Windows Vista: The Missing Manual Review

Ratings: Ease of Use, Performance: 24/25, Look & Feel: 25/25, Features 21/25, How much I enjoy 25/25
Total: 95/100

Anything more complicated than a can opener should come with a manual. Look at anything you buy today that plugs into the wall or has more moving parts than you have fingers and it will come with an instruction manual with all those lovely warnings. Now I know many of us can do without the warnings but it is nice to have more instructions than place disc into drive and read the screen. Windows Vista comes with no documentation other than insert disc into drive and read the screen.

Windows Vista: The Missing Manual is a great and comprehensive collection of helpful how to's and pointers for every part of Windows Vista broken down into collections of groups that make sense. The book explains the various sections of Windows Vista starting with the thing you see first, your desktop and continuing into the various aspects and parts of the operating system.

Windows Vista is a great but troublesome operating system and anyone can tell you that a new operating system will come with its fair share of problems. It will also come with things that are not the same as the previous version. Enter the Where'd IT Go appendix that shows you the things they kept but called it something else or gotten rid of entirely.

I think the Chapter 5 Getting Help's first paragraph sums up my feelings about the new operating system from Microsoft very well. "Windows Vista may be better than any version of Windows before it, but improving something means changing it." At least this sums up half of my feelings, the other half is expressed by not including the help exe in Windows Vista so you have to download it after installing the OS.

Okay, the operating system is a work in progress and this just stresses why you need some help when working with it, and the best way to get much of this help is not by spending hours on the internet searching, maybe not hours but it can be quicker to open a book. You can open a good old paper book like you used to have and read about it. Since starting in on computers I have always bought books to go along with the more complicated computer programs such as Photoshop Elements, Photoshop CS3 and now Windows Vista.

Many of the things you need to find out about the newest operating system can be found on the internet but it can also be found the old fashioned way, by reading a book. And the easiest way to get all the information you need in one place for help in understanding, getting to know and using the Windows Vista system is with Windows Vista: The Missing Manual. This book series has been a great way to find out more about the operating system and other programs that you use every day for just about everything you need to know on the basics.

From installing Windows Vista the right way to configuring the newest Email program Windows Mail you get it all. The thing I like about this, when I am trying to use some program or software and I want to look up something simple I can without changing things on my computer. I don't have to go into the help and spend minutes looking through the various sections; I can pick up the Missing Manual for a quick lookup of what I wanted to know.

Even if I want to look up something on the internet I don't know exactly what that wording specifically was for what I want so I can turn to the manual and get the right phrase for what I am searching for. The taskbar thingy is the area by the side of the task bar, oh yeah, notification area. Stuff like this is always one reason why I want to have a quick reference at my side to tell me what I am looking for and what I need specifically.

The Missing Manual series is a great and in depth overview of each of the main changes to the newest operating system from the previous. It goes in depth into each area, program and change to help you understand more about the operating system and how to use it. There are sections on installation, the desktop, major programs such as Explorer and all those new programs to Windows Vista.

New things in Windows Vista such as Windows Defender and Mail are explained with not only understandable language but a little humor to help ease your way into the world of Vista. Throughout the twenty seven chapters will be boxes with very helpful hints and tips to get you going in your search for answers. There are also pictures of actual screen shots so you see in the book what you will see on your computer.

There appendixes for quick reference to questions and answers such as installation, registry and what happened to things from the earlier version of Windows. There is also a nice handy shortcuts list for the keyboard so you don't have to spend time on the help pages looking for an often unused but this time helpful keyboard shortcut.

In the entire 800+ page book there are many helpful and understandable pointers and explanations about Windows Vista so you can use the book as a very good reference guide to your new operating system. I highly recommend Windows Vista: The Missing Manual from David Pogue, it truly is the manual you should have gotten when purchasing Vista.