Rating: 
Summary: Excellent reference for Windows XP
Review: If you want a single source reference for Windows XP, this is it. It is written for someone who is familiar with Windows and computers, yet needs more information about the new features of XP. The book methodically goes through all of the Windows XP features in an easy to read fashion. There are also a lot of configuration settings that are useful, but nonetheless hard to find from Microsoft. Overall, an excellent reference.
Rating: 
Summary: *ahem*:
Review: MACS ARE WAY BETTER YOU FOOOOOLS!!!!!!!!!!! it doesn't matter how good a book you have on the intricacies of Windows XP, when XP sucks compared to MAC OS X!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Reference
Review: Sharp, concise, easy to read... A great book for the experienced user. Nothing out there will touch it for complete coverage of XP.
Rating:
Summary: Valuable resource for tweaking and using XP
Review: This book does a great job of covering the middle ground between a book for novices and a techie's manual. It covers the basics briefly and moves on to the details useful to an experienced Windows user. It even goes into scripting and into the Registry, topics for expert users, but that's at the end of the book so it doesn't get in the way of the things the typical reader will want to know. It's exceptionally well organized and reasonably well-indexed. The typeface is crisp -- other computer books look they were mimeographed -- and the screen captures are reasonably clear, although color would make them better. The website lists errata and changes in the 3rd edition -- a nice feature. (I have the first edition.)
Rating:
Summary: Valuable resource for tweaking and using XP
Review: This book does a great job of covering the middle ground between a book for novices and a techie's manual. It covers the basics briefly and moves on to the details useful to an experienced Windows user. It even goes into scripting and into the Registry, topics for expert users, but that's at the end of the book so it doesn't get in the way of the things the typical reader will want to know. It's exceptionally well organized and reasonably well-indexed. The typeface is crisp -- other computer books look they were mimeographed -- and the screen captures are reasonably clear, although color would make them better. The website lists errata and changes in the 3rd edition -- a nice feature. (I have the first edition.)
Rating:
Summary: Excellence Book
Review: This book is must have for any Windows XP user.This book is well written easy to understand.This book has it all from WSH script and little Windows XP secrets.This book makes a great reference book for any computer professional.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect Handbook for the Technically Inclined
Review: This book suits my purposes perfectly. If you are comfortable with computers, if you like details, if you get frustrated with the fluff in most Windows OS books, then this book is for you, too. The book is well organized, nicely formatted, and printed to the usual O'Reilly standards. The text I've read is clear and brief. It is a very complete, but dense, reference. The biggest section is a 250-page listing of XP applications and tools and how to use each one--applets, control panels, disk tools, network tools, games, task manager, address book, etc. If itcan be used from the command line, details are included for that as well. There is special 50-page index just for this section where you can look up concepts and tasks to find the right tool. It also includes:
Full documentation on all the usual console commands.
A good introduction to the registry and what you can do with it.
Everything you really need to know about Windows Script Host.
Full listing of keyboard shortcuts.
Notes on Power Toys you can download from Microsoft.
Keyboard Equivalents for special characters.
A list of file extensions in common use.
Keyboard shortcuts (accelerators) by key and by function.
Descriptions of all the services that are available with XP. Does that sound great, or what?
Rating: 
Summary: concise and terse
Review: [A review of the SECOND EDITION, 2005.]
Yes, this is a reference, book, inasmuch as I can't imagine many of you reading it cover to cover. But if you already have just a modicum of experience with XP, individual articles in the book should be easily understandable. Albeit rather terse, as befits a reference, and the traditional style of many O'Reilly books. But this brevity is a strength of the book, coupled with the extensive coverage of topics. Most articles can be read in a few minutes, and give you the gist of what can be done. Without you having to read multiple chapters in some other book.
Though perhaps the section on the Internet Explorer could be expanded. Given its market presence, this may be a well thumbed section of the book for some readers, and more details here might be convenient.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of this book is Tim O'Reilly's name on the cover, as one of the authors. I remember him writing a lot of text for the X11 Windows texts in the 80s, when his publishing business was getting started. Nice to see him still actively writing technical material these days.
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