Microsoft Books

My husband recently passed away without educating me about spreadsheets, databases, etc. It was always "I'll show you how to do that one of these days." I chose the "No Stress Tech Guide to Microsoft Works 8" and found that it helped me to understand how to continue with the various lists that my husband had created (such as an extensive list of movies in our home library). I'm familiar with the computer, but there is a lot I don't understand, so I'm confident the book will be a great reference guide in the future.

This is the only book that I can find that gives instruction on the Works 8 progam. Works 8 is an reasonably easy program for anyone who doesn't want to go into the extensive Office programs done by Microsoft. The program came loaded in a Windows Vista computer that we bought and there is little or no instruction within the program. I went thru most of the book and found it to be easy to work with and very, very well written. I would recommend this to anyone--a college student, parent, office worker, teacher etc. I teach computer classes to Senior Citizens and this is a good program for them and the book will be a great help in my teaching.
The price is a bit high (in fact almost the price of the program)but it is well worth it.

I purchased this book to help me solve a problem for my mother. She was using a DOS based program to do her church work and eventually, with a new printer and then a new computer, was forced to learn how to use Works Database. This book helped me to learn how to develop a template to help get her work done. This book has really been a boon to me, and like the title says "No Stress..."

I have read many books on Dynamic HTML, CSS, etc., and this is one of the best! While the examples are at times a bit silly or self-indulgent, they always illustrate the point at hand in a clear and intelligent fashion. The author clearly has an excellent understanding of all parts of the DHTML world and leads the beginner through progressively more difficult steps very well.

The one inevitable caveat is that this book is based solely on DHTML/CSS for Internet Explorer and the examples will not work in Netscape. However, this book will provide you with a good understanding of the fundamentals necessary for programming for either browser.

All programming books should be as good as this one; and yes the Official IE4 SiteBuilder Toolkit is indeed a web programming book. Alan Simpson covers cascading style sheets, Dynamic HTML, ActiveX controls and VBScript as well as any other author in the technical book publishing industry. Well, there are deeper books on ActiveX but they don't include smart, small, easy to test examples, like this one does. Alan Simpson's examples make excellent starting points for ones own experiments.Larger discussions of object models and technical specifications can also be found here along with listings for electronic (and other) resources to aid in further research and study. The appendix on RGB and decimal color values is a wonderful extra. Yes it's a Microsoft centric book, but you can have a lot fun with this one.

I was actually able to sit and read the majority of this book on a flight without access to a computer at all. It really is very well written giving clear examples without over simplifying. You must remember that the techniques are for the most part specific to IE4 and therefore will not work with Netscape but I guess there are other books for that.

All aspects of DHTML are covered in a logical sequence and the only real prerequisite is some experience with web design and straight HTML. The CD is well stocked with examples and tools.

This is not a highly technical book to be digested by pure programmers, but it does provide a root to some powerful techniques for the slightly adventurous web author.

Without any doubt the most read of all of my computer books!

I found this book very helpful in learning to use all of Painter's features effectively. It was easy to read & has lots of good photos. My only wish is that it had more accurate instructions on using the CD.

My favorite section was on the Painter pallets. It shows example pictures for each "brush" & it's variants. Sample photos also showed the various options available in the gradient box. These made it far easier to know what tool to use.

Other sections of the book covered masking, image hose use, painting & composite techniques, special effects, working with type, enhancing & outputting images, animation & web application, and using Painter with other programs.

The CD contains some good movies on making blobs, creating an image hose from a floater, building and editing floaters maps and making mosaic or patterned type. It also includes tutorials on making movies & working with color.

This book is very useful, in that the ideas and follow-through presented will get you well into capable use of the software. The organization, quality and content are top-notch.
Job Well Done!

Wayne D
Arizona-where art is everywhere!

It's an incredible book! A must-have for all Painter users. The book contains step by step instructions to create amazing effects seen on fully colored pictures.

Recently I was doing some consulting for a company and performing a Windows XP Professional Rollover and upgrade. I was also teaching a class for A+ and the new objectives which has XP questions. This book while not a certification specific book, handled both jobs very well.

What this book is is more than how to configure the desktop and change the background or setup XP to look like the "Classic" windows interface. While it does all that it also takes you through security and networking and what I found to very interesting is that it discusses the Home and the Professional versions as well as the 32 and 64 bit versions.

There are step by step procedures throughout the book to help you learn to perform different operations, such setting up the ASR process, dual booting Windows 9X and XP and how to do searches for people, computers and more.

There is a great deal of pictures and diagrams in the book; however I think that some of them need to be in color in order to completely understand the full meaning the photo.

There is also a cd included which has an additional chapter that the book does not cover. It also has over an hour of video to show you how to perform certain technical functions.

Overall the book is very comprehensive and for those wanting to add to the knowledge they have or possibly use this book for certification exams you have a very good source of information.

If you know XP Home and XP Pro, but you either need to know more about it for home use, or more for tech support, this book is a great item.
Covers all conceive-able aspects, and then some...; very good section on networking in a wireless environment, especially if you are combining a wired and wireless home network that you need to lock down.
Now all I have to do is find out where the resource sharing sections are ( As in shared devices ).... lots to do, now even more; gives excellent scope for expanding your ideas for a better home network.

I have been a little overwhelmed with the various options, utilities, etc. and Windows XP Pro and was looking for a book that provides a comprehensive overview. I think this book is what I was looking for and am confident that if I have a question about XP Pro, I'll find the answer within its pages. The authors also strike a good balance between focussing on XP Pro out of the box and the various third-party utilities, etc. available to make your life easier.

tmr

This book is quite possibly one of the best books writen on the subject of creating custom controls inside vb. By reading this book I have already improved my applications performance and reduced my design development time using my own custom made control. Great book all around.

This book is full of simple tidbits for binding controls to data objects and custom objects. The examples are short and easy to follow so you don't get lost in the code. Matthew does not spend a lot of time explaining background code (specifically, using ADO) because this is not the forum for those topics. What you get is 1000+ pages of explanations and examples focused on the task at hand: binding data. He does spend a few chapters introducing you to the various objects, covering many not-so-common functions. I found myself thinking "Wow!! That's cool!" several times. I highly recommend this book!!

This book really hits the nail on the head. I've been struggling with custom controls for weeks searching every article on the web and all over Microsoft and MSDN. No place has demonstrated the depth of understanding anywhere near as well as Matthew MacDonald has done. Not only are there clear and to the point examples without getting bogged-down in some lengthy, arcane and mythical tasks, but the accompanying text describes the underlying 'why' that is almost more useful than the code. Every page has some exceedingly useful information. My project has been in C# but the translation from VB from the book to C# is a no-brainer (assuming you've written in both over the last few years).
I pride myself as a descriptive writer but this book is far better than I could have written myself. It is to the point and thorough. If were any better it would wake you gently in the morning and make your coffee.

I've been consulting for over 5 years with Access in all it's iterations except 1.0 and I must say that this is the best book on intermediate topics that I have found. There is no "fluff" like in books from other publishers (especially Queue in my opinion). This book is concise with real world examples for real world issues. When I first opened this book and read a bit I realized this book was written by consultants/developers who have gotten there hands dirty and not "feel good" academics who have never written a line of code for a company. Keep this one handy if you're the Access guru at your firm.

I've created basic database structures and applications for about five years and pledged never to go past writing macros, because I didn't want to be forced to learn VBA. I run a realty and mortgage office and just couldn't spare the time. Now that Outlook and the Office suite is becoming more familiar with my crew and now that we've joined a WAN and some B2B data sharing, the basic stuff just didn't fill the bill. I've bought quite a few books on Access recently (not to mention dozens from the past few years) and have found this one to be one of the best in its presentation and content.

It gave me some real insight on how I should be considering networking and upsizing. I answered more questions I had after spending 12 hours with the book, than I had spent searching the net or reading the other books for several months. I even read though the code and understood it, and contrary to the warnings the presentation still flowed well. I still know little VBA and am now going back to get a Wrox book on Beginnng Access 2000 VBA.

Concise, very detailed, stuffed full of info and reference. I'm a Wrox fan now.

Professional Access 2000 Programming is a combination of a training book to heighten your programming skills, and a reference work that will give you a complete overview of Access 2000 and it's related programming environment. It's written in the traditional Wrox style that is so easy to read and usable for developers.

One thing I do miss, is the usual Wrox opening statement where it is described whom the book is written for and if any previous programming skills are assumed. It's not until chapter 3 that you find out VB or VBA programming experience is assumed to make use of the chapter. Don't start on this book without any knowledge of VBA, since it is used in most of the coding examples. If you don't know VBA check out the following books: ISBN 0782123244, ISBN 1861001762 and ISBN 0735605920. An understanding of ADO would also improve on the usability of the book.

To make use of the books fullest potential, have a design plan of your database next to it and make notes or check for errors in your design when you go through the chapters. This helped me to improve on the design of my database.

Not essential, but it would have been nice if the sample code used in the book had been made available to the reader. At one place in the book the author even writes that the sample code is available from Wrox' website, but as of today it is not.

This book has given me the skills and confidence to start working on client/server solutions and integrating SQL server. It breaks down the entire complexity surrounding Access 2000 and database development to sizeable blocks and tools that I can piece together according to programming and design goals. A must have for any Access programmer on his way to become a true professional.

This is an invaluable desktop reference for the IT Professional that has to administer a Virtual Server 2005 installation and its virtual machines.

There are lots of examples and code organized by topic that's both easy to find and understand!

From basic tasks, to control of the virtual machines, to back up, there hasn't been anything I haven't found that I needed.

This is an excellent resource with lots of useful, practical knowledge. Read it and you'll understand how things work.

I bought this book the second day it got released. The author has given a complete coverage of the topic. Detailed, from the Basics. Covers the concept both from an IT professional and developers perspective. A must and definitive book for all interested in Virtualization. Over all, a very good book.

If you are a programmer and want to know more about the great programmers that came before you this is an incredibly interesting read. It is long out of print and somewhat hard to find but work getting. There is another edition that is somewhat newer that is even harder to find - I cannot tell that there is enough difference to warrant hunting down the more expensive, harder to find version.

This is a detailed account of how some of the world's most famous programmers did their work. While this is obviously dated material, there is no question in my mind that this book should be put back into print. The insights into what it takes to be among the best at something, not just programming, make this book required reading for everyone, not just programmers.

Through a series of biographical snapshots, we not only get glimpses into the personalities of some great and influential programmers, we learn about their thought processes. We also see that, as different as each person is from the other, they all share both a solution-oriented approach to the problems encountered and an incredible ability to persevere in the face of adversity. Most importantly, we learn that programming, like anything else in life, is but a means to an end and that it must be approached with the same vigour, creativity, and thoughfulness that guides the finest practioners of all human endeavors.

Highly recommended.

This is a detailed account of how some of the world's most famous programmers did their work. While this is obviously dated material, there is no question in my mind that this book should be put back into print. The insights into what it takes to be among the best at something, not just programming, make this book required reading for everyone, not just programmers.

Through a series of biographical snapshots, we not only get glimpses into the personalities of some great and influential programmers, we learn about their thought processes. We also see that, as different as each person is from the other, they all share both a solution-oriented approach to the problems encountered and an incredible ability to persevere in the face of adversity. Most importantly, we learn that programming, like anything else in life, is but a means to an end and that it must be approached with the same vigour, creativity, and thoughfulness that guides the finest practioners of all human endeavors.

Highly recommended.

This is an excellent resource for developers who want to learn C#. It includes code samples and advanced topics that can be applied to help even a basic C# programmer build robust applications. I recommend this as the only reference you will need for Visual C#.

Anyone can learn C# in order to complete a given task. Mastering C#, however, is another matter.

While one can combine several resources (magazine articles, web pages, friends, colleagues, etc) along with considerable time to learn C#, what one often needs is a good book. A GREAT book will guide you through the design of the language and help you understand how to use all its features to accomplish more with less effort.

Donis' book is a great example of a really GREAT book that will save novice C# developers weeks of effort and will help experienced developers solidify their knowledge and skills.

And unlike many existing texts, this book is bang up to date covering some of C# 2008's awesome and much misunderstood features such as generics and anonymous methods.

In short, if you want to REALLY get to grips with C# and master this amazingly powerful language, this book is an essential purchase that will pay for itself many times over.

This is the only C# reference book you need! Donis Marshall does a great job leaving no stone unturned as he provides detailed explanations of all the great new features in Visual C# 2008. Of all the C# books in the market, this is the definitive reference. I have all of Marshall's books and am never disappointed.

Good Automation Techniques for Virtual Server 2005. Admins who are good with code can make a good use of this book. A very good book. Value for sure.

The Rational Guide to Scripting Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 is a great broadening of topics covered in The Rational Guide to Managing Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 from the unique perspective of scripting.

Written by the same author, its biggest win is approaching automation problems following topics arrangement of its twin book.

Chapters 1 and 2 cover basic concepts of server virtualization and product architecture itself, listing available languages for manipulating Virtual Server 2005 COM interfaces among VBScript, VB.NET or C#, VB 6.0.

Chapter 3 and 4 approaches scripting rules respectively with VBScript and .NET (with examples both in VB.NET and C#), detailing COM objects model and suggesting configuration of Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 as development environment.

Chapter 5 teaches how to obtain most informations from virtual machines accessing Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) interface, exploring VirtualMachines and VirtualNetwork classes, and how to monitor performances accessing Windows Performance Monitor counters.

Chapters from 6 to 8 are the heart of the book, detailing automated management of virtual machines (Chapter 6), virtual disks (Chapter 7) and virtual networks (Chapter 8).
Frequent recaps to Virtual Server architecture are disseminated in these chapters, to refresh product knowledge.

Chapter 9 and 10 are dedicated to advanced concept like triggering scripts by specific virtual infrastructure events and automating Virtual Management Remote Console (VMRC) server and client operations.

Source code of book scripts is available only online for registered readers and it's really worth to download to avoid rewriting all the code and speedup learning.


Conclusion
In a young virtualization world where out-of-the-box datacenter automation is still a big missing but a most wanted capability this book helps you approaching Virtual Server 2005 scripting fundamentals to fill the gap.

While inappropriate for programming novices, this book, unique in its kind, is highly suggested as starting point for automating complex tasks and streamlining virtual infrastructure management. And considering both Virtual Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005 are free, it's a cheap one to become more productive in small time.

$15.00 well spent!! Once I was clear with the fundamentals of Virtual Server (see Managing Virtual Server by the same author), I needed to take it to the next step. I needed to be able to (through some simple scripting) create, deploy, and manage my Virtual Server environment. I mainly used VBScript so far, but I may move to VB.NET or C# at some point. This book is chock full of usable real world examples of common tasks that can (and should be) automated. I wish more tech books could be written as concise and full of usable information as this one.