applications

This Microsoft Press reference book is a tome and over kill for the casual user. But if you really want to learn how to use the very best of XP this is the standard, the premier, it is the definitive guide. XP Inside Out is an appropriate title. My first Windows user's manual was measured in ounces and a hundred plus pages. XP is over 1200 pages and almost 7 pounds. You need wheels to go desk to desk with it. You can take it to bed, it's bigger than your pillow. You can soak it in paraffin to make a Yule log. But it's this size that creates the very best topical layout, reference, and index that I have yet seen by Microsoft. Users can actually trace error messages to their plain English explanation and suggested solutions - a first for Microsoft. Authors Halverson, and Young, Microsoft "employees," have produced a superb reference tool for power users, developers, system designers, software instructors, consultants, and CIOs. If you want to know anything about XP, use this book. It is suitable for (interested) users 12 years of age to professional software and hardware systems experts. That's quite a span and good technical writing, editing, and layout is responsible. But there is more. The book includes a full text and illustrated e-book version on CD (40 MB on your hard drive and running with MS Internet Explorer or Netscape). That's worth the cost of the book by itself because standard XP search, find, and print tools can be used to navigate the 1,400 pages instantly. It's worth the Amazon.com price, no reservations by this reviewer.

There are two versions of this book. The hardcover version has a couple more chapters and also more free e-books on the accompanying CD-ROM. The paperback version is, not surprisingly, cheaper and more portable (but still heavy!).

There's a lot of "meat" in this book, and the two authors did a wonderful job of keeping the book very well organized and very well written. The writing is fluid and you can almost read it like a novel, of course, assuming you are a PC geek like myself. Most other computer books I can hardly follow without sitting in front of the computer, but this book is so clear and well illustrated that I read chapter after cheapter in one sitting even when I did not have my XP laptop with me.

In terms of content, it covers everything an advanced user needs in order to fine-tune Windows XP. Both Profesional and Home editions of the OS are covered. (The hardcover version of the book has a nice summary on the differences at the beginning of *each* chapter.) This is a must-have guide for anyone looking to take full advantage of Windows XP as well as trouble-shooting when things go wrong.

I bought this book looking for a deeper source of Windows XP information. While I am already very familiar with most versions of windows, still there were things that I had questions about in windows 2000 and xp.
While this book covered a lot of basic information that I already knew, it was not all to waste. I was able to get in-depth information on home networking, tcp/ip, file sharing & security, user accounts, shortcuts, file management, tricks & ideas for internet explorer, windows media player, outlook, handling hard disks, and so on. This book is a windows encyclopedia filled with good examples and things you can do with windows that you could not know about.
Since windows xp has a lot of windows 2000, it does serve as an instructional manual for both OSes.
I have already taken care of a lot of things that I learned from this book. I was able to set up my home network & manage user accounts in a different way. File sharing & security chapters were also very helpful.

Check this out. If you think you know everything in windows xp, think again.
Like the title of the book says "xp inside out," here you will most of the answers to your questions.
Warning: This book is very broad and has a lot of information. I do not recommend it for a beginner or any casual home user, as you will only get bored with so much information that, if you do not understand windows very well, you may find irrelevant.
I do, however, recommend it to serious users who want to take a deeper look.