Windows Vista: The Missing Manual
by David Pogue
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Book Reviews of Windows Vista: The Missing Manual
Book Review: Readable, skimmable, and browsable
Summary: 5 Stars
There are two aspects of this book to review -- its content and organization, and the software it describes. Vista contains kernels of every type of software you could possibly want. If you want to really do sophisticated operations whether in video editing, music, digital photo editing, multi-platform file utilization, file indexing, security, or any number of those other "gee whiz" things we're now using computers for, you'll still need dedicated third-party software. But to find what Vista has to offer and make the most of its features this book is an invaluable assistant.
The content and organization of the book is really nice. It's readable, it's skimmable, it's browsable. You can approach this book from whatever angle you wish, as a chair-side reference, as a thorough discussion of whatever topic you choose, as an instruction manual, or for tips and tricks that are not intuitively obvious. It serves well, regardless of how you want to use the book. You can read it like a child reads "The National Geographic Magazine" by just looking at the pictures and reading the captions, but the writing doesn't talk down to the reader like the "Idiot's Guide to..." series.
Highly recommended.
Reviewed by Larry Goss
SW Indiana PC Users Group
Book Review: Excellent for those transitioning to Vista
Summary: 5 Stars
For the most part, I've found The Missing Manual series to be generally well written, informative and useful. This one - "Windows Vista: The Missing Manual" is better than average.
Reluctantly I had to install Vista on at least one computer and learn it, so I needed something that would help me quickly and hopefully painlessly transition from Windows XP Pro.
I tried Windows Vista: The Definitive Guideand found it lacking. Very lacking.
"Windows Vista: The Missing Manual" is well done. It is a very nice blend of material for the novice, the power user and everyone in between. It's really quite an accomplishment, I think.
Pogue has a very light style. I found that just by going through the book quickly page by page, I learned all the significant differences between Vista and XP. Pogue uses sidebars extensively to make the task user. He is also very much into providing useful tips.
Overall, "Windows Vista: The Missing Manual" is very well done and will help the reader to quickly transition from XP to Vista.
Jerry
Book Review: A must have for anyone buying a new computer with Vista
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought and read this book while I was waiting for my new Dell XPS to arrive, and I thank my lucky stars every day since that I did. When my computer was installed, I already knew where everything was so I just fell into it with no problem whatsoever. I've told a lot of my friends, if you're thinking of getting Vista, do two things. Get your computer made with a LOT of ram, no less than three gigs, a good sound card, a good video card, big hard drive, and READ THIS BOOK FIRST before you ever open the computer. It'll save you a lot of angst over VISTA. I'm sure most of the problems people report having with it are because they went into it without any real preparation beforehand. Vista is different, but it's not impossible once you've gone through this book. It's very long, but you're not trying to memorize everything in it, you're trying to help yourself make your way around a brand new and very beautiful operating system. As long as you have this book in your house, you'll be fine. HIGHLY recommended.
Book Review: The right book to accompany any shiny new instalation of Vista
Summary: 4 Stars
Even though David Pogue's "Missing Manual" series isn't necessarily marketed toward programmers or system administrators, I still found the text very useful and a great addition to my O-Reilly library. For me, this book represents a condensation of the bits an pieces of "vista info" that are floating around the new OS release.
I have to admit that I was on the fence about Vista when I received this book. I ran into trouble finding a good reliable source of raw information, so I decided to research for myself instead of reading more pro/con columns. To that end I used this as more of a reference book in order to find out how much Vista had changed from XP. To my surprise I found everything I wanted to know, and even some things I had forgot long ago.
This is a book I would recommend to my Mom as well as any of my friends or co-workers looking to discover more about Vista. Pogue writes in such a way that any beginner can understand, and any power-user can appreciate.
Book Review: A must for Vista Users
Summary: 5 Stars
An excellent resource for anyone using Windows Vista as their operating system. The book is extremely well-written by an obviously knowledgeable person, but is written in such a way that it is easily understood by a wide range of Vista users, from the novice to the "power user". Of particular value to me was the frequent inclusion of illustrative sample Windows screens to supplement the text. Mr. Pogue's writing skills bridge the gap that can often exist between a text book on a technically based topic and a book that can hold the reader's interest in an entertaining manner.
Since I made the leap from Windows ME to Vista, the Missing Manual has proven to be an invaluable aid that has allowed me to progress at a much faster rate in my understanding of this operating system. It has proven to be far more helpful than the "Help" dialogue provided by Microsoft in Vista!