Re: Is there a Vista book?

Hi, Michael.

My advice is different from most - except that I agree with Ken Blake that "Windows Vista Inside Out" is an excellent resource. I'll be looking for the Win7 version of Inside Out as soon as it is available!

My favorite resource for understanding the successive Windows versions has always been the Resource Kits published by Microsoft Press. They are thick (1400+ pages), expensive (usually about $50), and they cover a LOT more than I need to know - like how to deploy the new system to your thousands of computers in dozens of offices. :>( Stuff like that is nearly half the book and does me no good at all for my one computer and no network.

But the remaining half of the Resource Kit is worth the full price of the book! An afternoon invested in studying (not just skimming) the chapters on disks and file systems, and the startup sequence, and on troubleshooting problems, will pay you big dividends, not just for Vista and not just for today, but for as long as you use computers - which just might be for the rest of your life.

Although operating systems have evolved through several generations, I still use every day much of the basic knowledge of computers, hard disks, operating systems (including MS-DOS and Windows) and file systems that I learned in the 1950's. Much of that knowledge came from the original Norton Utilities (especially DiskEdit) before Symantec bought out Norton and dumbed down those utilities. Now all we can learn from them is which button to push in the GUI, not what goes on inside the computer when that button gets pushed. Today's Symantec programs are like "Norton Utilities for Dummies". :>(

I recommend spending your money AND investing your TIME in understanding in-depth resources like Inside Out and the Resource Kits - after you've graduated from "for Dummies".

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8064.0206) in Win7 Ultimate x64 RC 7100


"Michael Holloway" <M_M1997@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:eVYfa1r9JHA.1248@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I would much prefer reading a "Dummies" book, rather than try to outguess the database of "Help" or some of the web pages. Any ideas?

Michael

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