- Publisher: Microsoft Press
- ISBN: 9780735645202
- Price: £30.99 (UK) $39.99 (US) Recommended
Price
- Available From:
O'Reilly Media
Book Cover reproduced with
kind permission of Microsoft Press
Windows 7 is probably the best Windows operating
system currently available; well it is until
something goes wrong. It is at times like this that
you start pulling your hair out desperately trying
to find the telephone number of a support technician
to help you solve the problem.
The question is, though, do you actually need
that support technician or could you actually solve
the problem yourself? It is surprising how many
computer users exclaim "Well I could have done that
myself," just after they have paid the support
technician and send him on his way. Doing it
yourself is easy providing you know what steps to
take in the first place; if you don't know those
relevant steps then the chances are you will make
matters worse instead of better.
Fortunately, Troubleshooting Windows 7 Inside Out
by Mike Halsey will actually lets you into many of
the secrets that the support technician knows and
you, sadly, do not.
Troubleshooting is just like being a detective,
you need to be methodical. Troubleshooting Windows 7
Inside Out shows you how to work methodically and
gently guides you through the process of
troubleshooting Windows problems.
Troubleshooting Windows 7 Inside Out is divided
into Five parts and four appendices as follows:
- Prevention - Chapters 1 to 8
- Quick Fixes - Chapters 9 to 11
- Technical Fixes - Chapters 12 to 19
- Disaster Recovery - Chapters 20 to 24
- Power Utilities - Chapters 25 to 27
Appendices
- Windows 7 Editions
- Windows 7 Features by Edition
- Windows 7 Shortcut Keys
- BIOS Beep Codes
Halsey has a way of drawing the reader into this
book and, although somewhat technical in nature, he
doesn't talk down to his reader. I have to admit
that I found Troubleshooting Windws 7 Inside Out an
extremely interesting read. I also found myself
agreeing wholeheartedly with the numerous
troubleshooting suggestions he gives.
I did find his description of slipstreaming the
soon to be released Windows 7 Service Pack 1
somewhat tedious, but that was based solely on
Microsoft's own knowledgebase description.
Unfortunately, if Microsoft can make a set of
instruction long winded then they will do so.
Personally, I would much rather use a third party
application such as
RT Seven Lite
than spend the next few years following Microsoft's
own instructions.
A slight disappointment was in his recommendation
for third party software. While, like me, he is an
exponent of CCleaner it would have been nice to have
seen the freeware security software
KeyScrambler Personal added to his list of Third
Party Tools and Utilities.
Everyone worries about hackers being able to
access data from one's PC using keylogging software;
yet simply installing KeyScrambler Personal will
quickly prevent any keylogging software from
accessing your user name and password details.
KeyScrambler simply scrambles the letters you type
for your user name and password thus making it
impossible for a keylogger to distinghuish the
correct keys.
Verdict
To be honest I wasn't sure that Halsey's book
would actually live up to its title when I first
picked the book up; however, after a few pages my
opinion had totally changed. I found it extremely
readable and, more importantly, informative even
though there were a number of irregularities in the
index and it also lacked the Your Book Online coupon
(this fortunately, only applies to the first
printing. For further details see this
O'Reilly Media link).
If you didn't know anything about troubleshooting
windows 7 before you read this book, you certainly
will by the time you have finished it. If you really
want to know how to fine tune your Windows 7
operating system and how to deal with those minor
irritations that Windows unexpectedly throws up then
Troubleshooting Windows 7 Inside Out is definitely
for you; I highly recommend it!
Rating
- Ease of use: 8.0
- Features: 9.0
- Value for Money: 9.0
- Overall: 9.0