Hacking Windows XP (ExtremeTech)

Rating:
Summary: Hacking Windows XP
Review: An advertisement for a myriad of shareware and freeware programs. Everything in the book can be found at serveral web sites for free so why spend 20 dollars like I did.

Rating:
Summary: A Disappointed Advanced User
Review: I am a fairly advanced WinXP user and bought this book because it was recommended on tweakxp.com -- a website I refer to frequently for tips on how to optimize the look and performance of Windows XP. They noted that the book would not be like the website, but instead be a much more refined, organized, and in-depth guide to squeezing those last few drops of performance out of your system.

They wrong.

Yes, it is well-organized and well-written, but if you are at all interested in tweaking your Windows system to make it look and perform better, every single one of these 200+ "hacks" can be found on the Internet on tweakxp.com or by doing a simple Google search for Windows optimization tips.

I will give the guide credit to publicizing small, lesser-known shareware products that are written to diagnose, analyze, or improve Windows performance. If you are interested in knowing what programs the author feels are top-of-the-line as of the publish date, this book may be worth the price to you.

As it is, however, I recommend doing a few minutes of web searching and saving yourself $15.

Rating:
Summary: A lightweight book for younger readers
Review: I think the main problem with this book is the title. It's not about hacking or hackproofing XP; it's about *customizing* it, and mostly in cosmetic ways. Any discussion about enhancing performance or security generally falls in the category of things you likely already know if you've spent a few years working with Windows. Trimming startup apps, turning off services, tightening network security. Good stuff for the beginner, to be sure. Aside from that, there is a lot of emphasis on changing the look and feel of the interface and using shareware apps.

One element that may quickly begin to wear on non-teenagers is the level of writing. Practically every section begins something like this: "Such and such is a cool new feature in Windows XP and looks really great, but sometimes it gets kind of boring to look at, so I'll show you how to change it." There is also a surprising number of grammatical and spelling mistakes in the book. My advice to the editor: it's hard to take a book seriously with such flabby writing and slangy style. This is a book, not a webpage. When it comes to grossly overused words like cool, neat, and great; I would advise the following formula for how many should be allowed in published material: Take the average age of your target audience, divide by the number of chapters in the book, divide that by the number of topics in each chapter, then multiply by zero.

If you are a teenager who's really into themes, skins, fonts, and other eye candy, this is the book for you. You'll also learn some good basic tips about modifying more important parts of your system. But if you're a person who has supported Windows for years and is looking for serious hacks that can be described in ways other than "cool," make sure you flip through the book before buying.

Rating:
Summary: Hacking XP has never been so easy!
Review: If Bill Gates ever paid attention to what customers actually wanted in their operating system rather than shoving it down our throat, then he would hire Steve Sinchak to write the next version of Windows. Concise, easy to read, and liberating.

Rating:
Summary: Had a hard time getting it back from my son...
Review: If you're the type of computer user who likes to tweak the machine to do things it normally doesn't do, you'll like Hacking Windows XP by Steve Sinchak (Wiley).

Chapter List:
Part 1 - Customizing Your System - Customizing the Look of the Startup; Customizing User Navigation; Hacking the Desktop; Customizing the Appearance of the Windows Interface; Hacking Windows Explorer; Exploring Other Windows Enhancements
Part 2 - Increasing Your System's Performance - Analyzing Your System; Speeding Up the System Boot; Making Your Computer Load Faster; Making Your Computer More Responsive; Speeding Up Your Computer
Part 3 - Securing Your System - Protecting Your Computer from Intruders; Fighting Spam, Spyware, and Viruses; Protecting Your Privacy

Appendix A: What's on the CD-ROM; Index; End-User License Agreement

I had no sooner opened the box that had this book in it, and my son immediately took off with it. Since he's the only one running XP in the house, I figured that was reasonable. In less than an hour, he had a whole new boot screen proclaiming his Windows XP OS to be the Doom 3 version with a video game wallpaper with no icons showing. He was also showing me how to set the priorities of certain tasks that were running with the Task Manager options. It's only taken me about three weeks to finally sneak it off his desk.

Sinchak uses a variety of built-in features and third-party software to give you the ability to change many of the features of your system. If you want to change your boot-up screen, you'll have step-by-step instructions on how to do so. If you want to customize the way your windows act on the desktop, that's here too. While the Part 1 tweaks are more for fun, Part 2 gets more serious and useful. He goes into a number of tweaks and settings that will allow you to wring out every last drop of performance from your system. If you're running the latest and greatest Ghz CPU, you may not need to do these things, but PCs that are two or three years old could benefit from these settings.

Good book, interesting material, and lots of fun to explore. I only wish my work laptop (that runs XP) wasn't so locked down... :-)

Rating:
Summary: Customise the UI
Review: Is there a competitive push between publishers concerning books with hacks? O'Reilly has put out a series of these, each detailing 100 hacks. Now from Wiley, Sinchak talks about Microsoft Windows XP and provides us with over 200 hacks.

A lot of hacks centre around customising various aspects of the UI. Not surprising. Appeals to those who like to fully explore what XP can do for you, going beyond the standard setup seen by the masses. Of necessity, Microsoft has to make the default setup somewhat of a least common denominator. That is the default UI was probably chosen after a lot of usability studies of what the typical user demands might be.

But maybe you have special needs?

Other parts of the book let you soup up system performance and beef up its security. (For the latter, especially defending against viruses and spyware.) I don't gainsay this utility. But a nagging feeling says that most of you will end up concentrating on tweaking the UI. Hours of fun.

Rating:
Summary: 4 stars for the book, 0 for the format price
Review: Just a bit of advice for the author: if you offer an etext version
of a book, such as with 'Hacking Windows XP', it would be
prudent to sell it for less than the print edition. It does not
take a genius to figure out that it costs more to print a book
than to sell a digital etext, and people look for etexts in
order to save money...not pay the same price as for a print
edition.

Otherwise, the book is wonderful! I am using it at least once
a week to modify many different aspects of WinXP, and I highly
recommend this book even for a person relatively ignorant of
how to use Windows.

Rating:
Summary: Simply Awesome!!
Review: This book is absolutely amazing. Has every tweak you could ever need for Windows XP. Very user friendly and a must-buy for all Windows XP users. Great for both new and experienced users.

Rating:
Summary: Great Windows XP Hack book
Review: This is a great title on doing tweaks, modifications, optimizations, and customizations on Windows XP. Its great for first time "hackers" or those who have already done some hacking before on Windows or other OS's. It is definitely not for beginner level end users.



Rating:
Summary: Best book on XP
Review: This is my new favorite book on XP. It shows you how to do many cool things in an easy to read and understand format. One reviewer wrote that all of the info in the book can be found on the web. Maybe if you illegally download the ebook version of this book.

This book is loaded with unique content and is organized into a complete reference unlike any other XP book I have seen. The background information and undo help that the author provides makes the book very fun to read and you learn a lot about how Windows XP actually works.

The book is organized into three main parts. The first part is called customizing your system. It talk about... well.. customizing the look of your computer. It starts off by talking about customizing the boot screen and then the welcome screen. Then, it guides you through customizing the look of the user interface. The author goes into great detail in showing you how to customize things you never even thought about.

The second part of the book is called increasing your system's performance. First, the author covers how to analyze your computer for possible bottlenecks and even benchmark your computer so that you can have a base score to see how much faster you made your computer. Then they go through four chapters of tips to speed up your computer starting with the boot to general speed tips.

The last part of the book is all about security. It talks about protecting your computer from hackers and how to fight spam, spyware, viruses, etc. This chapter was very useful as I had a lot of spyware on my computer and the book helped me get that junk off.

Over all, I am very pleased with the book. It is not just a book of random tips like most XP books. Everything is organized just right with a lot of backgroud information which makes it fun to read. Well Done!