02. Windows 7: The Missing Manual
By: David Progue
- Publisher: O'Reilly
- ISBN: 9781596806392
- Price: £30.99 (UK) $39.99 (US) Recommended Price
- Available From:
O'Reilly
Media
Book Cover reproduced with kind permission of
O'Reilly Media, Inc
The Windows operating system is becoming so complex nowadays that
most authors have to write a massive tome in order to convey all
the relevant information to the would-be reader.
Gone are the days
of the 100 or so page user guide supplied with your PC on
purchase; instead we now enter the sub 1000 page, gigantic source, of
all imaginable information.
As a follow on from Progue's Windows Vista for Starters -
the missing manual, which I reviewed a few years ago (see
Windows Vista for Starters - the missing manual ), Progue's
latest book, Windows 7 - the missing manual doesn't disappoint. In fact
at 854 pages, excluding the index, you'll need plenty of time to
read and digest every word of the book's contents.
When I reviewed Progue's first missing manual book for Windows Vista I
wasn't overly impressed. The book appeared to be hastily put
together and it contained numerous errors which should have been
picked up at the proof reading stage.
The publisher's blurb of the Windows Vista for starters
-the missing manual
extolled the book as being "warm and witty," a statement
that even today I find hard to believe. Okay, British and American humour differs
considerably, but some of the supposed witty remarks simply made me
cringe.
Strangely the publisher's blurb for Windows 7 - the missing
manual boasts that Progue's new book is funny. A different play on
words, maybe, but sadly even funny doesn't begin to describe the book; but now I am
being too picky and that isn't the aim of this review.
My impression of Windows 7 - the missing
manual, however, is completely different to Progue's previous
attempt at a 'missing manual.' Windows 7 - the
missing manual justly deserves
its Manual status even though a large proportion of the book is
simply a clone of Progue's Windows Vista for starters - the missing manual
(obviously with many of the previous mistakes corrected) with
additional pages added to cover Windows 7's features.
Comprising eight main sections:
- The Windows 7 Desktop
- Windows 7 Software
- Windows 7 Online
- Pictures, Music, & TV
- Hardware & Peripherals
- PC Health
- Networking & Homegroups
- Appendices, comprising Installing and Upgrading Windows 7;
Fun with the Registry; Where'd it go and The master keyboard
shortcut list.
Windows 7 - the missing manual covers just about every aspect
of the Windows 7 operating system.
Targetted primarily at the
beginner/intermediate user any advanced user picking up the book
would be sorely disappointed. Even so Windows 7 - the missing manual
does make
interesting reading to any beginner/intermediate user and one
cannot dispute that Progue certainly does have a way with words
when it comes to explaining and getting his point across.
Verdict
I found Windows 7 - the missing manual a
really good read, with the author offering sound advice as well
as explaining the intricacies of the operating system remarkably
well. However, because of its subject matter, the book is more
suitable for dipping in and out of rather than attempting to read
it from cover to cover.
My only bone of contention with Windows 7 - the missing manual is the fact that it is
double the price of Progue's Windows Vista for starters - the missing manual
and well over half of the book is an exact replica of Progue's Windows
Vista book.
I agree that Windows 7, to coin a
phrase, is simply Windows Vista with an additional service pack,
but I would much rather have read a slimmed down book containing
all that was new in Windows 7 than have to re-read page after page
of text I read back in 2007 before coming to the part of the book
I was more interested in, Windows 7. Having said that, if you
haven't read Progue's Windows Vista - the missing manual then
his latest book, Windows 7 - the missing manual is well worth the investment.
- Ease of Use: 9
- Features: 9
- Value for Money: 8
- Overall: 8