Book details of 'Windows 98: The Complete Reference'

Title	Windows 98: The Complete Reference
Author(s)	John R. Levine, Margaret Levine Young, Margaret Levine
ISBN	0078823439
Language	English
Published	June 1998
Publisher	McGraw-Hill Osborne Media

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Reviewer Rob Slade wrote:
Part one looks at common operations in Windows 98. Chapter one explains some basic objects, but not as well as many other, similar, books. Invocation of programs and common interface aspects such as dialogue boxes are discussed in chapter two. The program installation overview in chapter three will provide some helpful background, but can't cover the range of possible options the user may be asked to address. Chapter four presents a brief glimpse of Notepad, WordPad, and the separate Microsoft WordViewer. There is a look at the accessory programs in chapter five. "Help" gets five pages of explanation in chapter six, which is somehow ironically appropriate. On the other hand, chapter seven's look at sharing information provides too much data about the Clipboard, and not nearly enough about OLE (Object Linking and Embedding). Part two reviews disk and file management. Chapter eight looks at the folder and Explorer views, files and extensions, and at file manipulation. This is extended in chapter nine with advanced topics such as shortcuts, attributes, and searching. The options on the standard Backup program are listed in chapter ten, although there is almost no discussion of the (non) options for media. Disk partitioning, in chapter eleven, seems to have a lot of information, but also leaves out many important points. Part three presents configuration options. Actually, I find using the Start Menu directories easier than the recommended procedures in chapter twelve. Chapter thirteen's coverage of the Desktop is quite thorough, with the exception of shortcuts and icons. As well as keyboard and mouse, chapter fourteen looks at several system options. Unfortunately, the advice on hardware in chapter fifteen is only valid as long as everything is working--and, if so, you won't need it. Similarly with printers and fonts in chapter sixteen. Chapter seventeen's overview of sound, though, is fairly comprehensive. Video operation, in chapter eighteen, seems limited to playing files. Laptop topics are a mixed bag and poorly explained in chapter nineteen. As only one example, the Briefcase is such a simple concept that I cannot understand why people cannot explain it in plain English. The Accessibility Options are listed in chapter twenty. Part four goes through aspects of connecting to the Internet. Chapter twenty one discusses modems. Again, PPP (Point to Point Protocol) and SLIP (Serial Link Internet Protocol), in chapter twenty two, are a mix of too much and too little information. Outlook Express is described in chapter twenty three. Both chapters twenty four and twenty five look at different parts of MS Internet Explorer. The FrontPage HTML editor is explained in chapter twenty six, NetMeeting in twenty seven, HyperTerminal, telnet, and ftp in chapter twenty eight. Local networking is reviewed in part five. Chapter twenty nine gives a terse list of network concepts. Some specifics are given in chapter thirty. NetWare and NT server connections are described in chapter thirty one. Printer and drive sharing procedures are given in chapter thirty two. Although chapter thirty three purports to be concerned with security, most of it deals with user profiles. The section on Internet security is, of course, primarily concerned with the operation of certificates, with no discussion of the realities of security. Part six discusses maintenance procedures. Chapter thirty four looks at disk scans and defragmenting. Compression is reviewed in chapter thirty five. Performance monitoring tools are described in chapter thirty six. To use the troubleshooting advice in chapter thirty seven you need to know enough not to need advice. Some online resources are listed in chapter thirty eight. Part seven looks at internals. Chapter thirty nine mentions various configuration files very briefly. Chapter forty tells you enough about the Registry to get you into trouble. There is a bit of detail about using DOS programs in chapter forty one. Windows Scripting Host gets a few pages in chapter forty two. Generally the "Complete Reference" series has had a fairly high standard, so it is disappointing to note that this work, while it has a great many pages, has a significantly lower density of useful information. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1998
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Book description:

Take-charge Win98 Flight Manual. If you're stepping up to Windows98, let Windows98: The Complete Reference help you take full advantage of its turbocharged enhancements - from speedier performance to tighter Internet integration, better housekeeping tools, FAT32 storage efficiency and more. Bestselling authors and Internet experts John Levine and Margaret Levine Young take you on a no-nonsense guided tour of all Win98 features and capabilities, Step by step, you'll see how to: Maximize Windows98's Internet and Web capabilities; Install and uninstall programs with ease; Copy, move and share information among programs; Create and manage files and folders; Format and partition hard disks to take advantage of space-saving FAT32 technology; Customize your start menu, taskbar and desktop. Word with sound, graphics and video. Run Windows98 on notebooks. Configure Windows to work with your modem and connect to the Internet. Build Web pages withFrontPage Express. Conference over the Internet with Microsoft Chat and NetMeeting. Share LAN resources and create a Windows peer-to-peer network. Connect to Novell NetWare and Windows NT networks. Tune Windows 98 for maximum performance. Automate tasks with the Windows scripting host. And much, much more.