Systems Books

I was overwhelmed by the brilliance of this book, which highlighted the depth of the author's understanding of living with Alzheimer's Disease. The author had surrounded her husband with love as she learned to deal with his progressive neurological condition. She also portrayed in a remarkable way the differing situations of others who have struggled to understand, care for their loved ones and to maintain and develop self-care. Knowing the author personally, I am not surprised at the charm and creativity which emanate from this lovely book about one of the most devastating illnesses we can imagine. I was truly blessed to have been one of the support group leaders for families of people with Alzheimer's disease; I am not impartial since I have always been in awe of the author's concern for others,her unconditional love for her husband and her own unique gifts of style and grace.

A great book that outlines my ideas on facing the caregiving of someone with dementia!

This book is a small treasure. I keep picking it up a reading different passages. It helps me understand and appreciate my father, who has Alzheimer's, in ways that I have forgotten.

It helped the whole family, even dad picked it up to read.

Thanks for a fabulous book,

My name is Doreen. I am one of the people in Betsy Peterson's book. She mailed me a signed copy which I have lent to other people and they also found it very useful. I am writing this to let people know that even though the book is called Voices of Alzheimers, it is really a book about Dementia in general (my diagnosis is Pick's Disease, not Alzheimers and as the book indicates they later changed Betsy Peterson's husband's diagnosis from Alzheimer's to another dementia). So if you have a family member who has a dementia other than Alzheimers, you can also find helpful (and hopeful) information in this book.

This small book is a treasure of honest and deep sharing on the part of dementia patients and their caregivers and loved ones. The book is visually very attractive, the content is well organized, and the quotes--covering the full spectrum of sadness and anger to wisdom, humor, hope, and gratitude--are interspersed with the author's own moving story. Reading this has enabled me to relate with much greater understanding and confidence to those with Alzheimer's, and there is an excellent section on available resources. Voices of Alzheimer's is unique in the literature on the subject and deserves to become a classic in the field.

Jenneke Barton

The author presents a framework for practical and creative solutions to the various possible situations one will, or perhaps might, encounter in caring for a someone with dementia. McCurry offers a dementia D.A.N.C.E. encouraging respect and gratitude, plus concrete exercises to strengthen one's ability to cope. Beautifully and clearly written, this book is as much a "bible" for dementia caregivers as the 36-Hour-Day.

WHEN A FAMILY MEMBER HAS DEMENTIA: STEPS TO BECOMING A RESILIENT CAREGIVER teaches caregivers how to take advantage of their own unique inner resources to overcome the special challenges of dementia in a loved one. But it does more than encourage inner resilience: chapters provide specific tips and tools for developing inner resources and strategies, and offer five core principles which link these strategies to life. Vignettes blend with practical tip applications.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This book exudes sensitivity to the particular challenges caregivers of persons with dementia face. The examples of true life situations, step by step samples of building resiliency and exercises at the end of each chapter make this a must have book for every caregiver. I have shared the story of the caregiver dancing his loved one into the shower with our local Alzheimer's and Related Dementia's Support Group where it was very well received. Some members were eager to try this suggestion and others in the book with their loved ones

Susan McCurry chronicles with humor and compassion the pitfalls and rewards of caring for a loved one with dementia. Beautifully written in a style accessible by lay person or professional, this book offers hope and practical advice for the many of us living as caregivers of family members. Dr. McCurry's observations, interviews, and sage suggestions give one hope for maintaining personal balance in an everchanging, emotional, and oft times perplexing relationship. In reading this book not only did I find validation and support in caring for my father, many of the ideas are applicable to improving any relationship.

This publication of this book could not have been more timely. Medical advancements and the aging baby boomers will result in families assuming greater responsibilities in caring for their relatives who are inflicted with dementia or Alzheimer's disease.

Dr. McCurry extensive clinical experience is evident throughout the book. She provides very comprehensive advice in meeting the challenges that arise during the care giving process. Her first chapter explains why resilience matters, noting that it can improve quality of life for both the demented individual and his/her caregiver. Achieving resilience is then described through the D.A.N.C.E. program (D-don't argue; A-accept the disease; N-nurture yourself; C-create novel solutions; E-enjoy the moment). Each step is further illustrated by many clinical examples of individuals and families overcoming difficult situations. She encourages caregivers to give forth their best effort and be flexible in their approach. Her empathetic writing style offers encouragement to the reader and a sense of hope.

Dr. McCurry provides a complete list of resources that are available to caregivers. Professionals will find many ideas and techniques to help families stay involved with their loved one.

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.

The Windows C++ API is a beast that many have struggled against. The authors have done a great job in covering the fundamentals.

This book is definitely for intermediate to advanced c++ developers and it makes no attempts to baby the reader with the basics. The authors do make sure to go step by step in some sections where necessary. The sections on dynamic link libraries and windows exception handling were especially helpful.

As you guessed by the title, this book covered exactly what I was looking for. C/C++ programmers who are dealing with Windows kernel objects, shared memory objects, events, semaphores, security and the like will appreciate this.

The book covered and clarified information that may/may-not be available on MSDN (I never saw it there while searching...), and did so with an overall approach that ties the topics together, shows how they are used, and generally is more understandable. I appreciated this book much more than jumping around through a bunch of disjointed MSDN pages trying to understand how these elements work. The book gives you deep understanding and more than a few tricks you can use in the debugger.

Beginning developers, or developers working on managed code prob. wouldn't have much use for this book. Consider this the nitty-gritty reference manual for how all of the low level stuff gets done.

I appreciate this book, it won't end up back at the used bookstore.

Excellent choice of topics (kernel objects, processes, threads, jobs, fibers, memory management, DLL et SEH)and a good compromise between the depth of analysis and an easy reading.
The book is very attractive visually; the bold fonts are really used at right places and numerous examples (as a matter of fact quite serious in itself) are very, very readable.
A must for a serious programmer.

This is an excellent book on the fundamentals of Microsoft Windows Operating Systems up to vista. The author definitely is an authority on the subject, and the book is pretty easy to follow with the C/C++ samples.

Particularly I like the chapters about the workings of DLLs. And the explanation of Windows memory management is also very clear.

Perhaps the book can be made a little thinner or use somewhat lightweight paper as I found it is pretty heavy to carry around.

In all, this is a very good desktop reference book if you are windows developer. Even though those RAD platform such as .NET make our life easier and enable us to make a good-looking app quickly, still, from time to time, you'll find a some level of understanding of how windows works help you write better code.

I am very satisfied with this book.

I have been programming for over 10 years, but my Windows specific C++ programming is relatively weak due to inexperience with it. Note that if you are in the same boat, you will need additional resources (web based, help files, other books) on top of this book as this book assumes you are already proficient in creating Windows apps.
They make no attempt to tell you otherwise, it is an expert level book - but even if you already know C++ well, there is much Windows specific details that this assumes you know.

Great book and very useful, just not entry level, so know that going in.

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.

About half of this book is very Microsoft-specific (HTML applications, behaviors, etc.) However, the sections on XSL and interacting with the XML DOM are outstanding and contain much better explanations and examples than I've seen in any "pure" XSL book! I consider myself an XSL expert, but I still learned a great deal from this book. It's enabled me to write simpler, more concise and more efficient transformations. You can skip the Microsoft-specific stuff if you want and this book is still a great value.

This book is great! The chapters are well laid out and are easy to understand. It helped me learn a great deal about incorporating DHTML, XML and Web Scripting into my web applications. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to further expand their knowledge about web applications. The Web is the future and this book will lead you there!

This is a great book for those who are in web development. Very detailed and gives good scripting examples using ASP, HTML, XML, DHTML, and more. It even gives you some examples using JavaScript and VBScript. This book is well written and self explanatory. It helped me to understand, learn and write scripts that uses these components. I highly recommend this book. It will help your scripting be more efficient.

I was interested in this book to provide the components for building web applications. The book provides all the information in an easy to read manner so that I can create an application utilizing current web technology. The technical information provides information about Advanced IE functionality, DHTML, XML, ASP, and Web Scripting which allows me to write applications using the examples in this book. The example code was very useful which allowed me to integrate the sample code into new applications. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to integrate all these technologies in their applications.

I has been a Web developer for almost two years. Most of the books I have are very good for everyday work. However when I want more advance technique, It was very hard to find a good book. I am so glad to get this book. The book is easy to understand. There are more powerfull stuff for a Web developer to apply in the project. I am finding from chapter to chapter all the information I needed to finnish the project I was working on. .......................... This book is the book to buy.

Solid understanding of wireless propagation channels is necessary to be a good wireless system designer and also a researcher. Part II of this book provides an excellent coverage of channel models and propagation mechanisms. It is a must-read material for graduate students in the wireless communications field. I also particularly studied chapter 19 on OFDM. Related concepts are very well explained.

I highly recommend this book for graduate students and researchers. It will surely be one of your favorites.

There are many reasons to recommend this excellent book. First, it is a very thorough review of important basic and new concepts in wireless communications. No matter what you are searching for, it is very likely that you will find a first answer in this textbook. While offering different levels of detail, the author has also managed to remain very accurate in the explanations, which is a rare quality among general textbooks. Finally, the list of references is really extensive for readers highly interested in very specific topics.

I bought this book because I needed to brush up my wireless skills for a project during this summer. I liked the table of contents; it seemed to include pretty much anything I would need. But when reading it in detail, I was even more impressed by the skill of the author in explaining the most tricky aspects of wireless systems, mixing verbal explanations, math, and examples. And the book is at just the right level to bridge the usual communications courses I had heard, and the really advanced research monographs and papers. To summarize, this is simply a great book - 5 stars without a doubt.

This is a very excellent textbook for both advanced undergraduate and graduate courses. It covers almost every aspects of wireless communications without losing depth. The further reading section at the end of each chapter is very usefull to readers who want to explore more on particular topics. It is a good sumary.
The book will be a good tool for those who want to get more detail understanding of emerging technology like UWB, MIMO, OFDM propagation model and wirelss standards such as GSM, WCDMA, WLAN,...

This is an excellent book that can be used both as a reference for practicing engineers and as a textbook for teaching wireless communications. The book provides the tools to understand the state-of-the-art wireless technology, theory and practice. Topics covered are wide-ranging starting with the presentation of the requirements of wireless communication systems and the technical challenges involved in communication under multipath fading conditions. The book proceeds to present a thorough description of the wireless channel. It then continues with an in-depth presentation of techniques for designing transceivers for communication over the wireless channel. In this part, the reader will find clear, detailed descriptions of technologies currently in use such as CDMA, OFDM and multiantenna systems. In the last part, the book discusses wireless standards covering both cellular and local-area networks. Review questions and exercises are collected in a separate chapter.

First I should say that I HATE Word. So does Word annoy me? Obviously. However, I'm forced to use Word at work and am struggling with it each and every day and swearing at MS. I thought this book would help and it does. It's a very well written book that is easy to understand. The author is an expert in Word simply from having to use it for years and has figured it all out himself. Instead of being the typical manual that says do this/do that, the author has written it almost in the style of a FAQ, but in organized sections to make it easier to find answers. The author uses some amount of humour - statements like: will Word do that? No, get over it. Would I say that this book solved all my annoyances? No. But it certainly reduced the number of them. If you are completely annoyed with Word, switch to a different program. If you have to use Word, buy this book, it's worth every penny.

If you've ever said-even under your breath-"I hate Word," you'll like this book.

The book has answers for dozens of the little aggravations that Word visits upon you. It solves things you thought you just had to live with (though you knew you'd never forgive the programmers at Microsoft who made them this way).

The author writes in an engaging question- ("The Annoyance" by you) and-answer ("The Fix" by him) style that's friendly and yet precise. I would have liked it to be a bit less wordy, but it's okay because the directions are very clear and even, in many cases, contain version-specific instructions for Word 2000, 2003, XP and so on. He also sprinkles the text with occasional helpful tips in little text boxes.

Lots of documents you open frequently? The author shows you how to add a Work menu that will keep up to 9 documents readily available (p. 16). Hate it when Word won't let you put a .jpg or .gif in a document? You can change an option in the Office Setup Wizard. Want to unclutter your menus? Learn how to customize which commands show up.

Boy, this one really annoys me-how about you? Sometimes when I close Word, it asks me if I want to save the changes to Normal.dot. Now, I happen to know that Normal.dot is the default template for new documents. But I don't remember making changes to it! Why is this happening?
To kill this seemingly random prompt, choose Tools -> Options, click Save tab and uncheck "Prompt to save Normal template" box (pp. 9, 14). But it might still happen to you for other reasons-the only solution they say is to quit Word and restart Windows. Sigh.
That #$%^&@# Task Pane

This one I was paying my tech guru to fix for me-but he couldn't find the "next step." I gave up worrying about it but continued wasting time (and putting extra stress on my mouse hand) having to manually close the "new document" task pane that pops up-and stays up-on my screen, hogging valuable screen space. We'd both found the place to supposedly turn this off (Tools -> Options, click the View tab, uncheck the Startup Task Pane box in the Show area, click OK) but, as the author says, it just wouldn't obey! So I'm going to give you this whole fix in case that stupid pane annoys you, too.
If the task pane doesn't obey on your first effort, close Word and create a system restore point. Don't be afraid-this isn't as scary as it sounds. Choose Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore, click the "Create a restore point" option, click the Next button and follow the prompts.Next, choose Start -> Run, type regedit and press Enter to open the Registry Editor.
Navigate to the following Registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\General (in some versions it may read "...\Office\10.0\..."). Then, right-click the DoNotDismissFileNewTaskPane key, choose Delete from the shortcut menu and click OK to confirm. Choose File -> Exit to close the Registry Editor. Restart Word and you're done. This works like a charm, and I'm thoroughly delighted.

Template magic

Here's a really good tip if your work involves creating many documents of certain basic types, or if you work with others who have to create documents for you that use specific styles. Too bad I didn't read this one before that last big project-I spent hours manually correcting all the headings and fonts in the other writers' drafts because they didn't know how to use styles!

To create a template for each type of document you need, choose File -> New and in that task pane on the right that we mentioned earlier, click either "On my computer" (Word 2003) or "General templates" (Word XP). Up comes the Templates dialog box. (In Word 2000, choose File -> New to get there.)

Highlight an existing template, click Template at the bottom, and click OK. Save the .dot file with a name you'll remember. Then lay out and format the document (fonts, headings, etc.) as you want all final documents to appear. You can even enter text that you want to have in all documents based on this template.

You can create AutoText and AutoCorrect entries for boilerplate text (your company info, etc.) that doesn't specifically belong in any template. Save the changes to the template and then close it. To create a new document based on the template, open the Templates or New dialog box, select the template and click OK.

To create a template from an existing document, choose File -> Save As, select Document Template in the "Save as type" drop-down list, specify the name and click the Save button. Templates and documents look pretty much the same except for the file extension.
File gigantic?

Ever had your file be too big to send by email-even after you've deleted everything but a paragraph? That's enough to make you crazy. The author goes into a long-drawn-out explanation of why this happens-get the book if you want to read it. Otherwise, just turn off the culprit (fast saving). Choose Tools -> Options, click the Save tab and uncheck the "Allow fast saves" box.

Got a bunch of documents open and want to save them all? Shift-click the File menu and click Save All. Then, to close them shift-click File and click Close All. Easier yet (as you may already have discovered from having to shut down because Word just hangs there), just close Word and it saves and closes all your documents for you.

Home document security

Ever notice in Windows Explorer that someone else originated one of your documents? Maybe you asked your friend to help you draft something. If you want to be sure the other person's name doesn't appear when you move your cursor over that document in Explorer, remove the personal data (metadata) from the document.

Choose File -> Properties and manually delete what you want. In Word 2003/XP, choose Tools -> Options, click the Security tab and check the "Remove personal information from file properties on save" box. Then, save the document to preserve your changes.
HTML malfunctions

Writing HTML pages in Word? First piece of advice, don't-if you can help it. Word's HTML code is so wordy and clunky that your page will take longer to load and, heaven help you if you want to make changes outside Word. You'll be trying to change a font and end up with some of the strangest behaviors.

If you must use Word for HTML, save as "Web Page, Filtered" for pages you want to put on your web site. That cuts out a small amount of the messy code, but not much.
Potpourri of pleasantries

Want to stop those ridiculous "Shall we report this error to Microsoft" prompts? Who crammed all that useless code in there anyway? Just turn it off. You'll find out how on p. 30.

I don't know about you, but sometimes when I'm pasting from the web the formatting is way off, even if I should accidentally remember to use Paste Special. The author tells us how to fix this-sort of. Choosing Edit -> Paste Special and selecting the "Unformatted text" option should give you plain text. If not, paste the text into Notepad first, then copy it and paste it into Word.

Ever get something someone copied from an email and it's full of spaces or >> signs at the beginning of each paragraph with a first-line indent? I knew this, but it's a good tip to share with you in case you don't.

Use Find and Replace. In a later fix he tells you all the symbols to indicate formatting in this dialog box. Replace ^p (paragraph mark) and four spaces with ^p and a distinctive string - for example, ^pfirstlineindent. Then replace firstlineindent with nothing but the paragraph formatting that you need: delete the contents of the "Replace with" box, choose Paragraph in the Format drop-down list, specify the indentation level, click OK and click Replace All. (Alternatively, once you've deleted the whitespace, you can use a style to apply a first-line indent to all of the paragraphs.
Learn how to reformat WordPerfect documents on pp. 32, 78.

Here's a big question for most of us I bet: How do I correct automatic numbering in numbered lists? You know you're not going to be happy with the answer when a guy starts his response with "Bad news" and it's four pages long (pp. 80 to 84).

Do you ever get aggravated that when you're selecting text with the mouse, it keeps grabbing more than you want? The author says this is Word's smart-selection feature.

Choose Tools -> Options, click the Edit tab and see whether "When selecting, automatically select entire word" and "Use smart paragraph selection" boxes are checked. If so, try unchecking them and see if you prefer the resulting selection behavior.
Do you have to count your words sometimes? I like this one: Instead of using Tools -> Word Count each time, do this: Display the Word Count toolbar; go to View -> Toolbars or right-click any displayed toolbar and click the Word Count item. To force a recount, press Alt + C or click the Recount button.

Sometimes have to type web or email addresses and don't want the auto-hyperlink? Read all about it on p. 94.

I've never been good at using Compare and Merge Documents-like when someone else has made changes and you want to see where they are. Here's a cool tip for comparing multiple versions:

Open the original version and choose Tools -> Compare and Merge Documents. In the Compare and Merge Documents dialog box, select the first of the other versions of the document, click the drop-down arrow on the Merge button, and choose "Merge into Current Document." Word merges the documents and marks the changes with revision marks. If the results look okay, repeat the procedure with the next version, etc.
Hate how Word's columns act when you need to change the width of one of them? Try clicking Shift as you drag it. This makes Word keep the columns to the right the same, but it does mean that your table's overall width will change.

How do I convert a long list of names or other data that are separated with regular old spaces instead of tabs? He says it's easy.

Choose Edit -> Replace and replace ^w (whitespace) with ^t (a tab). Select the list, choose Table -> Convert -> Text to Table, make sure the Tabs option is selected and that the "Number of columns" box shows the right number of columns, and click the OK button to perform the conversion.
All told, I'd say get this book if you experience periodic aggravations with Word. Don't try to go through the whole thing. The index is pretty good, so just keep it next to your computer.

When it comes to word processing programs Word is so predominant in the marketplace as to be ubiquitous. Unfortunately just because it is everywhere doesn't mean that there are not a lot of problems with it. Learning how to deal with all those annoying problems is the purpose of this book. The author covers installation problems, dealing with multiple versions, moving Word to another computer, dealing with long startup times, when it runs slowly, when it takes a long time to close, modifying the toolbar, saving all open documents at once, keeping separate versions of the same document, dealing with crashes and document corruption, transferring your auto-correct entries to another computer, the myriad problems of working with styles and layouts, printing problems (and there are many of these), mail merge, and even dealing with problems specific to the Mac OS.

Written in a question and answer format it contains all the most commonly asked questions about how to get Word to work the way you want. I've worked with Word for years and still found a couple of tips in this book that I really appreciated. If you use Word for anything other than an expanded notepad you will want a copy of Word Annoyances.

This book is a guide to making Word work your way. Users are advised on how to get rid of Word's greatest annoyances, such creating hyperlinks the user doesn't want, and how to turn off automatic paragraph numbering, among others. It provides solutions to common and unusual problems in editing, formatting, printing, faxing, and scanning. There are hundreds of customizations, fixes, workarounds, and instructions which show you how to make Word work your way. You can save a lot of time by using the advice in this book.

Because I spend most of my time programming and not writing reports and such in Word, I just figure that certain quirks of Word existed because I was too dumb to know better. While that may still be the case, I now have a way to make my Word time more productive and less annoying... Word Annoyances by Guy Hart-Davis. This is a *really* good book for anyone who uses Word (although Microsoft may tend to disagree)...

Contents: Installation, Repair, and Configuration; Creating and Saving Documents; Text Entry and Editing; Formatting and Layout; Forms, Revising, Proofing, and Finalizing; Printing, Faxing, and Scanning; Tables, Columns, and Text Boxes; Automate Annoyances Away with Macros; OLE, Mail Merge, and Office Applications; Mac Word Annoyances; Index

If you've never had the pleasure of reading an Annoyances book before, here's how it works. The author gathers up a large number of questions and "annoyances" from regular users of the product. Then in an irreverent question and answer format, he (or she) proceeds to show solutions and workarounds to allow the reader to bypass those irritations. Since this book deals with Word, you'll learn all sorts of interesting stuff on how to "fix" auto-formatting, how to change your default template, and dozens of other gems that will quickly make this one of your favorite Office books (much to Microsoft's chagrin). I'm sure they'd like you to believe that their software doesn't have any annoying features, and that everything is very helpful and well-implemented. Not! Even things that I didn't give a second thought to before now stand out as things I don't have to live with.

Obviously, not every tip in this book will apply to your needs or situations. You'll either never use a particular feature, or you've already figured out how to fix the behavior. But there are far more instances where you'll say "so *that's* how you get rid of that!". So get a copy of this book, sit down in front of your computer, open up Word, and start reading. The "Eureka!" moments will start coming fast and furious...

Thank you, thank you for a "woman's perspective on Y2K. It was such an encouragement to learn that there are lots of other women who are frustrated by their husband's cavalier attitude at what could be a significant problem. Fortunately, my husband has started reading it and says that "maybe she has a point . . ." He really is taking it serious now since "60 Minutes" said it could be bad. The recent segment they ran solidified what Karen and other Y2K writers have been saying about this impending crisis.

Thank you for a well-written and helpful resource.

Karen Anderson does an excellent job of explaining Y2K in simple terms. It is easy to understand. And so practical!

Karen Anderson is probably the best-informed source for preparing for possible Y2K disruptions at home. While some are now saying that Y2K will be no big deal, the fact is, no one really knows what will happen. Many Y2K-knowledgeable people are saying we all need to be prepared in case normal life, with electricity and water on demand, etc., is disrupted for a time. Even Y2K expert Peter de Jager, who now says "we have broken the back of Y2K," still recommends preparing for one month of disruptions, just in case. Anderson's book will tell you everything you need to know about getting ready at home. She even recommends gathering a little extra, to share with those who may be unable to prepare ahead of time, in the spirit of community preparedness. I recommend this book highly.

I bought this book about a month ago and followed everything the book said.It will take awhile but I believe I will be prepared for Y2K.I took all of my husbands money to buy a power generator.I have been burying food in the backyard.I bought 30 sf freezer and have filled it with Bird Pies.I plan on going out and buying 6 months supply of drinking water next week.I know we are facing armaggedon but with the help of this great book,I think we will be one of the few survivors.

Whether or not the Y2K Millenium Bug turns out to be a frightening fact or fabulous fizzle, emergency preparedness is a topic that everyone should investigate -- especially families with children at home. You never know when sudden financial down turns could make food purchasing difficult, or a severe winter storm could keep your family confined to home for an extended period of time, or even an earthquake could cause the need for emergency essentials on hand. While I'm not sure what I personally feel about the outcome of the Y2K computer problem, I do see the common sense idea of family preparedness to be a good approach for anyone to seriously consider. Having a well-stocked rotating pantry that's replenished from items purchased in bulk and on sale is also a great way to save money on your family's regular expenses (Y2K or not!). I appreciated the author's detailed list of suggestions for items to store ahead (whether you're planning a storage system to last for one week, six months, or a full year+).