixes and larger updated application suites, such as Microsoft Office. In short, a competent title covering the deployment of XP is still needed.

In short, everything you need to know about preparing Windows XP for deployment using the Microsoft approved and supported tools and methods is found inside. The authors cover in-depth the planning one should take within the environment to configure, deploy, and manage a desktop. You are instructed on the proper way to prepare the desktop for mass distribution, configure and run the utilities to ensure that the final OS image is not deployed duplicating network identification data, as well as running user state migration to transfer settings between builds. Distribution technologies, such as RIS and SMS are covered, although any commonly used third party utility, such as Symantec Ghost is not. There are also chapters dedicated to reviewing service pack and hotfix management, group policy management, as well as software updates (to Microsoft products, such as Microsoft Office 2003). And lastly, you are given a few different syntax guides to such things as SysPrep and Administrative Templates.

I believe, however, that this title could use a second edition. Even when it was released, some of the services covered were on their way out, and two years later, entire chapters of this book are now useless for many. For example, chapter 17 deals with distribution of XP via Microsoft SMS 2.0. Today, SMS 2003 is the standard and deployment of desktops and servers can be done using a feature pack. As the bulk of the Windows XP preparation has not changed, adding the SMS 2003 information would add a great deal of value. This book also talks about using Windows PE as a management OS for deployment. In 2003, WinPE was not available to many (and is still not, although that availability is on the rise and this book does point you to WinPE alternatives), although it is included and licensed in SMS 2003. The current WinPE section is still very informative, but a refresh overview to cover the changes in the more widely available version would be nice. The different service packs released for Windows XP also bring about new components of the OS as well as new generations of deployment tools, such as SysPrep. Again, although the current information is still very useful, a second edition could cover those changes to the OS and tools.

All things considered, this is still an excellent title and for the most part is as relevant today as when it was released. Administrators looking for an informational source on configuring and packaging the OS itself will find great value here, whereas those looking for information on the deployment mechanisms may need additional books / material in addition to what is presented here, especially if you are not planning on using Microsoft technologies.

If you are planning a massive desktop deployment than this is book you should use. I had no previous experience in doing an unattended install and this book walked me through the entire process following the distribution sample provided in Chapter 7. Mr. Honeycutt has left no stone unturned. His book gives you in-depth technical information and tools to deploy and manage Microsoft Windows XP Desktop. With it, you get prescriptive guidance to help choose the best deployment method and tools for common scenarios; perform attended and unattended installations; automate the deployment process, control policy and profile settings for desktop operating systems and applications; automate deployments for Office and other programs; and more. The book comes with a CDROM containing extra documentation, tools, sample templates, and scripts. Just add your Windows XP I386 files and half the battle is done. This is a great book and well written. Thanks Jerry for writing something for my simple mind!

I read the reviews then bought Mr. Modem's book. Paul Harvey was right. This IS the book that takes the gobbledygook out of computers. I'm 72 years old. This book was fun, easy-to-read, and helped me greatly. I would recommend it to anybody. Thank you, Mr. Modem. Please write more books.

Mr. Modem's book is filled with wonderful information for surfers of all ages! It's a terrific resource and so much fun to read. I couldn't believe I found myself laughing outloud while reading a computer book.

When my dad got his new computer a couple of months ago and wanted to start surfing the Internet, I let him borrow my copy and now I can't get it back from him. He's learned so much and is now a real pro.

My personal favorite chapter is the one on web sites. This is by far the best collection of web site URL's I've ever come across. I also learned so much in the chapter on search engines which has really helped me find what I'm looking for on the web much quicker.

Thanks, Mr. Modem, for writing such an educational AND entertaining book!

If you or anyone you care about is reluctant or afraid to get connected to the Internet because it seems complicated and time-consuming or because you think you can't teach an old pup new tricks, you should get connected to "Mr. Modem's Internet Guide for Seniors" first. Clear, concise, and all-encompassing, this guide anticipates a learner's questions, allays technical fears, and proceeds in an orderly way to cover what it takes to get up and running on the Internet. Best of all, Mr. Modem keeps it simple, safe, satisfying, and fun for those who did not get to attend Internet classes in a previous life. You can move through the chapters at your own pace and, in some cases, in your own sequence.

Although I have been surfing the Internet for a while, I found many useful tips, new links, and great sites in this guide. If I could have only one Internet guide in my life, Mr. Modem's guide would be that one.

Good work, Mr. Modem!

I bought this book as a holiday gift for my dad (who has always been a bit stymied by his desktop computer) -- he dove right into it & didn't speak to any of us for a couple of hours, so judging by that reaction, I'd have to guess that it was pretty readable for your average intelligent-but-techno-naive senior. Mr. Modem covers a lot of ground (how to get online with an ISP, how to use a search engine, etc.) without going too deeply into any particular topic. Instead, the book gives lots of URLs and places for the neo-surfer to try out his new skills. Hey, maybe Dad will even get the hang of Amazon.com soon ;-)

This is a great book for people intimidated by the Internet. Information is presented in a fun and friendly fashion. Nice work, Mr. Modem!

PCs: The Missing Manual is written by Andy Rathbone, one of the greatest computer book writer. For me he is. You know what Andy Rathbone, you are right. You should come with that book a long time ago. I was bad at troubleshooting computers. Since I bought that book, I know how to speed up my computer, remove viruses and many other threats. There is another tricks that remained unknown to me: Disk Defragmenter. After I knew how to run the Disk Defragmenter, my computer become as fast as Sonic. I did not finish reading that book yet, but if I finish reading that book, I will be a good computer technician or even a good computer engineer.

Andy is an excellent professional and his literature work is awesome and very simple to follow. And if you ever requested a tech support on his Web site, you'll know that is the best support that any body can deliver. He's the best among the best without any doubt !!!!....Rafael Sanchez from Caracas-Venezuela :-)

Andy Rathbone's PES: The Missing Manual is another recommended winner, again helping bridge the gap between program and learner with a book which moves quickly from the basics to more advanced computer concepts - all linked to user needs. With its surveys of how software and hardware interact to how to tweak either for maximum performance, and how to troubleshoot common problems including spyware and Internet viruses, PES: The Missing Manual not only tells all, but in user-friendly language.

This is THE book for the novice pc user or even the more experienced user, the Missing Manual truly should have been in the box when your new PC was brought to your door!It covers every subject from setting up your PC to connecting your favorite printer,digital camera,webcam,also, how to connect to the internet,surf the web, set-up e-mail, and so much more.
For the more advanced PC user, in the back of the book,The electronic reference library for programmers and IT professionals.
There is still more to be offered in this book, several useful and informative websites as you read from chapter to chapter, and finally,"as if there could be more to offer" visit [...] for a tidy list of the shareware programs described in this book, ready for you to download.
I highly recommend this book for anyone that wants to be as proficent and up-to-date as they can be with their PC.

Once upon a time, computers came with big, thick, intimidating manuals filled with every bit of arcane knowledge the designers thought that the user would need. Nobody ever read them, partly because of their size, but mainly because it was tedious, time-consuming work to sift throught the manual to try to find the answer you actually needed.

Eventually, manufacturers stopped making these massive manuals - instead, they printed up short "quick-start guides" to get people started. Unfortunately, these guides served much the same purpose as detour signs do in road construction. They take you just far enough to get you lost and then leave you there with no clue what to do next. Readers end up like drivers: lost, confused, and frustrated.

PCs: The Missing Manual is designed to change that. This book, like each of the other Missing Manuals books, gives users a base of knowledge to build on. Unlike those early computer manuals, the book does it in a way that people can understand and follow, and it doesn't just drop you off in the middle of nowhere. Also unlike the early manuals, it goes beyond the PC itself and covers many popular peripherals and accessories - including scanners, digital cameras, and MP3 players.

When writing a book like this, covering such a broad topic as PCs in general, it's easy to go into information overload. That's something that Rathbone manages to avoid, mainly by offering a lot of content online through O'Reilly's Missing CD web site.

The most valuable resources in the book are the troubleshooting guides. Printer troubles, camera problems, even network difficulties are covered and in enough detail that the average user can solve the most common problems quickly and easily. There's also a section covering security and maintenance, including combating spyware and phishing schemes.

PCs: The Missing Manual is basic enough that average computer users can read it and make good use of it. If you are looking for something that will teach you details about modifying and upgrading your system, this isn't the book for you - you'll want to get a different O'Reilly book - Repairing and Upgrading Your PC (review forthcoming).

Simply put, read this book and you will definitely be able to produce excellent movies.
The book can be read from start to finish or just dip in to where the specific information is. The book is written so both ways work.The clear instructions enable even a novice to be proud - even amazed at what they can do.
Two days after reading this book I put a mini movie on the internet! If I can, you can!

As an owner of the author's Pinnacle Studio 8 book, I waited to buy what I anticipated to be his Pinnacle Studio 9 Plus book. But wait no more. A supplemental chapter covering the 9 Plus features - PIP, Pan and Zoom, and Chroma Key, is avaiable at http://www.doceo.com/studio9.html under "Click here to download free chapter on new features of Studio Plus", and now I have the equivalent of the Studio Plus 9 book.
I agree with the other reviewer's comments and no point in repeating them here, except to say that for me the best parts about the author's presentations are the illustrative examples.

Pinnacle's Studio 9 is a love it or hate it package. At $99 (retail price) it is very inexpensive for what you get. The problem, people report, has been getting it to work on their system -- I also hear that the newest release of the package is much, much better. It also seems to work better with Intel Pentium CPU's than with AMD and it also likes memory, say a gigabyte.

But as for the book, this is one of the Visual Quickstart Guides. They're great. They use a format of having two columns on each page with the outside column being text and the inside being pictures. Each page is devoted to some small task and handles that task completely. You can start at the front of the book and go all the way through and you'll get a pretty good tutorial on the software. Or you can use the index to skip around and quickly get to the particular detail you are looking for.

Jan Ozer is an excellent writer. He starts out with the statement "you have the manual for the software" and then goes on from there. This is not a manual of how to, this is a what and why kind of book that explains what it is that you are trying to do and then goes on to tell you how to do it. The manual tells you how to do a J-Cut and an L-Cut. This book tells you what they are.

I've read numerous technical books on many subjects and have never sailed through the software as smoothly as with this book.
If you're looking for a tutorial that can whiz you through the subject matter with ease and accuracy this is it! No matter where you wish to refer back to, you can do it without reading the whole chapter (as with other tutorials). Quickstart is the name however I feel it should be named Quick referrence.
Best investment I've made in a while. I'm making movies that are in awe at my office. I've been told they have been made professionally.

This is probably one of the most informative books on video editing that you can buy. The author is an expert in the field and has the ability to not just tell you how to do something, but make you understand what is going on and thereby enabling an intuitive feel for using the program. His "Studio 8 for Windows" carried me from the depths of ignorance to a level of competence that allows me to knock out complicated projects in record time; this new Studio 9 version will do the same for you plus. This book will enable the beginner to successfully edit productions with minimum heartache....but READ before you start clicking madly away.

I've been using QuickTime for nearly ten years, and have often been frustrated when trying to explain to people that it is not just for video and sound any more. The frustration stems from the lack of examples and explanations to use these powerful features for non-programmers. This book changes that. It explains clearly and wittily how to use QuickTime to enhance your website or CD-ROM, and take advantage of over 10 years of cutting-edge digital media technology for free.

[Full disclosure - I work for Apple on the QuickTime Engineering team, and know the author - believe me I wouldn't endorse this book if it wasn't great]

This book is a must have if you plan on working with QuickTime to make multimedia content available! I call this book 'a rare find', as it is great for beginner through master, leaving few questions unanswered or stones unturned. The text is a good mix of "how to" information combined with "tips and tricks" to get your implementations to work.

I purchased this book for its material regarding steaming content over the Internet, and learned a great deal in the process. The chapter on QuickTime VR answered my "how do they do that?" questions, and has led me to explore the use of this technique for my upcoming projects.

The QuickTime VR chapter is a good example of the depth of knowledge used to develop this text, as it gives in-depth information on photography techniques that only a mid- to experienced photographer would know.

My only criticism of the book is that it only begins to explore about half of the knowledge needed to set up your own streaming web server, but I can hardly fault the authors for that -- it says right on the cover "A Hands-On Guide for Webmasters, Site Designers, and HTML Authors." It says nothing about being aimed at System or Network Administrators. If your main interest in this book is the setup of streaming servers, you might want to consider another book (or better yet, purchase this book along with another to round out your knowledge).

With the ... QuickTime Pro included, I can say without reservation that this is one of the best computer book values I have ever purchased. The book paid for the rest of the cost by showing me how to trick Microsoft Internet Explorer / Windows Media Player in such a way that it will not try to open your .mov files (great in a Windows-dominated environment)!

Highly recommended, even if you have only a passing interest in QuickTime.

This is an important resource for anyone who is serious about maximizing the potential of Quicktime. At Rayhawk.com we have been using this book to enhance our web productions and the results have been noticable, not only to us, but to our clients (KFC, Taco Bell, BMW, Porsche).

The book is full of useful info and the author is fun and helpful. He assumes we have little prior knowledge with either QuickTime or HTML and by the end of the book, he teaches us how to produce some amazing content.

Mastering QuickTime is essential to quickly and easily building exciting, dymamic and interactive web sites. This book (QuickTime for the Web) is essential to mastering QuickTime for the web. It has saved me more time and energy than any book I've bought in the last two years.

This book is a must have! From how to create VR with interactive sounds and sprites - to getting your video or photos streaming on the web - this book shows you how. As a web master of a site with over 100 different Virtual Reality and QT movies, I found this book (and the free tools and interactive sprites for my use) to be invaluable. I reccommend it without hestitation. Luke Wonderly, Web master - vrbakersfield.com

Craig Luebben's book is possibly THE Best Single Book written for rock climbing. It should be THE textbook for all people interested in learning to climb as it begins with basic but critical hand and footholds, basic climbing gear, knots, belaying, and rappelling. Later chapters for intermediate or advanced Sport or Trad climbing go into great detail. You will find yourself reading and referring to this book for your entire rock climbing lifetime.

As a relatively new climber (i.e., as of this writing, I've been climbing about 7 months), I found that this was a good introductory text to keep around. Granted, climbing is not something you really want to read-then-do; think of the reading as a good supplement to your training and climbing.

I enjoyed how Luebben dives right into the material; he keeps the introduction short and then goes immediately into the science and sport of rock climbing. He writes in a colloquial style that is easy to digest and presents the material in a way that makes it seem like a conversation. It's like it's you and him out on the rock, Luebben telling you everything he needs you to know.

While the book's focus is definitely on outdoor climbs, Luebben emphasizes techniques that should easily transfer to indoor rock gyms. Especially early in the text, Luebben writes a lot about body and foot position, how to approach routes and problems, and the mental elements of rock climbing. While these techniques are typically discussed in an outdoor context, the lessons all easily transfer to whatever surface you're climbing.

For a new, mostly indoor climber like myself, there seemed to be a lot of material in this book that either didn't apply to me or served merely to whet my appetite for outdoor routes. If you're looking for something specific to indoor climbing, you're probably better off exploring Matt Burbach's Gym Climbing book. Still, even a mostly-indoors beginner climber will find the chapters on body position, footwork and hand-holds, knots, belaying, and bouldering to be useful.

Excellent starting place to get into this kind of book, very good reference. I've been climbing for the last five years, and I learned a lot from this book.

Guide, author and climbing gear inventor Craig Luebben's book won a National Outdoor Book award and it's well deserved. For anyone taking up rock climbing, or wanting to bring their knowledge up-to-date this is the book to start with.

It's well organized and well-illustrated. Luebben starts the basics of pure climbing - footwork, holds and jams along with special climbing challenges like chimneys and off-widths (he's the Yoda of off-width climbing). Then he covers the gear you'll need like shoes, harness and ropes. He describes basic climber knots and working with ropes and slings. Then he talks about protection, natural and man-made.

He tells you how to build anchors and keep your partner safe with proper belaying technique. He covers top-roping, sport climbing and the basics of traditional climbing including the approach, route-finding, setting pro and the physics and psychology of leading.. Later chapters introduce multi-pitch free climbing, descending and rappelling, bouldering and training for climbing. The concluding chapter explains how to avoid turning your climb into an epic by learning basic self-rescue techniques.

This is by far the best, most up-to-date book on basic rock climbing. After you've read it (more than once) and practiced the skills he describes, get Luebben's book on building climbing anchors.

Bill Becher

it may not be perfect, but it does everything it needs to (at least for me). as per the title, i'd recommend this book to any beginner or strong gym climber who wants to move to real crags. for advanced climbers who want to improve their skills there are probably better books out there.

I own a lot of books on NT Server (too many in fact) and this is one of my favorites. Anyone responsible for the support of NT Server should have this book without question. Curt Aubley has produced a book that is easy to digest yet comprehensively covers all aspects of optimizing NT Server in your own environment.

It includes many ideas and suggestions that you can implement immediately and see true performance gains. If you've ever wondered, "What RAID configuration would be best for my new application server?" or "Which performance monitor counter is really the best to use to monitor this or that?", then this book is definitely for you.

Let's hope Curt produces a similar book of the same quality for Windows 2000. This book sits right beside Mastering Windows NT Server by Mark Minasi on my desk, and between the two of these and Technet, one doesn't need much more to support an enterprise Windows NT 4.0 environment.

I've been very impressed with the results of implementing what I've learned from this book. I've used the techniques at a few different Fortune 500 companies, and all my clients have been very satisfied. I would reccomend this book to anyone who takes tuning Windows NT for the Enterprise seriously.

This is the best written book I have read to date. It starts out like it should...what to do if you don't want to read the whole book. I have suggested this book to many of my friends and they have the same feeling. Great Job Curt !!!! Publish another one !!!!

Mr. Aubley's book is an excellent technical resource which addresses the difficult task of correctly sizing NT Server implementations and also how to tune NT for maximum performance with regards to various hardware and software considerations. Mr. Aubley explains the complex tasks succinctly and concisely and draws on many obvious years of experience to present hands-on solutions and case studies for reference. I would recommend this book to any NT admin that is responsible for scaling NT beyond humble file and print services. It has presented approaches to the tasks at hand that I have successfully used to effect client solutions.

I own a lot of books on NT Server (too many in fact) and this is one of my favorites. Anyone responsible for the support of NT Server should have this book without question. Curt Aubley has produced a book that is easy to digest yet comprehensively covers all aspects of optimizing NT Server in your own environment.

It includes many ideas and suggestions that you can implement immediately and see true performance gains. If you've ever wondered, "What RAID configuration would be best for my new application server?" or "Which perfmon counter should I use to monitor this or that?", then this book is definitely for you.

Let's hope Curt produces a similar book of the same quality for Windows 2000. This book sits right beside Mastering Windows NT Server by Mark Minasin on my desk, and between the two of these and Technet, one doesn't need much more to support an enterprise Windows NT 4.0 environment.

I am not an expert developer but I have a fair amount of experience building financial applications in Java and C++. I spent quite some time looking for a book that would get me started with Web technologies. It is not easy. Yes, there are many books that describe one or another technology but I wanted to find one that puts these technologies in prospective. I was very pleased when I found this book. I can always dig deeper in one direction when I need to but this book helps me to understand how to get started and where to concentrate my efforts. I like it, I think it is very useful.

I have to disagree with the reviewer who disparaged this book's emphasis on history. The background on TCP/IP protocols explained how HTTP came to be and why servers and browsers work the way they do. Discussion of how web development platforms evolved provided insight into the problems newer approaches tried to solve and the problems some of them created. The authors may have gone overboard spouting the merits of "separating content from presentation" and touting the praises of MVC approaches, but their point is a valid one you can really relate to if you've worked with page-centric platforms like ASP and JSP. The historical review of different approaches explained the authors' reasons for ultimately choosing an MVC approach with Struts and JSTL, and offered insights into how development platforms may evolve in the future. This is a book that starts with basics and builds on them, covering protocols, markup languages, and development platforms. The history helps drive the points home. Personally, I learned a lot from this book. I agree that they could have provided a CD-ROM, but it turns out their website (webappbuilders.com) is pretty good and has other good info aside from the app's source code, including some articles from the authors.

This book is an ideal text for providing intermediate-level web developers with a solid grounding in architectural principles and more advanced techniques. Before going into why I like this book I do want to offer one caveat - the authors' approach is towards the Model-View-Controller paradigm, and is based on Java Standard Tag Library, Jarkata struts and Apache. These are solid elements, but if you are working in a different environment you will not appreciate this book as much.

The historical material in this book is not fluff if you approach it with the intent to gain a fuller understanding of the major components of the Internet and web. This material is rich with details about why the core web technologies developed and evolved, including design choices the pioneers made in the face of constraints. In a subtle way this part of the book is a primer on design and architecture.

What makes this book so valuable is the non-trivial application that brings this book alive. This is a refreshing change from other books that use thinly contrived snippets of code or trivial applications. The code for this application can be downloaded from the book's supporting web site, which also contains errata (thus far there are only two entries), and articles that are valuable resources with or without this book.

Overall this is one of the better books on web application design and development, and one that dives into code and technical details.

I've been writing Windows-based mutlimedia applications since Windows 95 was released. I've been looking for a good book to help the crossover to web application development, and I found that this was just the ticket. Explanations were solid and presented in a way that made experimentation easy (both from the browser and server side). Quite simply, this book served as a great jumping off point for deeper exploration into session management, security, web services (both SOAP and Rest), etc. Definitely a great introduction for folks with a software engineering background.

I always thought Amazon search is good but I stumbled upon this book at a store. It's a useful summary, but not a reference. I particularly like the examples and the way they build up from trivial to complex. The level of detail is right. Altogether, very refreshing.

I like the book, having skimmed my way through most of it, but I wish I didn't have to buy it. In other words, I wish I didn't own Vista Home Premium SP1. This piece of Sh_t has BSOD crashed more times in the 6 weeks I've used it than in the 3 years I used XP Pro SP2. The book warned me that Vista doesn't handle USB external HDDs well, & it is true. I rip my CDs to an external HDD. Rips fine. When I try to shut down Windows Media Player 11, I get a BSOD "IRQL_Not_Less_Than_Zero" error (or something like that...), crash then a reboot that never reboots. I have to shut the power off, then go through the whole "Windows did not start correctly" BS. I'm getting an Apple....

This book is written for intermediate users, not beginners, and it is the best. When I purchased a new computer, it came with Windows Vista. So I bought 3 books on Vista, including Microsoft's own "Windows Vista Inside Out". I have found this book consistently more helpful in making the operating system do what I want it to do, rather than what Microsoft thinks it ought to do. It is clear, concise, and humorous; and that makes it easy to read. I just wish it had included a CD of the book, also.

Windows Vista holds many annoyances for users and has many quirks stemming from bad design, so having WINDOWS VISTA ANNOYANCES in a developer or web applications collections is an important key to successfully using the system and working around common issues. From customizing Explorer and managing Vista's Registry options to optimizing the PC and using it to work a network, WINDOWS VISTA ANNOYANCES is packed with tips on how to make it work efficiently and well. Highly recommended as a methodical, practical series of applied steps and insights.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

For the advanced user, this book is a gold mine of information! I've bought half a dozen books on Vista, and this is the one that turned out to be actually quite useful. (The others, although quite thick, still mostly just cover basic stuff I already know.)

Sometimes, a book in the Annoyances series is one that you can use to fine-tune an application you use often. And then there's this one... Windows Vista Annoyances by David A. Karp. Regardless of whether you hate Vista or think it's the best Windows OS out there, you'll be finding useful and applicable tips on every other page here. Vista is just tailor-made for a book like this, and Karp takes full advantage of the opportunities.

Contents:
Get Started with Windows Vista: Editions of Vista; Install Windows Vista; Migration to Windows Vista
Shell Tweaks: Customize Windows Explorer; Working with Files and Folders
The Registry: The Registry Editor; Structure of the Registry; Registry Tasks and Tools; File Type Associations
Working with Media: Playing Video; Handling Online Video; Sound and Music; Photos, Pictures, Images; Media Center Annoyances; CD and DVD Drives
Performance: Trim the Fat; Make Your Hardware Perform; Hard Disk
Troubleshooting: Crashes and Error Messages; Dealing with Drivers and Other Tales of Hardware Troubleshooting; Preventative Maintenance and Data Recovery
Networking and Internet: Build Your Network; Internet Me; Secure Your Networked PC; Web and Email
Users and Security: Manage User Accounts; Permissions and Security; Logon and Profile Options; Share Files and Printers
Scripting and Automation: Windows Script Host; build a VBScript Script; Object References; Wacky Script Ideas; Command Prompt Scripting; Windows PowerShell
BIOS Settings
TCP/IP Ports
Index

When I bought my new laptop , it came loaded with Vista. Since it was pretty early in the Vista release cycle, I thought it would be good to learn it since adoption would be widespread in a short period of time. Yeah, right. Vista turned into one of the most annoying operating experiences of my life. Slow performance, endless "do you really want to..." dialog boxes, reboot times that took forever... While you can't get rid of the overall pain of Vista (unless you "upgrade" to XP or a Mac), you can use Karp's information to lessen the daily headaches. For instance, he takes you into the Performance Options settings to help you figure out what eye candy you can live without so that you actually get work done. He shows you how to tweak the registry to eliminate the menu opening delay. He also goes into some depth on how to get Vista set up to greatly reduce the start-up time (and that's a MAJOR accomplishment). And that's just a fraction of what you'll find here that will find immediate application in your life with Vista.

It's always a good thing to get a decent reference guide to the major software packages in your life. Vista is no exception. But there's a few packages where you need someone to tell you how to *live* with the less-than-stellar results on your screen. Vista's the poster child for that. Windows Vista Annoyances should be *very* close at hand as you work with the operating system. Assuming you haven't already switched to something else...

I found the information in this book helpful from the very first page. The tips Mr. Clothier shares in his book are very practical and specific, from writing course material to dealing with "difficult" students. Although the print date is almost ten years old, I found the information to be quite relevant even today. I am not certain, however, whether it is worth the $110 price currently listed. I paid $40 used, and I don't regret a penny that I spent. I keep it at my desk and refer to it often as a refresher.

I have been teaching computer classes for over 5 years. I learn something new everytime I read this book. This book contains many of the things I tell my friends who are struggling with trying to do computer training. I think this book would be good for any company that is interested in computer training.

This is the only book that I have seen which deals with IT training - even as an experienced trainer I still got ideas from it.

Just after reading a few pages I already had enough ideas on how to change my training practices that I made changes on my next course (which was the next day).

I will continue to read, and review everything in this book.

Read it, don't miss out!

This is the only book that I have seen which deals with IT training - even as an experienced trainer I still got ideas from it.

Just after reading a few pages I already had enough ideas on how to change my training practices that I made changes on my next course (which was the next day).

I will continue to read, and review everything in this book.

Read it, don't miss out!

As a human resources and workforce learning/performance professional who has managed and executed all phases of end-user training at various times since 1982, I can't recommend this book highly enough. Although "Encouraging Independence" should be required for all novice computer instructors regardless of where they teach, it still serves as an excellent reminder for the more experienced. (I'm revamping some courseware as a result of that chapter.) "Training Delivery" provides a great outline for a train-the-computer trainer program. And for senior practitioners like me, "Trainer Development" and "Adapting to the Learner" are simply superb. (In the latter, he offers tips for handling different types of knowledge gaps plus cognitive and psychomotor challenges. With congenital and acquired neuropsychological disorders on the rise--meaning greater, not fewer, individuals with these conditions in the workplace now and in the future--plus the aging workforce, such issues have begged to be addressed in books on instructor effectiveness. Clothier rises to the occasion beautifully.) On a lighter note, I'm relieved to read Clothier's recall of an irony I've had: that limited sleep the night before a class has led to greater instructional effectiveness, adrenalin rushes notwithstanding!