This book is sub-titled, "The Book That Should Have Been in the Box," and I won’t argue with that.  It was written by David Pogue, and published by Pogue Press and O’Reilly & Associates, Inc.; I was lucky enough to be the first to grab it off the Product Review table.  The book retails for $24.95 US dollars, but remember that Tampa Bay Computer Society (TBCS) members - in fact, all computer user group members - get a 20% discount from that low price; I say low price because this book is worth several times its cover price.

I learned more about Windows XP from reading this book than I did from months of playing with the operating system at the Resource Center, reading the help files, and repairing or reloading the software after I’d made a fatal error.  Mr. Pogue constantly refers to the changes made since Windows 98, contrasting how it’s done now with how things were done before XP, so that I learned lots of new stuff about Windows 98, as well.  Every TBCS member needs to buy a copy of this book, even if you want to hold off actually moving up to XP for a while.  You won't be sorry, because this book is also one of the best Windows 98 manuals that I’ve seen, and reading it will make you better prepared for XP when you eventually upgrade.

Now comes the dry part of the review... (Sorry)
Windows XP Home Edition - The Missing Manual consists of 550 pages of actual text, plus a 21-page index and a 3-paragraph Colophon.  (Don’t worry, I never heard the term either.  I think it means, "this is how I wrote this book.")  It’s actually a very interesting three paragraphs, at least to a bona-fide computer nerd such as myself.

There are numerous screenshots of the various Windows XP components so that you can see exactly what each screen being taught looks like.  Sidebars abound - showing tips, tricks, and background for new or changed features.  You can’t help but learn.  The material is written simply enough for a novice, but it's thorough enough for the dedicated geek, techie, or show-off.  (I’m a techie.  You can rate yourself).

After a brief introduction, the book is divided into six major parts, then further divided into 19 chapters and 2 appendices.  To give you an idea of what to expect, I've included the Table of Contents and main headings below.

• Part One:  The Windows XP Desktop
  • Chapter 1:  A Welcome to Windows XP
  • Chapter 2:  The Desktop and Start Menu
  • Chapter 3:  Windows, Folders, and the Taskbar
  • Chapter 4:  Organizing Your Stuff
  • Chapter 5:  Getting Help
• Part Two:  The Components of Windows XP
  • Chapter 6:  Programs and Documents
  • Chapter 7:  The Freebie Software
  • Chapter 8:  Pictures, Movies, and Sounds
  • Chapter 9:  The Control Panel
• Part Three:  Windows Online
  • Chapter 10:  Hooking Up to the Internet
  • Chapter 11:  Web, Chat, and Videoconferencing
  • Chapter 12:  Outlook Express
• Part Four:  Plugging In to Windows XP
  • Chapter 13:  Printing, Fonts, and Faxing
  • Chapter 14:  Hardware
  • Chapter 15:  Maintenance
  • Chapter 16:  Backups and Troubleshooting
• Part Five:  Building a Network
  • Chapter 17:  Accounts, Security, and Logging On
  • Chapter 18:  Setting Up a Network
  • Chapter 19:  Using Your Network
• Part Six:  Appendixes
  • Appendix A:  Installing Windows XP Home Edition
  • Appendix B:  Windows XP, Menu by Menu

In my not-so-humble opinion, no one should try and install Windows XP without having read both appendices.  And you should keep the book handy for reference during the actual installation.  I did my first few XP installations before reading the book, and every problem that I had encountered during previous installations was covered.  That alone is worth the cost of the book; I could have saved myself a lot of time and frustration had I known about this book beforehand.

Criticism:
Here and there, I found a sentence that didn’t make sense that the editor or proofreader had missed.  Since there were maybe three or four instances of this in a 500-page book, this is a very minor criticism.  But I found that if I simply ignored the botched sentence and took the meaning from the surrounding sentences, I was able to understood what the author was saying.

Recommendation:
As said earlier, I got this book for free from the Product Review table by agreeing to write this review.  But I would gladly pay for it; it’s that good!  If this copy gets lost, stolen, or damaged beyond use, I will buy another copy immediately.  After all, I wouldn’t want to charge people for fixing their XP machines without a reference this good close at hand... and that’s all I've got to say on the subject.  Y’all go buy this book.

To order your copy, and get your user group online discount, go to the O'Reilly & Associates Web site.  In the Discount Code field of the online order form, you must use the code, DSUG, to get your discount.