Windows XP Annoyances

• David A. Karp
• O'Reilly
• 0596004168

Order (or just read more about) Windows XP Annoyances  from Amazon.com

This book is badly named, but still something you'll want if you have to work with XP. I read it and threw it in my car because I know I'll want it when I'm on site somewhere.

It's misnamed because it really mostly is not about annoyances. Honestly, unlike earlier versions of Windows, there aren't enought real irritations in XP to make a book out of. Sure, there are some stupidities, like the "Category" view for control panel, and the stupidly simplified Search, and this does cover those things and more. But mostly this is a technical guide to XP - setting it up, fixing problems, using it. There are some bigger and perhaps more inclusive XP books out there, but I found this to have reasonable depth of coverage without belaboring the obvious.

I liked that it included coverage of Security, with suggestions on what to shut off and how to do it. It also covered simple scripting, a topic often ignored in Windows books. There's advice on installation and upgrading and even a fairly inclusive appendix on BIOS settings and how they affect XP.

Worth keeping handy, I think.

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