Windows 7 Secrets,   ISBN:9780470508411

Customer Rating: 

First off let me preface this review with a bit of background. I've been using and supporting GUI operating systems and shells professionally since the days of OS2 and Windows 3.0. I'll add that as an experienced Windows user I was more than a bit disappointed with Microsoft's Vista efforts and have been anxious to move on to Windows 7. I'll say right now that Windows 7 has not disappointed me. It really is that big of an improvement.

As an a long time Windows user I've learned to benefit from the experiences and mistakes of others and I decided to read up a bit before tackling this project on my main PC. To that end I picked up a copy of Windows 7 Secrets from Amazon.com. What I found was a very useful reference for intermediate to advanced users. What it is not is a "Dummies" guide for beginners or at over 1000 pages a cover to cover read. It's just a bit too technical to hand to a non tech savvy beginner and leave them feeling comfortable upgrading Windows for the first time. On the other hand those with a bit of tech savvy will benefit for the hundreds of tips and tricks. What I personally found particularly useful were the tips for upgraders. For example I wanted to upgrade from 32 bit Vista the 64 bit version of Windows 7. This requires a clean installation (windows wipes the disk so do back up your data) and that used be pretty straight forward (if laborious) with previous versions of Windows. Not so with Windows 7. Microsoft chose to make this as difficult, unintuitive and time consuming as their massive resources could make it. To pull this off I had to look up a (legal to do) workaround and Windows 7 Secrets supplied me with a relatively painless method of getting my upgrade done. That alone was worth the cost of the book - at least to me.

But there's more. There is also a whole section for the Mac user wishing to run Windows 7. I don't run a Mac so I can't comment on that. There are also several chapters on customizing the Windows 7 "experience" (user interface) to your liking and the customization options in Windows 7 are numerous. Since Microsoft took it upon themselves to rename several functions within Windows old hands at NT and XP will appreciate the translations within the text. This is the book that you buy if you want to get deep under the hood while still reading the explanations in plain English.

Bottom line if you are an intermediate or advanced Windows veteran you'll find the sections on upgrading very useful and I think pretty much any tech savvy user at any level will find it a useful reference for customizing and securing Windows 7 and to help you take advantage of the many new features.

Customer Rating: 

Before doing an upgrade from Vista to Windows 7, I thought it would be a good idea to read up about the process. This book was sent to me free as part of the Vine program, so that is how I "chose" it. If I had to pay for it myself, I can't say that I would have purchased this particular book (or can't say I wouldn't, either) but after reading through several sections of it, I feel this is a very good reference book.

Some people have dinged a few stars off their ratings because they say this is not a real "secrets" book and is aimed more for general, rather than advanced use. I am no expert in Windows. I consider myself to be more computer literate than the average person (people at work will come to me when they have problems with their computers, even though I am not in the IT department) so I am reviewing the book from that perspective. I am happy I have this book and think it provides all the information I really need about Windows 7 - I say that given the disclaimer that of course you really don't know if it contains all you need until you look for the one thing that happens to be missing.

The book starts out helping you choose which version is best suited for you, then goes through the installation process for the various versions, and upgrade versus new install. There is a lot of useful information about configuring Windows once it is installed, the differences between 7 and earlier versions, important things about which to be aware, etc. In other words, this seems to be a fairly comprehensive reference book and should be totally adequate for most people. It is written in easy to understand language and it is also easy enough to find whatever topic you are looking for. But does it have top secret stuff you won't find in other books? That I don't know, but I suspect you would either have to shell out more money for a book of this nature or go searching through countless blogs and web sites to find those kinds of "secrets."

I am just glad I have this book. I can understand what they author is saying, and the information seems to be accurate. That's important to me and I am satisfied.

Customer Rating: 

Although this book is a real bruiser, I do not find much filler at all. Inevitably, every reader will find some chapters that are not of interest to him. Nevertheless, all the material in this large tome will be useful to some.

By far the worst part of the book is the introduction. That's OK though. How many people read the introduction to a tech book? Anyway, the intro goes something like this. If you are not familiar with Windows Vista, listen, it was the greatest operating system EVER. Until Windows 7 came along. On the other hand, if you have used Vista, do not be concerned! Windows 7 fixes all the ghastly mistakes in Vista.

Actually, the book is full of enthusiasm for Windows 7, from start to finish. Not surprising. Paul Thurrott, one of the authors, has been a Microsoft fanboi for at least 10 years now. The book is very much in his style of writing. I found this useful. Me, I am a Microsoft skeptic. I found Mr. Thurrott's tub-thumping to be a useful counterweight to my own prejudices. For example, his exposition on user account controls (UAC) in chapter 8 explained for me what Microsoft is trying to accomplish with UAC. Here is the secret to success with Microsoft systems: understand Microsoft's point of view, and give it precedence over your own wishes. Once you do that, you will subconsciously avoid actions that cause the software to fail. Thanks Paul!

In general, the style of this book is bright and "visual," with lots of (black and white) illustrations, and frequent "Secrets." The "Secrets" are brief, useful bits of information that read somewhat independently of the main text. They are set off in a special blue background. Similarly, there are many "tips" and "notes" that are somewhat independent, like the "secrets." The effect of all this styling is to make the reader forget that this book is in fact a GIANT TECH MANUAL. Good job!

Part 1 of the book covers Windows 7 installation. Here, you get the authors' unambiguous opinions about how best to install the software, either as an upgrade or as a "fresh" install. In addition, the book helps you decide which version of Windows 7 to buy (there are several).

Part 2 mostly describes the user interface (UI). Although Windows 7 offers a different "look" than before, I don't find this stuff all that useful. Who cares what the UI looks like? I just want it to keep working. Anyway, this part is not overly long. As well, the authors really are obliged to describe the new features in the UI, so I can't fault them here.

Part 3 covers security and networking. There are important new features in Windows 7 (compared to Windows XP and Vista) and so I found this interesting.

Part 4 covers fluffy stuff such as Windows 7 features supporting images, video, music, and games. This section deals heavily with software applications such as Media Center, in contrast to the core operating system. This part bored me. To be fair, I can imagine that some folks get really excited about the free junk that Microsoft bundles with Windows.

Part 5 is "Mobility" and it addresses features useful to notebooks, netbooks, even smart phones. A lightweight subject, and the authors give it appropriately brief coverage.

Part 6 is "Windows 7 Online. This is where the authors cover Microsoft "Windows Live" internet services. I wouldn't touch this junk with a 10 foot pole, but that's just me.

Part 7 is "Windows 7 Power User" and I am not happy with this section at all. It does a nice job of describing important features such as backup/restore and that is a good thing. But the depth of the writing, the level of technical detail, it's exactly the same as the rest of the book. I was hoping for some hard core know-how. Denied!

Finally we come to the index and this is an important part of the book. Six months from now, when you are having a Windows nightmare, you are going to look for a solution here. My impression is that this is a "pretty good" index. When I hit my first Window 7 nightmare (inevitable) I don't really know if I am going to lunge first for Google, or for the index of this book. I would have appreciated a CD-ROM utility to aid in searches, but this book does not provide.

My opinion: this book succeeds at what it is: a broad, thorough treatment of Windows 7. It is most useful for a non-technical, but halfway competent computer user. Personally, I would have preferred a bit more advanced treatment. But I have to say, Thurrott and Rivera accomplished their mission.

Customer Rating: 

My only complaint about this book is actually one of its strengths: It's HUGE and LONG. There's no way I could read it cover to cover. It has been a fantastic reference though. It includes sections that answer nearly every question I've had about Win 7. Many of the chapters have been very useful to me, while others didn't apply to me at all.

Customer Rating: 

This would not be bad at all as a Missing Manual. It's huge, and goes item by item through the standard Windows 7 user interface and experience. But as 'Secrets' it falls completely flat.

Here are some of the issues I had customizing Windows 7:

* How do I remap CapsLock to Ctrl?
* Why can't my Win7 box see my XP shares?
* How do I get focus follows mouse behavior?
* Why does it say I need administrator privilege to delete files on my data drive from a previous machine?

These are little questions but are at the core of my experience. I played fair and tried looking up the answer to each of these in Windows 7 Secrets first. And failed every time. So then I just went on FamousSearchEngine and had the answer to each in 30 seconds.

And that's really the bottom line. This is a decent systematic book, but for real one-off issues you'd probably be better served just pulling up a web browser or entering your query in the control panel search box.