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Rating: 
Summary: I don't really see the point of this book
Review: A "pocket" book should be pocket size. This book is too big to be a pocket reference, but too small/thin to be a truly useful Windows book. It just doesn't seem "right." The writing was geared more for beginners, so I don't understand why "administrator" is in the title. But, that's Microsoft for you...
Rating: 
Summary: Handy to have on hand
Review: Another excellent book from William Stanek. This a wonderful resource; especially for people like me, who are always on the go. From page one to the last, book offers tips and trick at every page. This book has been close on hand since I bought it and will remain for the forseeable future. Mr. Stanek has once again written a valuable book that is easy to use and understand.
Rating:
Summary: Handy to have on hand
Review: Another excellent book from William Stanek. This a wonderful resource; especially for people like me, who are always on the go. From page one to the last, book offers tips and trick at every page. This book has been close on hand since I bought it and will remain for the forseeable future. Mr. Stanek has once again written a valuable book that is easy to use and understand.
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Summary: Windows XP Essentials
Review: As an enterprise admin, I have to really dig in to the operating system when I work on tasks and this book has been a great help every step of the way. No other book I've found goes as deep into Group Policy, and this is the only book I've found that has proper procedures for setting up auditing, disk quotas, offline files in the enterprise. The detailed advice no customizing Internet options was something I've been looking for for a long long time. Thank you Mr. Stanek for that info and lots more in this great book. Finding someone who isn't afraid to share tips and advice they are obviously getting paid hundreds of dollars on an hourly consulting basis to provide is truly wonderful--and extremely rare. Yet the thing I like best about this book is the focussed material for managing mobile users. Our laptop users are the most high maintenance in the organization. Hey, there's more to go wrong when users can unplug and take their computers home (where they connect them to their own networks and do who knows what else to the system). There's a complete chapter on configuring laptops and another chapter on configuring mobile networking. Again, I searched other books but couldn't find this level of detail. For a compact book for 400 pages, this one certainly packs in the information with great clarity and organization. And again, I have to say thank you for sharing information other writers have been afraid to provide because it might cut into their consulting earnings. As a high-level admin, I particularly liked the chapters that focus on customization of the operating system. Chapters 4 and 5 in particular, are awesome and its the tips/real world advice within these sections of the chapters that make them so. I was also pleased to find the book repleat with troubleshooting information. Most books have 1 troubleshooting chapter where they stick all the troubleshooting information as an after thought. While this book does have a troubleshooting chapter, it's not an afterthought. It's a careful follow up to the troubleshooting advice that is throughout the book! Lastly, I want to say that I highly recommend this book to any serious administrator. I think power users will also find the book useful. I also recommend Stanek's Windows 2000 Server Pocket Consultant, which has never let me down.
Rating:
Summary: 5 stars and then some!
Review: I bought William Stanek's XP Pocket consultant when it first came out. When I saw the second edition, I grabbed it right away too and I am very glad I did. It is the only XP book I use now and it gets borrowed out so much I had my manager get a second copy for the office.
What's so good about it? For starters, there's over 200 pages of new material and it is the only book I've found that details every change from Service Pack 1 and Service Pack 2. Turn to page 55 and 56 for an example of how deep Stanek gets into the details. This covers Data Execution Protection, No execute page protection, and Physical Address Extension mode.
Like Stanek's Windows Server 2003 Pocket Consultant, I don't think you can find a better book for beginners and advanced. Plus there's details consultants and experts will find invaluable.
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Summary: Excellent book!
Review: I finally picked up Windows XP Professional Pocket Consultant. I've been meaning to grab it since I first heard that William Stanek wrote a book on xp. I remember reading his stuff in PC Magazine and Dr. Dobbs and generally it was great. Windows XP Professional Pocket Consultant is exactly what you'd expect if you've read any of Stanek's other books or columns. It's clear, straightforward, concise. It's written for administrators but any one use it as its a very readable technical book. That's not to say it's without substance, though - within the first chapter I already had insights into Win XP I didn't get from anywhere else and after a few chapters over a dozen of my exisiting questions were answered as well as plenty I hadn't even thought to wonder about. Despite being less than 400 pages, this is by far the best Win XP book I've seen yet, especially if you use it with one of his server books as someone else recommended. Definitely recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Great XP Resource
Review: I recommend this book because its very well written and has lots of details. This is one of the few books that presented a well-balanced information: not too much, and never too little. Everything about it is comprehensive and it's all packed into 350 pages!
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing Fluff
Review: If you want a serious Windows XP book, don't waste your time with this one. At fewer than 400 pages, I didn't expect much, but considering what was included, I'm not sure how the author filled the pages he did include. Most of the information seems as though it was just culled from the Microsoft Knowledge Base and other websites; there doesn't appear to be anything original in this volume. I will give Stenek (and Microsoft, the publisher) credit for marketing. And I suppose there will be a few new users who might learn something from this book. But I wouldn't recommend it to anyone looking for good documentation on this complex operating system. I'd compare it to a Dummies book.
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Summary: Excellent addition to my bookshelf
Review: Overall, Microsoft Windows XP Professional Administrator's Pocket Consultant has been an excellent addition to my bookshelf. I recommend it for all levels of admins and for any developers or users with some administrator privs as well. The book covers the essentials and has been a big help.
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Summary: For end users, not for administrators
Review: This book should not have administrator in the title. This book is basically a Windows 98 pocket user's guide that has been updated for XP. This book is a good read if you've never used a Windows computer. I am relatively new to XP. I have a good understanding of how to use all previous versions of Windows. There is very little in this book that I couldn't have figured out by just playing with an XP machine for a couple of hours. As an administrator, I was disappointed that the book did not go into any detail about XP deployment or security. Like most Microsoft Press books it leaves you with many unanswered questions and provides you with information that is comparable to what you get in the Windows help files.
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