It was with great pleasure that I accepted a review copy of Microsoft Windows 7 Unleashed from SAMS Publishing. I am a big fan of the ‘Unleashed’ series, going back all the way to Windows 3.1 and even OS/2 Warp. I read them all voraciously, and here is where I learned my way around an operating system (OS) like Windows throughout the years. Retail software no longer come with hundred-page manuals like they did in the ‘old days’, so it is up to third-party publishers to pick up the reigns and produce the ‘how-to’ type of manual that many folks can read and appreciate without being pandered to like a ‘Dummy’.
Paul McFedries is the author here and he does a masterful job of looking under the hood of Windows 7 and making it easy for the intermediate to advanced PC user to familiarize and customize Windows 7 to their liking.
This book has over 700+ pages (and 30+ chapters) of information that anyone can use to install, set up, network and secure Windows 7 on their PC.
What I like about these books is that you can pick it up and open it to any chapter and begin using the information immediately. You don’t need to start at chapter one, although the book progresses in ‘difficulty’ (for lack of a better word) as the chapters advance. For instance, chapter one is entitiled “Customizing Windows Explorer” while chapter 31 is “Scripting Windows with Powershell”, so you get an idea of what I mean.
One nice added value with this book, is that while the author wrote this book based on an early unreleased version of Windows 7, you can register to get a free download of an updated copy. I did this mayself, and now I keep a shortcut to the PDF version on my desktop.
From time to time, I will be sharing some tips from the book here at WindowsTalk.org, so be sure to subscribe (see upper right corner) to get all the updates and other tips!
James is the owner of WindowsTalk.org and has been a Microsoft Windows Consumer MVP since 2003.
I Will have to come back again when my class load lets up – nevertheless I am taking your RSS feed so I can read your site offline. Thanks.