Rating: 
Summary: Not for the experienced user
Review: I bought this book as a resource and an overview of XP Home Edition. I got much more than I bargained for. I read the entire book, cover to cover (skimming parts that didn't apply to me, of course); and over-all I found the book to be written in understandable language and in a tone that will appeal to many lay readers of computer literature. The authors have done an excellent job of relaying technical information in a way that is not stuffy and actually holds the reader's attention (most of the time). This is worth the money.
Rating: 
Summary: Anything you want to know, and some you don't...
Review: I bought this book as a resource and an overview of XP Home Edition. I got much more than I bargained for. I read the entire book, cover to cover (skimming parts that didn't apply to me, of course); and over-all I found the book to be written in understandable language and in a tone that will appeal to many lay readers of computer literature. The authors have done an excellent job of relaying technical information in a way that is not stuffy and actually holds the reader's attention (most of the time). This is worth the money.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent comprehensive book on Windows XP
Review: I have been dual platform user ever since, i.e., Windows on the job and Mac at home. I have owned 2 Macs at home for past 12 years. However, I purchased a PC with Windows XP just a month ago for my home. At the same time I bought this book. In the book the authors described the Windows XP in a very comprehensive and systematic way that I learned a great deal about Windows XP. Although I am familiar with Windows 95 and NT and have used Windows 2000, Windows XP is so different and advanced that I feel glad about my decision to switch to Windows at home, because most of the objections I have been holding against Windows in the Windows vs Mac argument have evaporated. For one exemple, Mac users have long objected that Windows does not know "where its mouth, nose, and ears are". Windows XP now detects many new hardware that is attached to your PC and attempts to guess what you want to do with that hardware. This book is really a blessing for me to switch successfully from Mac to Windows. Last but not least, I sent an e-mail to the authors seeking further help after reading the book. I got prompt reply with helpful advice.
Rating:
Summary: Another excellent Windows book by Cowart!
Review: I have purchased several of Cowart's comprehensive guides to Windows operating systems over the years, and they continue to be thorough, thoughtful, and easy to read. The discussion of Installation options and file systems was particularly helpful as I upgraded to Windows XP. For example, being a power user, I want to run multiple operating systems on my PC, and this book explained numerous ways to do that. The networking section is particularly strong, with lots of discussion of setup options, wireless stuff, and security issues. A novel and useful addition was the CD, which, instead of the usual shareware stuff has video of the two authors walking you through various procedures, including things like wiring up your local area network and fine tuning the GUI. Very spiffy. The Que Special Edition books have more information per page than most of the competition. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Great Intoduction to Concepts with Plenty of Detail
Review: I sat down and read its 950+ pages from cover to cover. It is well written and organized and is successful in 2 ways. First, it offers an excellent overview and explanation of arcane and cryptic things like the Windows registry, disk partitioning, and Network Address Translation in a way that suffices perfectly for the educated but causal user who wants to know more about his computer. Secondly, it provides detailed descriptions of specific thing a user can do, from monitoring CPU usage to sharing files across networks to configuring the desktop. There are also numerous troubleshooting sections where you can learn what to do when things inevitably go wrong. I have been using Windows for 5 years and XP for 4 months, and only just decided to educate myself about all it can do. This book added tremendously to my knowledge, and I feel inspired to learn even more. Now I can diagnose problems more easily, plan new computer projects, and save money on software, since a lot of software that is available does things that Windows can do already. Highly recommended for anyone who is not already a power user.
Rating:
Summary: Great Intoduction to Concepts with Plenty of Detail
Review: I sat down and read its 950+ pages from cover to cover. It is well written and organized and is successful in 2 ways. First, it offers an excellent overview and explanation of arcane and cryptic things like the Windows registry, disk partitioning, and Network Address Translation in a way that suffices perfectly for the educated but causal user who wants to know more about his computer. Secondly, it provides detailed descriptions of specific thing a user can do, from monitoring CPU usage to sharing files across networks to configuring the desktop. There are also numerous troubleshooting sections where you can learn what to do when things inevitably go wrong. I have been using Windows for 5 years and XP for 4 months, and only just decided to educate myself about all it can do. This book added tremendously to my knowledge, and I feel inspired to learn even more. Now I can diagnose problems more easily, plan new computer projects, and save money on software, since a lot of software that is available does things that Windows can do already. Highly recommended for anyone who is not already a power user.
Rating:
Summary: A REALLY useful and practical book!
Review: I was VERY pleasantly suprised by this book: it actually tells you things you NEED to know and HOW to do it (in *detail*)!I've been a professional in the computer industry for 20 years and buy all kinds of technical books on a regular basis (although I'd don't believe I've bought a Que book before). Normally I end up getting poor value - two or three useful bits of information for an entire book. I think this is due to the fact that authors generally just rehash the manual and have little genuine insight into the technology they're writing about. This is most definitely not the case with Robert Cowart and Brian Knittel. I found the book packed with really useful practical information that I haven't seen elsewhere. For example, the sections in the book dealing with Hone Networking, Internet Connection Sharing and network Security are brilliant!! Using the detailed information in this book I've been able to get my home network, cable modem and gateway router internet connection sharing set up working (securely) with no problems at all. Other books I've purchased tell you only in the vaguest of terms to "install network hubs and cabling" without providing the real details (probably because they've never done it themselves). Robert and Brian's book tell you EXACTLY what to do. For instance, how to wire-up an RJ-45 plug (which colour wires go into which holes - I've not seen this described anywhere else and without this information I'd have been completely stumped!). The book also saved me plenty of problems with its excellent coverage on security. In fact, I took the book into work and spoke to our network administrator about a couple of points in the book and he obviously found it an eye opener as he borrowed it for a day! I very strongly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: A complete and detailed book
Review: This book covers just about everything you need to know when using XP Home Edition. The level of information contained surpassed my expectations. It covers topics ranging from the history and evolution of Windows to choosing a network and cabling system, to multi-booting with Linux. For first-time users the new XP features are explained in detail. For experienced users, these new features are compared with features from previous operating systems, bringing a smooth transition to this powerful operating system. If you have not made the jump to XP yet, I assure you will be convinced to move after reading the first chapter of this book. The book is not intended to be read from chapter 1 to the end in sequence. Basic XP interface usage is explained from Ch.4 through Ch.7, but then there's a whole bunch of additional Graphical User Interface (GUI) information covered in Ch. 21. I would have grouped all these chapters together before getting into more advanced topics, but I guess the authors had a purpose for that. The Bob and Brian's Signature Tips are a plus in this book. Together with the Notes and Cautions the reader obtains valuable real-world information and is also encouraged to experiment with the software. What I enjoyed most about this book was that the authors did not limit coverage to simply the XP OS, they also wrote about useful 3rd party utilities such as Tweak UI, Partition Magic and Virtual PC that provide additional functionality to the XP system. This book is highly recommended for everyone new to Windows XP, and for experienced users of previous OS's that made or are planning to make the upgrade. Windows XP Home is an entirely different OS and you should have this book handy so you don't miss the many new features it provides. 5 stars and 100% recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A complete and detailed book
Review: This book covers just about everything you need to know when using XP Home Edition. The level of information contained surpassed my expectations. It covers topics ranging from the history and evolution of Windows to choosing a network and cabling system, to multi-booting with Linux. For first-time users the new XP features are explained in detail. For experienced users, these new features are compared with features from previous operating systems, bringing a smooth transition to this powerful operating system. If you have not made the jump to XP yet, I assure you will be convinced to move after reading the first chapter of this book. The book is not intended to be read from chapter 1 to the end in sequence. Basic XP interface usage is explained from Ch.4 through Ch.7, but then there's a whole bunch of additional Graphical User Interface (GUI) information covered in Ch. 21. I would have grouped all these chapters together before getting into more advanced topics, but I guess the authors had a purpose for that. The Bob and Brian's Signature Tips are a plus in this book. Together with the Notes and Cautions the reader obtains valuable real-world information and is also encouraged to experiment with the software. What I enjoyed most about this book was that the authors did not limit coverage to simply the XP OS, they also wrote about useful 3rd party utilities such as Tweak UI, Partition Magic and Virtual PC that provide additional functionality to the XP system. This book is highly recommended for everyone new to Windows XP, and for experienced users of previous OS's that made or are planning to make the upgrade. Windows XP Home is an entirely different OS and you should have this book handy so you don't miss the many new features it provides. 5 stars and 100% recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Not for the experienced user
Review: This book is probably good for a new or infrequent user, but for anyone who uses Windows heavily/frequently, this book just does not offer enough information. I wanted to find out the details of how user account management works, especially shared files and special directories like My Documents, My Pictures. While this book shows how to access these, it does not tell enough about how these features really work (or don't work - i.e. why My Documents is named "My Documents" for me, but "Laura's Documents" for my daughter Laura's account... and why I cannot rename these folders. Or, how does XP pick the "Special" applications to run when you insert a audio CD or picture CD, or data CD, and why can't I add my own custom application to that list (i.e. Sonique instead of
Windows Media Player?) The key to a good user interface (which I'll admit XP is getting there) is that it needs little or no documentation, and this book does not really add much that can't be inferred from the interfaces directlly or learned from the on-line help (which I'm glad to say is also improved in XP.) I wish there was more depth on using/owning XP and less coverage of the obvious aspects of using Windows that anyone who uses Windows regularly knows.
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