Get a FREE fully-working copy of Steganos Security Suite 7 (worth £49.99) when you sign up to the Practical PC Newsletter. Review: Microsoft Windows Vista Unleashed
Need to know Vista in Depth? Read on...
| Product | Microsoft Windows Vista Unleashed |
|---|---|
| Company | Sams Publishing |
| Web | www.samspublishing.com |
| Price | £35.99 |
| We like | Good solid information but very accessible too, clearly identifies which features are in which version |
| We don't like | Wanders outside the brief sometimes e.g. Usenet etiquette |
| Rating | 8/10 |
| Requirements |
Microsoft cranking up the big Vista push, there are now a rash of Vista books hitting the market. Microsoft Windows Vista Unleashed is aimed at those who want to go a bit deeper with Vista, IT Pros, power users or business owners.
Unlike the normal 'Joe Public' end of the spectrum, these readers need in depth and authoratative information that will enable them to manage Vista installations and get a feel for how it will impact their organisation.
The author, Paul McFedries has taken on quite a task documenting Vista across the various myriad versions and features both new and re-engineered. Given the scope, the book could easily have become unwieldly but he seems to have risen to the task quite nicely.
The book starts with a short history of the genesis of Vista and the various versions then delves in to an overview of the new features and changes. It then goes on to the boot process and how to recover in case of boot problems.
The rest of the book then expands on each new area in turn, covering the new Explorer, the security model, business features such as the new contacts, calendar and faxing tools and so on. Thankfully, given just how different Vista is to XP, the book is awash with screen shots to help navigate around the new tools and ways of working. McFedries has an easy reading style that conveys the information well without overloading the reader yet at the same time getting all the important information in there.
What we particularly liked was the regular use of command line tool examples which will almost certainly be the way much of the target audience will be interacting with Vista. On the downside, the book does have a tendency to wander off on what we would consider tangents such as a page on Usenet etiquette or the origin of the word 'bug' All very interesting but I would imagine the majority of the audience either know this stuff or would rather have the page count taken up with more material pertinent to Vista specifically. (We're hoping 'bug' won't be a regular part of our relationship with Vista).
Microsoft clearly think tablet PCs are still going to hit the big time and Vista's tablet support gets examined along with standard laptop features.
The second half of the book is where Microsoft Vista Unleashed really gets in to it's stride compared to more consumer orientated titles. Here you can read about customisation, shortcuts and system tuning along with monitoring, error recover and much more. The Internet section wisely includes information on the current threats out there and how to combat them, both in terms of Vista features and good practice.
We did find the networking section a little short but to be fair, this is such a huge subject the fact that it did get 70 pages is probably better than could be expected and at least covers all the important bases.
Another big plus point is the coverage of the Windows Script Host which allows you to build powerful and time saving scripts. The book discusses the Wscript, WshShell and WshNetwork objects and provides example code that use all three to good effect.
Conclusion
As noted, the author does like to roll up his sleeves and his hands dirty with command line tools and the appendixes include some excellent coverage of working with the command prompt, building batch files, how to handle parameters and even how to check for missing parameters or work with loops.
For anyone who needs to get up to speed with Vista quickly and with as little pain as possible, this is a great book. For power users too, you'll find everything you need here and more. The book gets just right balance between depth and over complexity yet still manages to show better ways of working and introduces many powerful tools and features you may otherwise miss completely. Definitely one of the better ones in the initial batch of Vista books and highly recommended if you're in the target audience.
