Software Books

This was the first book I purchased when we got our new computer. I had been warned that Vista is confusing. That is not true...it's just different. I'm accustomed to it now and this book was an immense help. I recommend it!

I ordered this book and another book on Dec 22nd, and it was on my porch early afternoon on Christmas Eve. I did not expect to get it that soon!

This book makes everything so simple. Everytime you get a new computer, and it has a new operating system, you can't do much with it for a while. I was actually able to do things with this book explaining the steps.

I was so impressed with it, I just ordered the author's 'Teach Yourself Visually Windows Vista' book. It is the first book to impress me for it's ease and userability.

Back in the "OLD" days they use to supply books with computers that helped to explain how to do tasks...or at least the steps a new user shoukd go through to find the info on the computer. NOW ALL YOU CAN DO IS GUESS WHERE SOME USEABLE INFORMATION IS LOCATED, AND HOW TO GET TO IT.

AN EXCELLENT SOURCE BOOK....THANK YOU!

I purchased "Vista Simplified",I also purchased "Vista Manual"(The missing manual).
Vista simplified is an extremely good instruction book.It introduced me to Vista and how to use Vista.It contained information to me that is not obvious unless you know how to find it.

The "Missing Manual" Gives a more detailed
introduction to Vista. It is very inforamtive and explains everything in plain language. It includes descriptive information
that is easy to follow.It is also a good reference book
if one gets into trouble

I highly recommend both books.
George High

Great book for vista. Simple instructions, clearly written. Nice full color illustrations, although some of the text is a little difficult to read in some of the pictures. Includes tips on each section and a difficulty level bar which rates how hard each task is to perform for the average user. Overall a great starter book. Hope they write 100 more tips.

Last March 2007, I purschased the Vista Visually Series that this writer wrote. And, I was so impressed with the author and the content of this book that when I discovered this newer Vista book by the same author, I bought it as well. The reason that I bought this book that I wanted a quick overview on both Tips and Tricks of Vista. After one year using Vista, I have learned so much more about it. Yet, there is always more to learn and an easier and better way to do things in Vista. This author gives you 10 very easy to read and follow chapters that give wonderful and helpful information yet do not bore or overwhelm the reader. The graphics are excellent! The most helpful chapter I found is chapter 5, which is called "Enhance Internet Security and Privacy". Although this chapter could have been longer and more detailed, it gives enough information about: Scanning for Spyware, Web Page Media Safely and Privately, Spam info, and super email info and more. Another chapter I was very impressed with the content is chapter 6. In this chapter the author gives you basic Internetting tips and faster movement in pages showing you how to use tabs, a real help when you are browsing more than one web page at a time and wish to go back to each of them. Also in this chapter I found many good suggestions for websites, safe websites, web feeds and more. Superb book, superb author, I highly reccomend this book!

So far so good. Realy well laid out. Just starting to explore it

I purchased this book to learn the basics of autocad map... a very similar program. The book is very easy to follow and detailed. Sykes does a great job of explaining all the autocad jargon and the step-by-step projects are perfect for becoming familiar with autocad tools. I haven't made it through the entire book yet, but I selectively read the chapters I needed to get me going within about 8hrs. Not too bad. Be sure to get the CD with the book as well as the reference card. I wished there would have been more info on how to layout the drawing for print and how to insert legends, scale, etc. but I suppose that is what the advanced book is for.
Overall, a very user friendly book if you want to become familiar with a not-so user friendly program. I look forward to purchasing the advanced book.

Pura vida.

For a student this book is the best. The step by step approach is excellent. I like the graphics and the pictures of what the screen looks like when I do the commands. Easy to follow and Sykes takes a difficult lesson and make it easy to understand.

This book is excellent! The step by step procedure, clear detailed graphics and the multimedia CD are all linked to each other which allow reader of any level to understand AutoCAD without any difficulty.

This is truly a step by step approach. It starts with the fundamentals. The progression from basics to advanced is very orderly. I have used this book to learn AutoCAD 2000 and now I highly recommend it as a text or a reference. I reach for this book when I need information or help with a command or sequence of commands that I have forgotten. The examples and exercises develop real understanding.

I've tried several courses: math, science, history and language. My kids especially love the Sign Language cards! I purchased all three card sets and the CD-software. The photographs are more realistic than drawings which you mostly find in ASL products. Great for younger kids too. My daughter's using them in her Brownie troupe and my three-year-old has picked up on some of the alphabet and numbers already. My older son has some mild learning disabilities and looking at a page in a book with so much information all together makes him nervous. I put one card at a time on a cleared table. It helps him focus and that gives him more confidence. People have been making or using flash cards forever, and I think they always will be no matter how fancy computers and software gets (but the Exambusters software is good too). I've recommended them to others.

When I was in school, flash cards were the best way to learn and I always made my own. The exambusters cards cover many of my daughter's courses and I bought her several. Sometimes we work together and she and her friends study in a group too--making a trivia game. Try the software. The screensaver function is great!! In our house, we love to learn new languages. The program flashes words or phrases and then translation every few seconds. The material goes into your brain by osmosis and the constantly changing cards on the screen keep pulling you back to read more. The software is much easier to figure out than some other brands we've purchased. It's intuitive; you don't need to read a lot of confusing instructions. All in all, good investment.

In junior high, my son got a head start on high school courses and that helped him get better grades. He used both cards and CD. My son liked the software, so he studied more than he would have from a book. Learning is hard work, but the exambusters made him feel like it's not quite so bad. The software is well-laid out, colorful, and user-friendly. The messages they give when they score the tests are amusing.

I bought several courses. The cards offer basic concepts in small bites. The information was relevant to what was presented by my teacher. The cards and CD's gave good review before exams and a head start at the start of the new school year. The cards had a lot of questions; you can carry them in your pocket and learn a few each day. The software was easy to use. It is like the cards but on the screen. You can take a test or just review. Front is question, click for answer on back of card. The software can also show the cards on the screen at random, first the question, then the answer. They change every few seconds. That keeps you reading and wondering what's coming up next. It's entertaining while you're studying.

Every year I recommend them to my students. The ones who buy them seem to do a little better than they might have. The cards are numbered, so it's easy to tell them which ones they need to know, and which they can set aside based on the curriculum. It's harder to accomplish that type of culling of information with a review book you'd buy at the superstore.

I've tried several courses: math, science, history and language. My kids especially love the Sign Language cards! I purchased all three card sets and the CD-software. The photographs are more realistic than drawings which you mostly find in ASL products. Great for younger kids too. My daughter's using them in her Brownie troupe and my three-year-old has picked up on some of the alphabet and numbers already. My older son has some mild learning disabilities and looking at a page in a book with so much information all together makes him nervous. I put one card at a time on a cleared table. It helps him focus and that gives him more confidence. People have been making or using flash cards forever, and I think they always will be no matter how fancy computers and software gets (but the Exambusters software is good too). I've recommended them to others.

When I was in school, flash cards were the best way to learn and I always made my own. The exambusters cards cover many of my daughter's courses and I bought her several. Sometimes we work together and she and her friends study in a group too--making a trivia game. Try the software. The screensaver function is great!! In our house, we love to learn new languages. The program flashes words or phrases and then translation every few seconds. The material goes into your brain by osmosis and the constantly changing cards on the screen keep pulling you back to read more. The software is much easier to figure out than some other brands we've purchased. It's intuitive; you don't need to read a lot of confusing instructions. All in all, good investment.

In junior high, my son got a head start on high school courses and that helped him get better grades. He used both cards and CD. My son liked the software, so he studied more than he would have from a book. Learning is hard work, but the exambusters made him feel like it's not quite so bad. The software is well-laid out, colorful, and user-friendly. The messages they give when they score the tests are amusing.

I bought several courses. The cards offer basic concepts in small bites. The information was relevant to what was presented by my teacher. The cards and CD's gave good review before exams and a head start at the start of the new school year. The cards had a lot of questions; you can carry them in your pocket and learn a few each day. The software was easy to use. It is like the cards but on the screen. You can take a test or just review. Front is question, click for answer on back of card. The software can also show the cards on the screen at random, first the question, then the answer. They change every few seconds. That keeps you reading and wondering what's coming up next. It's entertaining while you're studying.

Every year I recommend them to my students. The ones who buy them seem to do a little better than they might have. The cards are numbered, so it's easy to tell them which ones they need to know, and which they can set aside based on the curriculum. It's harder to accomplish that type of culling of information with a review book you'd buy at the superstore.

I use Karen's ACT! for Dummies (2005, 2006, 2007) books as course materials for most of the classes I teach. Her books are well written, easy to understand and contain soem real life examples. She certainly helps me look good to my students. Thanks Karen!

Great Seller - This is one of my favorite book's - Too, Too Cool!

I want to thank you karen for the remarkable book, it is very easy and at the same time have everything in it . I enjoyed reading the book and hope you can write more, so many people in the IT industry will enjoy reading Books again. Please keep on the good work. God Bless you.

Book is easy to follow, very helpful to a beginner. It would probably be helpful to an experienced user but I am so new to this that I have not even looked into advanced features. I highly recommend this book.

Don't be fooled by the "Dummies" title - Wiley Publishing has a very successful formula that they've developed for this series. As much as I'd like to think that you're going to read this book from cover to cover, alas, it's meant to be a reference book that you can pick up and instantly find the answer to your most pressing questions. I've covered the most commonly used of the ACT! features and included many of the "gotchas" that I've encountered over my many years of ACT! consulting. I've given you easy, step by step instructions that don't require you to work with "pretend" contacts. Most importantly, I've tried to infuse the book with a sense of humor because to me learning a software program should be fun and non-threatening.

Karen Fredricks
Author, ACT! 6 for Dummies
Author, ACT! 2005 for Dummies

Photoshop CS3 is a very "deep" application, and I think that this book can be an excellent resource for virtually any CS3 user (especially those who classify themselves as intermediate users of Photoshop). The author does not assume that you have already read a user manual or other book. He covers in detail many of the tools in detail that are frequently used to color correct, mask and composite images, and do many other common tasks. "Hints" and "Notes" can be found throughout the book in small green boxes, and I found them very helpful. For example, in Chapter 10, the author explains in a Hint box how to apply sharpening settings from one image to a batch of images in Bridge.

Weinrebe supports his lessons with good screen shots throughout the book. Just a small selection of the tools that he covers very well (in a step-by-step fashion) are the Healing Brush, Lens Correction tool, History Brush, the Bridge and Camera Raw (including a suggested Bridge/Camera Raw Workflow), tinting with a color layer, batch renaming, converting to DNG, creating contact sheets, creating panoramas with Photomerge, and actions.

One of the most interesting parts of the book are the artist interviews. These Q&A sessions with such luminaries as John Paul Caponigro, R. Mac Holbert, Pedro Meyer, Graham Nash, Maggie Taylor and Joyce Tenneson generally run from about 4-7 pages and include fantastic imagery and insight about the artists' background, their art, what motivates them, and how they approach and use various technologies. I believe that this series of essays could easily be a very strong coffee table book on their own. They are a really special.

I also like the Chapter Reviews questions and Exercises at the end of each chapter, which can definitely help people to learn more about the Photoshop techniques that were covered in the chapter. Having all the exercise files on a CD in the book is also a nice feature. Also, it really helps that Weinrebe is a professional photographer who has been preparing files for clients for years. His work really shines throughout the book.

The development of pigments by chemists changed the art of painting in the Renaissance. The development of film sensitivity changed the art of movie making in the 20th century. How will Photoshop and other image processing software change the art of photography?

This book provides instruction in the use of Photoshop, in an unorthodox manner. Most Photoshop books are organized along workflow lines, although a few work their way through each of the Photoshop tools and menus in order. Weinrebe follow his own order, dealing with light and shadow, curves, black and white processing, color tools and so forth before dealing with the tools used when first bringing images into Photoshop. Often a chapter introduces important techniques not related to the main one, as in the author's discussion of the use of the history brush in the chapter on curves. The author recognizes his approach is unusual, and suggests that readers go through the chapters in the order the reader needs.

The chapters include practical exercises that use images provided on an included CD.

The book recognizes the version 4.1 update to Adobe Bridge which is a component of Photoshop CS3, although I expect that the update was made available at too late a date for the author to do much exploration of its potential. (There has been a 4.2 update, but the changes seem to have improved code, without adding tools.) How else can one explain the author's dismissal of the new sharpening facility that allows for input sharpening, which is different from output sharpening?

Besides the instruction on using Photoshop, each chapter concludes with an interview with a famous photographer. Most of these photographers seem to specialize in montage, that is, the creation of pictures by combining images.

My biggest question was what happened to "the Art of Photography" mentioned in the title? Nothing in the material on technique goes further than to describe what controls and sliders create what effects on an image. No advice is presented in how to use Photoshop to create a picture that is more "artful" (whatever that means). The interviews are interesting but they don't include any information on how the artists used Photoshop to make their pictures more artful. I suspect that even Rafael received some instruction from his teachers on how to use the new pigments beyond how to apply them to canvas. Certainly, a few books on Photoshop have covered this terrain. I particularly found Rob Sheppard's "Outdoor Photographer Landscape and Nature Photography with Photoshop CS2" to be useful.

I also have some small complaints about the book. The text always appeared to be one or two pages behind the related illustrations, leading to a lot of page flipping. Some instructional areas seemed to scant the tools being discussed. For example, the chapter on Adobe Bridge mentions how customizable Bridge is, but neglected to provide any details in how to do this.

Still, a photographer looking for an introduction to Photoshop will be able to get started with this book. On the other hand, those looking for a more detailed introduction might want to look at a favorite of mine, "Photoshop Artistry: For Photographers Using Photoshop CS2 and Beyond" by Barry Haynes. It doesn't cover all the changes made to Photoshop in its later versions, but it will provide an understanding of the software that may even include a little bit about injecting the artful into one's images.

As a long time film photographer making the move to digital this book was a life saver. The step by step approach took the mystery out of photoshop.
The language was clear and the examples relevant.

the book is well worth the cost: it is well organized and presents all of the capabilities of Photoshop in a pseudo-textbook fashion that are easily understood. At the end of each of the 12 chapters, the author presents a review: questions that the reader should be able to answer and exercises covering the CS3 capabilities that had been explained in that specific chapter. Also, the author includes interviews with 12 noted creative photographers such as Maggie Taylor and Lois Greenfield.

Photoshop is incredibly feature-rich software, and frequently perceived as overwhelming. Weinrebe breaks it down into easily understandable bits while still providing useful tips for very experienced users.

And the interviews with renowned photographers add a unique element, opening - at least a little a bit - a window on their varying perspectives and workflows.

Well done. This book is a valuable addition to every photographer's reference library.

It's simple, really: If you're programming with Rails you should buy this book. Let's face it, one recipe that shows you how to do something is all that it takes for this book to pay for itself.

Some of the recipes are meant to be looked at on an as-needed basis, e.g. searching using Solr, Sphinx, or Ferret, and sending email via Gmail. But most of the book can be simply read as a way to learn more about Rails, e.g. customizing error messages, testing with RSpec and Shoulda, and caching strategies and tools.

I just got my copy yesterday and am having trouble putting it down! This book reads better than a novel/story if you have even a remote interest in Ruby on Rails. Mike Clark has done an outstanding job of putting together really interesting recipes contributed by Ruby on Rails enthusiasts from all over the world and an equally good job of quality assurance. I really hope that he works on producing a sequel as soon as possible.

This is not only a phenomenal reference, but it is great for whetting your appetite when embarking into new Rails territory -- the book is full of ideas, that Rails devs of all levels can benefit from. Reading this book gave me an additional perspective on items I practice and those I am learning -- specifically enjoyed the parts on REST, CC payment processing, scalability, testing. Highly recommend.

I went through this book cover-to-cover every few pages saying, 'Wow, I could have used/need that now!' If you're a RoR developer, you really should have this book on your shelf. I marked maybe 75% of the recipes as something I could use--worth it's weight in gold!

This book is a must have resource for anyone developing Rails applications. Mike Clark, the Ruby community and the Pragmatic Programmers have once again delivered a set of recipies you'll find immediately usable. I'm already using four in an application I'm working on, all of which have helped me reduce code, increase readability and reduce maintenance.

The book is thoughtfully organized with each recipie being both well written and concise.

No matter what type of Rails application you are writing, or your level of experience, I think you'll find something in this book to make you say "Thats a great idea" and rush to the keyboard to try it out.

I have just recently started WMI and ADSI. I am a "top down" learner, get the hard stuff, then the simple stuff. This book is perfect for server '03 and windows system Admins. it is not a "solve every problem" I dont think it even solves most problems, but it does have tools and information that WILL make you a better windows administrator. If your just getting into scripting for windows, this is not the book for you. If you are looking for a resource that you can read through and use as a reference, to learn better ways to script your windows administrative tasks, this is the book for you. the CD has great examples and tools, along with a PDF of the book. the book is laid out very well, with specific projects, which is perfect for using this book as a reference. I read it straight through and was able to use parts of it almost every day. all of the information in this book is available at the scripting center, this book just has gotten the really good stuff for Admins, and laid it out perfectly. This book has helped me to write programs that sometimes save me hours of repetitive tasks. Example: manually removing a network virus from computers when I know all the information, but the scanner does not. I am quite happy with this book, and would reccomend it only to people with a light background in programming, and anyone that maintains a '03/XP network.

Absolutely excellent!! Very technical and to-the-point, so this book might not be for the absolute beginner. But for the more experienced Windows systems administrator, this book is an absolute goldmine! Also, in my view, it balances perfectly between being a reference volume and a textbook; I've started from page 1, and will go throu the whole book (and I enjoy every minute of it..). But still, this book will be seen next to my desk, within reach whenever I need to look up something...

With the book comes a CD with the whole book in searchable PDF-format. And I would like to thank Microsoft Press for doing that! I have put the PDF on my PDA, and can access its wisdom wherever I go! Great!

It never ceases to amaze me how many scripting books, including this one, start off telling you that you should already have intermediate to advanced scripting skills before you read, yet spend an initial chapter explaining what an array or an object is. It leaves me feeling that their definition of what "advanced" is will differ greatly from mine. I am also always a little dismayed when throughout, a book plugs a costly script development studio and spends time pointing out why your chosen script editor isn't good enough for your projects.

That said, Advanced VBScript delivers what it promises. It is written for intermediate to advanced scripters and has the primary goal of introducing scripting formats, utilities, objects and processes that might otherwise be overlooked. The beginning introduces you to the WSF XML format for scripts, why you would want to use it, and how to convert your existing scripts to this format. From there you are shown how to utilize scripts as COM objects, how to add an interface to your scripts via HTML and HTA applications, performing remote scripting, and expand your scripts ability using database, ADSI, WMI components. The last section focuses on working with Exchange 2003, MOM 2005 and Virtual Server 2005. At around 500 pages, the book is certainly not an exhaustive reference for each component examined. You are provided a good introduction and general instructions to the topic, given many recipe scripts for immediate inclusion in your environment, and then provided additional detail on where to go to focus on the topic.

The book is formatted to not only be a start to finish textbook, but also serve as an excellent reference guide for the introduced components later on. Although you may find similar scripting information scattered about other VBScript books, here you have a great deal of well presented topics that cover a broad spectrum of concepts. Inclusion of this title to your reference library will provide you the information you need while keeping your bookshelf compact.

I picked this up after noticing it in a book shop (sorry Amazon!). I'm an Exchange administrator and this book gave me some great scripting tips for managing and monitoring my environment. I haven't gone much beyond that since, to my regret, but the concept of packaging scripts was news to me, and I would love to find the time to try out some of the other more elaborate techniques in there. But of course, I am an Exchange Administrator ;-)

This is an excellent follow on book to "Microsoft Windows 2000 Scripting Guide," ISBN: 0735618674, which was my previous bible. I had long ago advanced past much of what is written in that excellent foundation book for VBScript, and this advanced volume really fills in the gaps. After purchasing numerous VB and VBA references that are nothing more than syntax libraries, I feel I finally have the big picture on the capabilities of this technology with this book. It is all clear.

Combined with the Windows Internals book, I don't think there is anything I couldn't do now that I had wanted to do with this technology previously. The chapters on scripting database connections and HTAs are worth the price alone. If you do any serious scripting work, this book is the true capstone. And who else could publish such a book than the horse's mouth itself?

I lived in the Lucca area for two years. The hikes outlined in this book are lovely. The hikes were always the highlight of my weekends. The information is very accurate, thorough and well presented. You cannot go wrong with this book if you want to hike the Alpi Apuani. It is easily the best english language guide to these mountains.

I just returned from a trip to the Apuan Alps, where I put this book to the test, and it was quite useful. The hikes are very well described and are very accurate in terms of the terrain and the time and distance. I also agree with their rankings of the various hikes in terms of difficulty and the overall experience. However, this book should be used as a "starting point" coupled with detailed road maps and trail maps, as the directions to the trailheads (and on the trails themselves) can be a bit vague at points. Still, it was an excellent tool that made for a great hiking experience.

The level of detail in this guidebook is astonishing. I have walked and climbed this area for 23 years but still found new ideas. I can confirm the accuracy of the descriptions from my experience of many of the routes followed in whole or in part. In this area it is essential to use detailed maps to supplement the route description if only to find starting and finishing points. The maps recommended within this guide are not wholly adequate for the purpose, and maps of the series "Edizioni Multigraphic, 1:25 000" are really indispensable.

This book, which I received as a present in anticipation of a trek to Italy, is fantastic. It is very interesting and well written with lots of good information. I agree with the above reviews; I especially love the menu recommendations for various spots and the guide to Italian behavoir. My one complaint is that it does not have much information for extended (multi-day) hikes, and while it has useful information on trains, the book as a whole is geared towards those traveling by car. All in all a delightful book, that is a fun read even if you aren't actually going hiking.

This guide gives detailed information about 31 hikes in Italy's Liguria region and the Apuane Alps of Tuscany. As an example of its useful detail, it rates the difficulty of each hike as Easy (up to 8 km, up to 500 m elevation gain) Moderate (up to 10 km, up to 800 m elevation gain) Strenuous (up to 14 km, up to 1200 m elevation gain) and Very Strenuous (over 14 km, over 1200 m elevation gain).

Five of the hikes are more strenuous than the climb from Phantom Ranch, at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, to Grand Canyon Village, at the South Rim. And there are just two easy hikes.

Very comprehensive... a lot of bang for your buck in a little book. I keep it in my laptop bag 24/7 now.

I, incredulously, bought this book not expecting to refer to it because I know everything ( ;-P ). I have found that it a most invaluable resource. If you know (and love) Apache, this is the synopsis you need sitting on the left hand side of your keyboard.

For material that's mostly already online, this book is a good investment. I get really tired of window-switching references, and sometimes I like to sit away from the computer while I'm looking up stuff on directive syntax or whatever. For that, this book is worth the price.

I'd still like a more suitable binding for a small book with a font chosen for density. Lord, won't you make me said book so it will lay flat? That would make this dealie a five-star pick for me.

A large system of configuration commands and syntax is a useful and powerful tool for allowing people to easily control complex pieces of computer software.

Large configuration files have one major problem; you tend not to look at them often enough to get the language and syntax down pat. You find yourself making too many tiny errors in command name or syntax and struggle with one window editing the file and one or more windows open displaying the documentation.

With Apache I have this problem in spades. The configuration system may be well designed and the syntax as easy as possible, but most people will still struggle to keep every detail in their head. I know what I need to do, have a fair idea how to do it, but the details elude me.

That's where this little volume comes in immensely handy. I have several of O'Reilly's pocket references and find the PHP, Apache and Perl ones never stray far from my computer. This one provides a wealth of reference information packed into a small, inexpensive little volume. It has enough information about the exact name and sytax of the Apache configuration directives that I don�t need to go to a larger book or delve into the manual.

Oh, and for those that want this volume to lay flat. I ran my copy through a paper cutter and trimmed the spine off. After punching holes in the pages I then had a loose leaf version that allowed me to add my own pages of notes in various spots and lays perfectly flat. It only took a few minutes. Sorry, O'Reilly - but it is more useful if it can lay flat and being able to add notes is great.

This little book covers the latest version of Apache, and was packed with info for its size. If you're already familiar with other releases of Apache, then this is the perfect book for you - and all you'll ever need!