Windows XP: Visual QuickStart Guide

Rating:
Summary: Simple and straightforward, what an XPerience.
Review: Having just bought a new pc with Windows XP installed I thought it would be a good idea to get a book or two about the operating system or software I'm going to use. A problem I've found with computer titles is that they frequently handle, what is essentially a visual subject, with words, words and more words. An instructional screen shot and caption can save an awful lot of text. I had a quick glance through several titles dealing with XP, they were either:
1. Huge, definitive, expensive thousand-page jobs, all right for experts but not me.
2. Lots of colorful screen shots and captions but too simple and too expensive
3. Small, cheap, pocket-sized and text-crammed with a few screen shots and very boring to look at.

I think I've found the ideal title with this 'Windows XP: Visual Quickstart Guide'. It is basically a reference book with step-by-step numbered instructions and tips with screen shots (in black and white) presented in two columns on each page. You can see some of the pages by clicking on 'see inside this book' under the cover picture above. The writing is simple, straightforward and in nineteen chapters I find it very comprehensive. It is aimed at the beginner and intermediate (that's me) pc user, so if you are just starting out you'll be pleased to find that chapter one begins with 'Logging on'. Another good test for a pc book is the quality of its index (I even looked at two that had no index) and this one has nineteen pages.

I think that Chris Fehily's 'Windows XP' is an absolute bargain but if you do want something basic and colorful have a look at 'Windows XP plain & simple' by Jerry Joyce and Marianne Moon. Each page has plenty of screen shots and short numbered captions. It's a nicely designed landscape book aimed at the beginner and published by Microsoft but certainly not as comprehensive as the Visual Quickstart Guide.