Friday, March 16, 2007

Book Review: Windows Vista Pocket Guide

Yet another handy pocket guide from O’Reilly: Windows Vista Pocket Reference: A Compact Guide to Windows Vista.

This is a concise guide to most of the features in Vista and I’ve found it very helpful so far.  Its brief nature keeps the book at a great size for leaving in one’s travel bag, which is where I’ve got my copy.

The book makes great use of its small size.  There’s a nice grid comparing the different versions of Vista, and scads of little articles on features ranging from the control panel to User Account Control.  The articles aren’t very deep, but give you the necessary info to quickly get the gist of a topic.  Where pertinent, there are also useful links to more detailed information on a given topic.

I particularly like that the book doesn’t go too far around the bend with its coverage of the multi-media features of Vista.  I’m also happy to see separate chapters on registry tweaks and use of the command prompt — plus many of the articles give you the command prompt usage for features.  Those two particular chapters aren’t for everyone, but I’m sure many geeks like myself appreciate their inclusion.

Overall it’s a great book for quickly finding bits you may not know about Vista, or refreshing yourself about bits you may have forgotten. 

(As always, read my disclaimer for books I review.)

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