Rating: 
Summary: Great book, relatively easy read.
Review: I've been doing tech support for other versions of windows for a few years and thought it would be a good idea to learn the inner workings of XP. So far, this has been a great, interesting read for me. It explains many of the tips and tricks that will help me do all those odd things professors need their PCs to do...
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Summary: The best XP Admin book I've ran into so far...
Review: I've read a couple of books on Windows XP. This one is great as that any beginner to Windows XP will catch onto its concepts well, but even as an expert I've learned a lot of things from this book.As an example, I was reading another book and it was telling me about a feature I could use. I thought it was a great feature and went to try it out and it didn't work. Disappointed, I figured that this particular book had just lazily copied the information from Windows 2000 (which it worked fine it). Then I was reading this book and it explained that this particular feature is turned off by default in Windows XP and then explained how to get it turned back on. That is what I love about this book... it explains in excellent detail the many quirks of Windows XP and how to fix them. I've been looking for a book like this. As an administrator, these quirks can be frustrating and whenever I pick up this book I seem to think, "Oh, man... if I only knew that when I ran into that problem last week." If you are an administrator, I would highly suggest have this book on your reference shelf. Even better... read this puppy cover to cover. It does cover a lot of the basics, but pay attention to the boxed sections marked "tip" and "caution" and "InsideOut". Even if you only read these parts, you will be a better administrator. I will be very interested in checking out other materials written by these authors. This is a very excellent technical reference.
Rating:
Summary: Real Information for Real Users
Review: If you are the type of user who really wants to take advantage of what Windows XP offers, this book will tell you how to do it. It is organized, well-written, clear, and covers pretty much everything there is to cover. It is definitely not an introductory book, and it is probably the wrong book for the light computer user. For those of us who want to change our own oil (so to speak) it is a godsend. I had high expectations for the book because "Windows 2000 Professional Expert Companion", by Stinson and Siechert, was excellent. I'm happy to say I wasn't disappointed. This volume is very much of the same style and quality.
Rating:
Summary: Buy This Book
Review: If you want a help book on Windows XP that does not waste 2 or 3 chapters with basic stuff that you have known since you played with your atari 2600, then Buy This Book, it deals with Intermediate/Advanced stuff without much wasted space.... I haven't had a chance to read the whole thing but I have tweaked my system with alot of advice and how to's from this book..... If you are a former windows 2000 user, you may not be as excited as I am because I went from using the awful WinMe to XP, (hey! that rhymes)....anyway I don't regret anything about this book based on a quick look and read of a few chapters...... I hope this helps you with any decesions ......(...)
Rating: 
Summary: Weak effort; lots of pages, little detail
Review: If you're looking for a phonebook-sized volume with the words "Windows XP" printed on the cover, this one is for you. But there are more focused, more detailed, and far more useful books out there. Don't let all the shill reviews here fool you; Windows XP Inside/Out is yet another weak Microsoft in-house effort, used as nothing more than a pretense and an excuse at the lack of real support from this software behemoth. 1300 pages of you-probably-already-know-this information, and virtually no substantial coverage of the registry, scripting, networking, or security. Don't waste your time or your money on this one.
Rating:
Summary: Just plain good
Review: Like someone who wrote one of the earlier reviews, every few years I also find myself buying another 1,000+ page book about whatever new version of Windows I can finally no longer avoid installing. Then several years later I try (unsuccesfully) to give it away in a yard sale, never having looked at more than a handful of pages. But this one is different. Excellent writing (even if it is a big, fat book; some things just can't be made short) and excellent information. (How happy are you when you've spent days looking for an obscure tidbit, and you turn to the index in a new book and not only find it, but three whole pages devoted to it?) This book had paid for itself before I even got out of the bookstore. (Ooops. I suppose I shouldn't have said that here.) And--even more amazing--I've actually spent time reading it since I got it home.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the Windows 2000 Expert Companion ...
Review: Microsoft press did a wonderful job with the Windows 2000 Expert companion, but they seemed to try to combine the "expert" version with the "beginner" version in this book with a disappointing result. I bought this book because I loved the expert companion and thought that since one of the same authors were involved it would be an equally high-quality "advanced" users reference. It is not. This book would be great for someone who has used Win9x based OSes, and is new to Windows NT-variants, but if you consider yourself an advanced user you will probably only skim through most of the sections of this book (which covers using Windows Media Player, IE, and many other basic tasks). I would point you towards Special Edition Using Microsoft Windows XP Professional instead (by Robert Cowart and Brian Knittel, QUE). If you are looking for a overview of the new features of Windows XP (Home and Pro) for someone with a background in using older consumer versions of windows (it doesn't go into this is how you point and click), but don't need (or don't care about) the details this would be a good pick. I'll put it this way, I'm giving this to my parents to sit next to the new WinXP box I build for them.
Rating: 
Summary: need separate books for home and professional editions
Review: need separate books for home and professional XP
Rating:
Summary: New updates and another winner.
Review: Several months back I reviewed the Windows XP Inside Out book, I was most impressed by the overall amount of information included as well as the detail and documentation of the information, Well things have gotten even better with the release of the Deluxe edition. With over 1400 pages and new and updated information the book that I was using to support XP clients has been replaced with this book. From the install to the configuration to customizing and faxing, you have everything here you need. I found additions like working with the admin account, working with older applications, using TweakUI for XP, complete updates on the multimedia and media player and communication over the internet to be very helpful in some of the everyday things I am working on right now. Once again I think the Windows errors section needs to be expanded and also more information on group and local policies as well. Finally you can use this book for the 70-270 exam study. With the book comes a cd that has 2 complete e-books and the Service pack 1 for XP and some updates to the media player. Overall this is the book I use and recommend to all my students.
Rating:
Summary: A Fine Book
Review: The greatest strength of the book is it's immediate usefulness to general pc users who are eager to learn Windows XP and not afraid to experiment. I initially had reservations about this new operating system but I quickly got comfortable with it through the excellent instructions in the book. Previously esoteric routines were made clear and accessible to those without much technical background on Windows much less, business-oriented OS. The command line items like controluserpassword2 were really engaging- especially for a novice. Amazing! All the information I seek were easily accessible. The editorial abilities of the authors also show in the highly readable manner the book was written. They had an almost uncanny ability to feel the fear of inexperienced users and anticipate them with quick solutions and clear intructions. The blurb on the book covers, however, don't do justice to the book's content. It mentions "Intermediate/Advance" without really saying the benefit that beginning users can get from it. Overall, I find the contents of the blurb to be annoying. It sounds too "canned!" Other than that the contents of the book itself were an excellent guide from the easier to the more challenging features of Windows XP. If the cure for fear of a new operating system is knowledge, then this knowledge has been communicated very well by the editors of the book. As a result I enjoy using Windows XP and I look forward to discovering its myriad of features!
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