Review of PC Magazine Windows XP Solutions (Paperback)

I've had the book for a couple of weeks now, and I keep learning new tricks.Most recently the book taught me how to create screen capture movies that I can e-mail to others.I'm using this trick mostly to create "here's how you do this" videos for my parents, which is a lot easier than trying to talk them through the computer challenge du jour over the phone.

Probably the next most useful sections of the book for me have been the parts covering User Profile managment.I've never found those tasks to be intuitive in WinXP, and the book does a great job of showing me how I can finally get some benefit out of Profiles, rather than the headaches they've been giving me since I got WinXP.

The book has other chapters on these topics, too:
*Working With Digital Cameras
*Making Videos
*Recording & Ripping Music
*Remote Control of Windows XP via the internet
*Using Windows XP as an Internet Server

Plus, of course, chapters on security, backups, installing hardware/software, and the other sorts of topics you'd expect from PC Magazine.

Product Description
* The practical, proven solutions Windows XP users have been looking for-from the source trusted by more than six million readers worldwide, PC Magazine
* Written like the magazine's popular "Solutions" feature, the book helps experienced Windows users work faster and smarter by customizing the interface, circumventing annoying features, and fixing common glitches
* Topics covered range from building a better Start Button and Task Bar, eliminating the new program notification on the Start menu, and cleaning up the Registry after an uninstall to safely removing old drivers, using the recover console after a crash, and dealing with DSL and other broadband connection problems
* Well written and organized for easy reference, the book shows the sixty-seven million Windows XP users how to save time and frustration-and make their PCs work the way they want them to

From the Back Cover
In the event of system failure

Sometimes a Windows XP installation can fail to the point where you can do nothing to save it. You have a number of options open to you, such as attempting to repair the installation and, at the other extreme, reformatting all your hard drives and starting over. However, often the easiest approach is to install a fresh instance of Windows XP on a new hard disk partition and then work from the new installation to recover data from the old installation.
--From Chapter 11, Locating and Migrating User Data

They say there's a solution to everything. When it comes to Windows XP, PC Magazine knows 'em all

Ever wish they'd consulted you before they designed Windows XP? Sure, it's a great system, but there's this one feature that makes you crazy. Or that annoying problem that keeps occurring. Well, you can rely on Neil Randall and your friends at PC Magazine to correct that oversight. Here's the complete compendium of solutions to the things that bug you, threaten your security, slow you down, or other-wise prevent Windows XP from achieving perfection.

You can redesign Windows XP

• Create the interface that works for you
• Tweak your taskbar and control your folders
• Remove the stuff that gets in your way
• Install what you want; dump what you don't
• Unlock hidden settings in Media Player
• Use Group Policy Editor to change the way users interact with their PCs
• Reinstall Windows without losing important files
• Lock it down with the Encrypting File System
• Find helpful features hidden in Outlook Express
• Dig into the Registry to remove every last trace of spyware

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