Operating Systems Books

I first bought this book a year ago, and have used what I learned to optimize computers that I would have normaly considered obsolete. It's allowed me to put off having to upgrade untill the new memory standard (DDR) comes out in march, saving me lots of $. I also bought copies for friends this year (2000) for X-mas. Some may say it needs updating, but the authors web site has all the info you would need updated. Many thanks for the Book Dave!

.............Curtis

I use computer frequently, but I am not that of an advanced user. This book really brings me into a higher level of understanding about how Windows works. The author goes into lots of detail about what happens while Windows is running (e.g. during boot up). Yet, the text is very easy to be understood. This book also gives me a new way to look at computing. A faster CPU doesn't always give you a faster computer. If you think your computer is too slow, THERE ARE things you can do to make it runs faster. When performance matters, you have to give up things that you are used to, but not usful. (I can't complain that my computer is too slow when I am using a fansy theme that costs too much memory.) Also, this book does not simply tell you what to do. The author's explaination enables me to make decisions on my own.

This is not a book that simply tell you how to improve your computer's performance. If you have some experiences in using Windows and want to know more about the operating system, this is a nice size book that can get you started. What's more? My machine is faster now. :)

This book has a huge collection of excellent tips for getting the most out of Windows. Every Windows owner owes it to themselves to go out and get this book!

I am an experienced windows user, and I bought this book because I figured it was cheaper than upgrading my PC. I run a K6 266 overclocked to 300, 160 megs of ram, 7200 RPM 27 Gig HD. Once I implemented ALL of the tricks in this book (This is no easy task... it takes a lot of time, and is very high maintenance), my system out performed my ex-girlfriend's Pentium III 850 with 128 megs of ram for applications (not for games, though it still does those well).

I don't mind making the effort, but some people might. If you have lots of time, and you love customizing your PC, you can't go wrong.

Litestep, registry hacks, DOS utils, 5 partitions on a HD... if you like this kind of stuff, get the book! If you don't know what any of these things are, you may be better off upgrading you PC.

This book is an attempt to collect (and organize) a series of tricks to speed up Win9x machines (it does work for Windows 95, 98 and ME, but most of the advices do not translate to WinNt and Win2000, as the author honestly points out).

The author's idea is that you can actually obtain a lot of performance even from older machines, if you are ready to do some work for it (tracking down utilities, testing different configurations, dropping some "cool effects" in the standard UI and so on).

I've recently applied the book ideas to "renew" a couple of very old machines (a 486-based, 24MB ram Compaq portable and a Pentium-75 with 64 MB Ram). I am not a Windows Guru by any stretch of the term, and I did learn a lot on how Windows is organized in the process. This fact alone is probably worth one extra star in my rating.

The book is clear, and is a good read (i.e. it is not a simple itemized lists of tricks, but tries to tie up things in a coherent thread).

Unfortunately, the end result of my attempts to optimize my two museum-quality machines were less stellar than what other reviewers submitted. I think that the main reason is due to the fact that most of the tips seem to be aimed at computers which have been subjected to a lot of "install-the-new-software-gizmo-I-just-found-in-this-magazine-CD".

If you start from a clean installation (or work on a machine on which little extra sw was installed) there seems to be very little gain from applying most of the techniques offered by the author.

Another problem is that both SW and HW are a moving target, so when you try to obtain some of the utilities which the author recommends, for example, you may find out that the current versions may have grown new requirements which makes installing them on an older machine a little troublesome.

This is even more obvious when we talk about RAM or other HW specific issues.

All in all, I'm pleased with the book, but mostly because helped me to better understand how Windows works. People who already have a lot of first-hand experience in installing and maintaining Windows machines would probably give this book three stars at most.

This book is loaded with information on how to code JCL efficiently. We cut the run time for a 12 hour job to 3 hours using this book. I highly recommend the book for IT Professionals working with JCL.

This book is loaded with practical and valuable information. Excellent tool--even experienced IT professionals will benefit from the tips and techniques.

This JCL publication has all the parameters and statements most often used. The book also presents the most efficient and effective means to code the most common JCL parameters and statements. Olivia Carmandi hit the bullseye, writing a book that contains practical day to day answers in an easy to use format and size, an appealing tool to the busy IS professional.

This is an outstanding book that addresses and responds to the needs of its target audience in a very time efficient, practical, and helpful manner. Five stars.

A good little book for the most commonly used JCL and ideal for someone who does not have to deal with JCL on an everyday bases. The format is easy to follow and book size makes is easy to slip it into you pocket.

The focus of this book is on developing your survival skills quickly, helping you grasp and understand major concepts and terms so you can be productive in days; not weeks or months. JCL is an intense and complex computing skill and highly-valued in the industry. Traditionally, learning JCL takes years, learning small components at a time. Many programmers and operators eventually give up the chase. This book will help ensure that you don't. To paraphrase the line, "this is not your father's JCL manual." This book is not a thousand pages of prose, explaining every conceivable element that might appear in JCL. Instead, it focuses on what is actually being used in the computing world and packages it for easy consumption. I wish such a book had been available when I was learning JCL many years ago.

Happy Reading!! David Shelby Kirk

A real easy book to read, and very nice. My only take on the book is that it's old, So, no 2.6 or up versions. It's all about SunOS. It's one of the very very few books about crash dump analysis. As a matter of fact, I am not aware of any other book about that. If you are, please let me know. It's one of the easiest books that you can lay your hands on, to get started in adb.

Very good book - every one who want to know more about kernel engineering should buy it - but do not expect that will you find there only examples - loots of coments relating system devices and services . But if you are not 3+ years expiriences Solaris admin , don't buy it - there is loots of assembler languige suplements etc ..

I believe this book is not only an exceptional tutorial on crash dump debugging techniques but also a good review of the Solaris kernel architecture and data structures. The authors have done a great job explaining such highly technical and complicated topics like processor architecuture, stacks, file system data structures, adb, assembly code, etc. Not exactly bed-time reading!

Although some of the examples are a little bit out of date (Sparc V9 and Solaris 8 are the industry norm more or less) and a second edition is becoming more and more a necessity, I will still give this book 5+ stars.

The excellent presentation and exemplary technical make Crash! (relatively) very easy to read but several years of strong Solaris experience, a good understanding of computer architecure, OS fundamentals, data structures, and some knowledge of C are still required for full comprehension of the content.

Before diving into this book I would strongly encourage the potential reader to at least review "UNIX Internals: The New Frontiers" by Uresh Vahalia, "Design of the Unix Operating System" by Marice J. Bach, Maurice Bach or "Solaris Internals: Core Kernel Architecture" by Jim Mauro, Richard McDougall.

What the other reviewers have said in consensus, I'll just stipulate: this book is a gentle but comprehensive introduction to core file analysis; it's also an excellent reference on kernel architecture. For its clarity of technical writing, it deserve some kind of award, considering how deathly-dull the subject matter can be. I couldn't stay awake through one pass of the assembly code illustrations, but I don't think the writers could have helped that. This book is a nonetheless a triumph, albeit a dated one.

Now, c'mon, Prentice-Hall, help the audience out! This book was written in 1995. It uses Solaris 2.3 and sun4d architecture as its latest and greatest. Solaris (2.)8 has been out for a while and 9 is on the way; sparcv9/64-bit architecture is here; mdb, the modular debugger, is going to replace adb; the book *must* be updated. It would be a crime to let it die now -- there's still no competitive title on the market.

The book is non-technical enough that I couldn't make all the changes needed to get the older examples to work. If I ever do, though, maybe I'll be good enough to write a competitive title myself...

That said, even if the next edition were to out in three months, I'd still buy this one now to get started; it's that good.

Okay, I'll admit that the topic of debugging kernel panics is one that will give most sysadmins fits and put others to sleep. However, the ability to dig up just exactly what caused your kernel to panic is a skill that can be mastered with this book. The authors do an excellent job of explaining SPARC architecture in a non-engineer oriented way. I have found this book to be very helpful in my work. Please note that this book is specific to Sun Solaris only (I would like see a 2nd edition that covers everything up to Solaris 8).

Note, the iscda script provided in the cdrom does not work with Solaris 2.6 and up. You can get the updated version at: http://www.piaffe.org/panic/macros/iscda-2X

I had looked at this book for a long time, but delayed buying it. I finally bought it as a supplement to other, more technical books I have. It gives me the information I need without numbing my mind in geek-speak. During the first 24 hours after buying it, this book got me out of several difficult problems quickly and effortlessly. Surprisingly, it is not the diagnostic flow charts I have found most helpful, but the book's running text located by way of index entries has been the most helpful to me in solving the problems I had, one of which was the Blue Screen of Death related to the recognition of a hard drive on an OS installation.

For people who love computing but don`t want to be bogged down with techno-crap, this book is for you. We all run into problems sooner or later and we waste a lot of time, energy, and money trying to fix them. This book will help you diagnose the problem, fix the problem( or find out how to get more info)and most importantly, how to keep your PC running at it`s best. I had the Blue screen of Death,( but not anymore)and I was on the verge of buying a new PC. Think what I saved. My PC has never worked better. Thanks Mark!

I'm 13 and own several books on computer issues, but none of them are as all inclusive as this one. This book covers networking, hardware, software, printers and internal issues, most of it from a troubleshooting piont of view. This book is VERY easy to understand and is perfect for people who need a book that covers everything

I have been involved with computers for more than 20 years, and this book is the best troubleshooting book that I have seen for computers. The information is very well organized and easy to use. There are many flow charts in the book to quickly resolve problems, and there is a very helpful table listing different problem symptoms and solutions. The book also has in-depth chapters on certain problems. It is a book that can easily be used for quick reference for a problem, or it can be studied in detail. Blank screens, software and hardware problems, faulty power supplies, and input/output devices are all discussed in the book. Solving just one problem would pay for the book, and you'll be glad you bought it after using it several times.

I have spent hours on the phone with Dell, Microsoft, SBC, HP and countless other ISPs and manufacturers and have not been able to resolve issues or restore my system to usable status. This book tells you all that you need to know to put your system back in order, without transferring you around, routing your questions to India or blaming software or other system components for your problem. If you are tired of wasting your time using "tech support" this is the book you should have.

Professional BizTalk Server 2006 is one of those books which really goes over and above what you can find on online documentation . There are only few BizTalk books and thank god we have one like this . The books has a lot of hidden gems that will make you go 'aha '.

Absolute Must read if you love the Product. A great Chapter on Testing which I have not seen in any other BizTalk book .

Great book for all who want to know HOW BT really works and WHY it works like that. Very valuable purchase.

It took a long time for decent BizTalk Server books to start appearing, and those of us who have been committed to the product for some time know the pain (and fun) of having to work out, for ourselves, how this product works, how best to apply it to real-life scenarios and how to exploit its rich functionality.

I was really impressed with this book. It has two characteristics which I think are particularly noteworthy. The first is that it offers a huge breadth of coverage, but also manages to combine this with reasonable depth. This is hard to achieve when writing about BizTalk Server because it is such a rich an extensive product. The second characteristic is that it reads like a book written by practitioners - people with real-life experience of using the product, and the scars to prove it. Indeed, that it very much the case, and it means that the book provides far more than just rehashed information. It provides guidance, advice and best practice which is rooted in reality.

I like to think I know a thing or two about BizTalk Server (though it still manages to spring surprises on me quite regularly). I am not greatly addicted to computer books, because so many fail to be of any very practical use. However, I can report that this is the first BizTalk book (and one of very few books, generally) that I've carried with me into engagements to use as a reference. Warmly commended and highly recommended, especially for those who have done enough with BizTalk Server to realise the extent of the mountain they must climb.

I've been on a couple of BizTalk projects, all of them for Fortune 50 clients. We did a lot of things wrong, hence a lot of lessons learned. This book is good...REALLY good. How good? Well, let's just say that I never, repeat NEVER write book reviews, even if a book was the greatest thing since the bread slicer. (I guess because I'm too busy building Orchestrations and Custom Pipeline Components.) That alone should convince you that this book is a must-have for anyone wanting to know anything about BizTalk.

DISCLAIMER: Allow me to contradict that last statement... This isn't for everyone, however. It is really in-depth and explains more than the minimum required. The book also targets those of use that continue to ask the question "Why?" and it quenches our curious thirst. If I were to pick this book up when I was first learning BizTalk, I would throw it down and stomp on it. But now that I've been around the block a few times and I know the difference between a best practice and a "you're on your own" practice, I am able to get a lot from reading this material.

With BizTalk, there's so many ways to skin the proverbial cat. This books explains all of them (from what I've read), but then it points out the preferred approaches that one should take when implementing an integration solution via BizTalk Server...lots of Notes & Caveats sections, things that I crave.

This book will give you very objective insights into BizTalk. And you don't need to worry about reading it with your rose-colored glasses, either. It's neither half-empty nor half-full, it just is, you know?

This book has information in it that you simply will not find anywhere else. Its written by people who have worked with the product on some of the largest and most important projects where BizTalk has been the platform of choice, and the knowledge that thay pass on is exceptional.

The book is really well written, covering even more topics (i.e. Networking) than the first edition. Considering the advanced nature of the book, it's surprisingly easy to understand.

However, i would recommend reading Operating Systems: Design and Implementation (3rd edition) by Andrew S. Tanenbaum and Albert S. Woodhull before this one if you're not familiar with Operating Systems, as this book covers advanced topics which are not for begginers.

Reading this book, I think it helps to know UNIX and some C already, but is ok if you don't... This book gives great details and examples. Must have for anyone working on/with solaris 10.
Yes.. it explains how zones and things like that work...

Do you want to know how the Solaris kernel works? This is the book for you!

If you've read any of the other titles by these authors you'll know how clear and succinctly written this book is. The book is not your normal 2nd edition "nip and tuck", it's a rewrite!

One of the things I really like about this book is that it describes the internal theory and implementation of many kernel subsystems, but is not a code walk through or reiteration of other books / manuals.

The book covers many of the new and recent features of Solaris, so it's also valuable for long time Solaris engineers that need to keep updated. People that are new to UNIX internals will also like this book as it starts with the assumption of some UNIX principles (but not too much), and takes you a *lot* further.

There are pointers to other material for the truely adventurous, and small examples with sample output that keep the subject material relevent and enable to reader to make the connection between the theory and their system.

Very highly recommended!

The book "Solaris (TM) Internals and OpenSolaris
Kernel Architecture (2nd Edition)"
is one of the best
books (perhaps the best one) that I own on
the Operating Systems related field.

I study also the Linux Kernel which is also
technically elegant, and I recommend to anyone
interested in Operating Systems design and
implementation, to study the
OpenSolaris Kernel also,
since is very well designed and
in my opinion is technically
the best design that I know until now.

The book is excellent, it has clear presentation of the
advanced algorithms used at the Solaris internally,
and the reader has a lot to gain by elaborating
the internals of perhaps the most
advanced modern operating system.

Well written and detailed. If you wish or need to know about the internals of Solaris this book is the source. This is a second edition and covers 10 and updates information on 8 and 9. The first edition covered 2.5.1, 2.6, and 7. I liked the first edition and waited for this edition based on the books/authors web site and have not be disappointed. Highly recommended, a reasonable background in OS theory is helpful with the type of material covered here - but not required - it will aid in understanding however. Recommended more general OS books would include "Operating System Concepts" by A. Silberschutz, J. Peterson, P. Galvin, "Operating Sytstems" by A. Tanenbaum, A. Woodhull, and "Unix Internals" by Uresh Vahalia among others.

I suppose it was just bad luck that the first API (ReadDirectoryChanges) I needed help with wasn't in this book. I ended up spending some time searching the news groups to get more information. Seems like ReadDirectoryChanges should have been included in a book that has been described as the "definitive reference for the Win32 API"... A bit disappointing.

I could say 5 Stars and it would be all what to say - but if you are not shure, what a type of book to choose that would be to few. Well I have this book for a long time and it is my bible. It is very practice indeed and close to the problems. My own projects have gone much more easier to solve. My own focus is on automation sectors and so I did some work for automating rs232 driven radio controls for hobbie and HAM- interested people. If you are interested in it so you can look at my website http://www.peter-geisler.de - looking to results from which I can say are a lot of ideas from John Ayres Tomes of Delphi - I rating it 5 Stars.

you just cant afford not to get it, with the declining availability of good delphi source out there... its indespensible

Have only been been using Delphi for 4 months now. This book and the Core API are very good. I found them very easy to understand.

Imposing as the material in this book might otherwise be, I am most impressed with the clean authorship of the material. This book is more than a developer can reasonably hope for in a source reference. I expected to have to give maybe 10 days' time to absorbing it cover to cover, but it is written so well that most chapters require reading less than a page describing the chapter; and the rest of the material can simply be used. So full of treasure is this book that I spent hours the first evening just typing code into projects. All of it ran right the first time. I doubt a better book can be written on this subject, and will from here on consider any book with John Ayres' name on it the one to look at first on whatever the topic. A huge thanks to you John for doing your work so well. You made ours' far easier than we imagined.

An excellent book only spoiled by numerous typographical errors in the text although you will find the source code on the companion CD to be largely correct. Although Windows 95 is nearing the end of its commercial lifespan this series of books is still valuable to anyone wanting to write backwardly compatible Windows 98 applications. Although the typographical errors in the source code in this book are fairly obvious, some errors in the 2nd Volume in this series (Windows 95:WIN32 Common Controls and Messages API Bible) are are extremely misleading. For instance on page 677 it states that the EN_MAXTEXT message contains the identifier of the edit control in the low 16 bits of the wParam variable when it is actually in the high word of wParam. Another place it falsely states that the callback function used by the EM_STREAMIN returns nonzero to continue transferring data. However this series of books is still invaluable for anyone still writing in WIN32.

Despite any errors in this book. It has the 1 thing that is lacking in almost all books DECENT examples. Combined with the MSDN library, and Programming Windows by petzold you can go very far. Today most people are so enamored with visual basic and wizards they never bother to learn HOW windows works. This book along with vol 2, can help you in get a better understanding of windows event based programming! It is not the end all be all of books LOTS of win32 calls are missing (after all its been a few years since 95!). But it has the core of them. This book is an great item for any win32 programmers tool belt.

I have bought the 3 books which form the API Bible series - all of them very worthwhile, especially the Common Controls and Messages book. It mentions every Windows Message you are likely to encounter, and also how to code the common Windows controls. The examples, although in C, are easy enough to translate. I program with PowerBASIC, and the Bible series is invaluable to my work.

This book is simply brilliant! It covers absolutely everything about basic Win32 GUI programming: from creating windows to thread syncronization.

I'm new to Win32 programming, but found this book readable, with good explainations and examples, and it continues to be a excellent detailed reference. The CD which complements the book is also very good, offering updates to the book and code which can be used in your own programs.

However, I do regret the lack of information about Common Controls, and a Message Reference, which are in the second book, 'The Windows Common Control and Messages API Bible', which explains why I only give four stars.

Despite this, I would recommend both these books (and possibly the third for those interested in ODBC or Telephoney) for any Win32 programmer, old or new. In one word, indespensible.

This book is invaluable. Though I am new to straight API programming,(I previously primarily used Delphi), this book was easy to understand yet, concise and powerful enough to get a decent application running suprisingly fast. However, as this is the is volume one of three, important topics such as control interaction are left to the later volumes. This book is worth every cent and likely a little more!

This book lives up to all its good reviews. Guarantee yourself a better grade by using it. It is exactly what it says, a "Study Guide". Although you may pass the exam with just this book, I recommend learning the material in a lengthier manner. Either take the instructor-led courses or buy the Microsoft training kits (I bought the kits), and then read this book just before you take the exam, using it as a "Study Guide". I passed the exam by a wide margin on my first attempt.

This is a great book. I passed my Workstation test with no problems. This was not my only resource. I do like this book better than Exam Cram because it did not have a lot of filler. It was concise. Most technical authors have problems getting to the point. This book was easy to study with.

well-written, well-edited and seemingly free from the typos and horrible grammar that plague most of the other mcse material i've seen. great writing style, very easy to read, and to-the-point (i love how it concentrates on what you need to know to pass the exam).

workstation was my first exam, and i aced it. this book was one of the main reasons. i'd recommend it to anyone trying to self study for their mcse. however, i still recommend getting a few other manuals if you're going to self study. no one manual emphasizes everything evenly, and even the poorly written ones will cover things that others won't. nevertheless, don't neglect this book. it's one of the best out there.

There is only one way to say this: This book was awesome!!! The authors target what you should know and what to watch for on the exam. The book places all its emphasis on what you need and should know, not only to pass the exam, but to administer the operating system sucessfully and with ease. I am recommending this book to my friends and colleagues. Simply stated, Accelerated MCSE study Guides are your one stop shop for success. Don't get lost in all the fancy wording the other books hit you with, read something you can read! Trust me, once you pick it up, you won't want to put it down. Once I read this book, everything made sense. I can assure you that you will never have to purchase any other books on MCSE subjects for use as test preperation guides. Real world experience and this book made it possible for me to Ace the exam.

I purchased this book solely for the ratings obtained from other readers and because I wanted a quick MCP. I must warn you: For my Networking Essentials test I used two study guides, each with sample questions at the end of each chapter and final sample tests to prepare for the real test. This method helped me pass on my first attempt with 900. For this test I tried taking the short path of cramming this study guide with all the information required to pass the test and it didn't work for me, period. I passed the test with 866 on my second attempt (the first was a 633, passing was 700), and I only passed because I reinforced in 3 days my weak spots using a borrowed Exam Prep study guide (which, by the way I found out later it had terrible reviews). It doesn't mean that this book is not worth it, on the contrary, this book is worth more than its price, but it is only a review book, you can not expect to obtain all the necessary tools for the real test with it (or any guide of this type)only. This book should be a supplement to a formal study guide or NT Administrator's book and you need to test yourself using one of those CD practice tests (like the Exam Prep or Sybex's).

Excellent areas of this book: Test taking hints (specially for scenario questions), sources of information for the test, the "cram card at the end of the book", share and NTFS permissions (excellent), policies and profiles.

Acceptable chapters: Troubleshooting, Users

Weak chapters: Installation (the test requires more detailed knowledge here), Hardware configuration, RAS (the information was there but in an disorganized fashion, I got confused), Netware, It doesn't tell you which objectives are being covered (you don't know where to read to reinforce knowledge on a particular objective area)

To all candidates: Being an MCP requires experience, total mastery of the Microsoft test objectives, a detailed study guide, practice tests and a review (cram) guide. This book is an excellent review (cram) guide only. Out of the possible five stars, one star was taken for claiming to be the only tool for passing (read the back cover of the book section here in Amazon), the other for the weak areas for the real test.

This has a lot of information and quick tips in it on how to do a lot of stuff in Vista and speed your system up. I bought it for my husband and he read it cover to cover.

I have to agree with what one of the other reviewers had stated about not needing to be a geek. This book is very nicely laid out, is visually pleasing and an easy read.

I would recommend it for someone trying to get up to speed on Vista as well as for those who may be buying someone a computer that has Vista installed. It would be very helpful for finding and learning about new, key features.

I am an author of technical books myself, having written five up to this point. I can tell that this author put in the time and effort to create an excellent reference that really covers what you'll really use in the operating system. The "Information Kiosks" are superb. You can really go through the book quickly - reading just the Kiosks - and get a lot of value right away. The shortcut key for accessing the traditional File, View, Edit, etc. menus in the Information Kiosk on page 90 was worth the price of the book to me. I didn't know that one and I pride myself on knowing valuable keyboard shortcuts (sorry, I'm an old DOS geek).

The "Street Jargon" sections at the end of each chapter should probably be read first - just my suggestion. This section defines new terms introduced in the chapter and knowing their definitions in advance will be very helpful. I'm sure the author would have placed them at the beginning given a choice, but this series by Wiley already has the structure fixed in place.

The section on Networking with Windows Vista (pages 325 to 335) provide an excellent, to-the-point understanding of how to configure a wireless or wired connection. No fluff, just the steps.

I used Chapter 9 to learn how to use the non-technical features of Vista like photo editing and the photo gallery. Us Information Technology people tend to learn about the "under-the-hood" features and not spend the time discovering these great tools. Actually, this book is aimed more at a Vista user than a Vista support professions, but it is filled with vast amounts of information for the support professional too. Trust me, your users will want to know the great shortcuts provided in this book.

I could go on-and-on about what I like in this book, but suffice it to say: I feel that, if you don't read this book, you don't know everything you need to know about Windows Vista.

Have a great summer everyone. - Tom Carpenter - Author: Wireless#, CWNA, CWSP and 70-431 Study Guides

Michael Meskers explains the subject well, showing good screen shots, having handy self-study quizzes, and making fun glossary entries by treating the entries as "street jargon." There's no Windows computer topic you couldn't find here - he even helps you understand how to update your knowledge if you're a DOS-based dinosaur (like I once was). I particularly loved the info on Vista's free tools, including speech recognition software, and also really appreciated the easy to use information on the Windows Security Center. Reading Michael's book even helped me overcome a security software blocking problem on an older computer (employing Internet Explorer). I like the book and it's right above my computer because it's a handy reference for the future. I wish all computer books were written this well.

So this is the long-anticipated (and somewhat delayed) Vista. Microsoft's answer to increasingly aggressive Macintosh and linux forays on the mass desktop. Meskers takes us on a guided tour, where he assumes that we are not computer experts. So he strives to write as plainly as possible, minimising technical jargon. This is reinforced by the train inspired graphics sprinkled generously throughout the book. So chapters begin with a turnstile logo and title "Enter the Station". A little hokey, I found, but maybe the metaphors will work for you.

Overall, the impression given by the book is that Vista's look and feel is converging to that of the Mac. It does seem that the ease of use is similar.

The most advanced feature of Vista, at least as explained by Meskers, could be speech recognition. It lets you control the computer using spoken commands, rather than the mouse or keyboard. To some users, this will be a paradigm shift. But to others, the novelty may quickly wear off. The speech recognition capability is impressive, and easy to set up. But it is not perfect. It may work best with isolated words as commands. Specifically, the best use in Vista could be inside Microsoft's Office suite. Unsurprisingly, this has been well integrated with speech recognition. And the restricted context of Office commands greatly improves the recognition.