Windows Vista - The Pocket Guide
By Rich Robinson
- Publisher: Rich Robinson (Windows Guides)
- ISBN: None
- Price: Free downloadable PDF file
- Available From:
Windows Guides
Book cover reproduced with kind permission of
Rich Robinson
Windows Vista, like all Windows operating systems
before it, isn’t perfect and it doesn’t take long
before the average user starts looking for tweaks
and hacks to make ‘their’ copy that more personal.
We all want a faster, smoother performing PC, but
even when we’ve achieved this aim we still insist
upon looking for those further elusive improvements
and enhancement.
While there are many hundreds, if not thousands,
of tweaks that can be applied to the Windows
operating system, finding them can become a chore.
Okay Googling for tips and tweaks will readily throw
up a plethora of websites that can furnish you with
step by step guides on how to achieve various
improvements, but that means wading through dozens
of websites, saving relevant web pages, and hoping
you have the right solution when you come to apply
the tweak/fix.
In his e-book, Windows Vista – The Pocket Guide,
Rich Robinson has painstakingly gathered some of the
most popular tweaks and fixes and set them out in an
easy to read format.
The Windows Vista – The Pocket Guide e-book
comprises of 9 basic chapters as follows:
- Introduction.
- Getting Started.
- Backing Up Early and Often.
- Security.
- System Maintenance & Management.
- Increasing Performance.
- Working Efficiently.
- Personalizing Vista.
- Taking Control of Your Files.
The early chapters cover such important points
as: Choosing your version of Windows, whether this
be 32 Bit or 64 Bit; Creating a dual boot system;
Backing up; Recovering lost data and, for those
users’ who only have access to their PC
Manufacturer’s recovery media, how to get your hands
on a Windows Vista Recovery Disc, which enables you
to access the Windows Vista Repair Options.
Later chapters contain easy to understand tips
and tweaks for disabling such things as the User
Account Control; Encrypting your USB or Hard Drive;
Disabling Shutdown; Cleaning Windows; Enhancing
Performance, and generally personalising your copy
of Windows Vista.
In many instances the author also provides handy
downloadable scripts to take the drudgery out of
making changes to the Windows registry when applying
certain registry hacks. The author also explains in
simple, down to earth, terms the much misunderstood
process of defragmentation.
The book is only available as a PDF file, so make
sure you also have a copy of Adobe Reader (www.adobe.com)
installed on your system. The e-book and can be
downloaded from the following link:
Windows Vista - The Pocket Guide
The book is totally free; however, you are
required to subscribe to the Windows Guides daily
updates newsletter. This newsletter contains further
tweaks and fixes and is well worth having. Before
downloading the book you will need the password.
This you will find at the bottom of your first daily
updates newsletter; just look for the ‘Get Windows
Vista – The Pocket Guide (Password) link. Click on
this link, type in the password and wait for the
download to start.
Verdict
The e-book is basically a selection of useful
tweaks and hacks enabling the reader to improve,
amongst other things, performance and security on
their system. While the novice user will find the
downloadable scripts a God send the e-book is
primarily aimed at the intermediate to advanced user
who has a working knowledge not only of the Windows
registry but also the Windows Group Policy module.
They say that the best things in life are free
and this little gem of a book is no exception. For
those users who enjoying tweaking their system this
is a must have book. It is one of those books that
you constantly want to keep dipping into as you
further gain experience in the Windows environment
and your appetite for tweaking your system grows. In
short it is a book no Windows Vista user should be
without!
Rating:
- Ease of use: 9
- Features: 9
- Value for Money: 10
- Overall : 9