04. Troubleshooting Windows 7 Inside Out
By Mike Halsey
- Publisher: Microsoft Press
- ISBN: 9780735645202
- Price: £30.99 (UK) $39.99 (US) Recommended Price
- Available From:
O'Reilly
Media
Book Cover reproduced with kind permission of
Microsoft Press
Windows 7 is probably the best Windows operating system currently
available; well it is until something goes wrong. It is at times like
this that you start pulling your hair out desperately trying to find the
telephone number of a support technician to help you solve the problem.
The question is, though, do you actually need that support
technician or could you actually solve the problem yourself? It is
surprising how many computer users exclaim "Well I could have done
that myself," just after they have paid the support technician and
send him on his way. Doing it yourself is easy providing you
know what steps to take in the first place; if you don't know those
relevant steps then the chances are you will make matters worse
instead of better.
Fortunately
Troubleshooting Windows 7 Inside Out by Mike
Halsey will actually lets you into many of the
secrets that the support technician knows and you, sadly, do not.
Troubleshooting is just like being a detective, you need to be
methodical. Troubleshooting Windows 7 Inside Out
shows you how to work methodically and gently guides you through the
process of troubleshooting Windows problems.
Troubleshooting Windows 7 Inside Out is divided into
Five parts and four appendices as follows:
-
Prevention - Chapters 1- 8
-
Quick Fixes - Chapters 9 - 11
-
Technical Fixes - Chapters 12 - 19
-
Disaster Recovery - Chapters 20 - 24
-
Power Utilities - Chapters 25 - 27
Appendices
-
Windows 7 Editions
-
Windows 7 Features by Edition
-
Windows 7 Shortcut Keys
-
BIOS Beep Codes
Halsey has a way of drawing the reader into this book and, although
somewhat technical in nature, he doesn't talk down to his reader.
I have to admit that I found Troubleshooting Windws 7 Inside Out
an extremely interesting read. I also found myself agreeing
wholeheartedly with the numerous troubleshooting suggestions he
gives.
I did find his description of slipstreaming the soon to be released
Windows 7 Service Pack 1 somewhat tedious, but that was
based solely on Microsoft's own knowledgebase description.
Unfortunately, if Microsoft can make a set of instruction long
winded then they will do so. Personally, I would much rather use a third
party application such as RT Seven
Lite than spend the next few years
following Microsoft's own instructions.
A slight disappointment was in his recommendation for third party
software. While, like me, he is an exponent of CCleaner it would
have been nice to have seen the freeware security software
KeyScrambler
Personal added to his list of Third Party Tools and
Utilities.
Everyone worries about hackers being
able to access data from one's PC using keylogging software;
yet simply installing KeyScrambler Personal will quickly prevent any
keylogging software from accessing your user name and password
details. KeyScrambler simply scrambles the letters you type for your
user name and password thus making it impossible for a keylogger to
distinghuish the correct keys.
Verdict
To be honest I wasn't sure that Halsey's book would actually live up
to its title when I first picked the book up; however, after a few
pages my opinion had totally changed. I found it extremely readable
and, more importantly, informative
even though there were a number of irregularities in the index and
it also lacked the Your Book Online coupon (this
fortunately, only applies to the first printing. For further details
see this
O'Reilly Media link).
If you didn't know
anything about troubleshooting windows 7 before you read this book,
you certainly will by the time you have finished it. If you really want to
know how to fine tune your Windows 7 operating system and how to
deal with those minor irritations that Windows unexpectedly throws
up then Troubleshooting Windows 7 Inside Out is definitely
for you; I highly recommend it!
Rating
- Ease of use: 8.0
- Features: 9.0
- Value for Money: 9.0
- Overall: 9.0