Microsoft Windows Vista Unleashed

By Paul McFedries

Windows expert, Paul McFedries, takes readers inside the Vista operating system exposing its key components and showing how to leverage its features, both new and old. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 067233013X
• ISBN13: 9780672330131
• Release Date: January 2008
• Publisher: Sams
• Length: 805 Pages
• Weight: 2.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.8" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

Not as advanced as I had hoped

I expected "Unleashed" to go into more detail on how to handle specific Vista-related problems by dealing with the registry. In a few cases, it did, but not as many times as I was hoping for. Perhaps I need to find a book that focuses exclusively on the registry. I estimate that "Unleashed" devotes about 15% of its content on registry editing, with the remainder on lesser advanced ways for learning and using Windows Vista. That said, I found the book helpful. I especially liked the keyboard shortcuts that are mentioned throughout the book, as well as in a very extensive index in the back. The book covers all versions of Vista, which left me a little confused at times. Some of the sections cover versions that I don't have, and I found myself scratching my head trying to implement a few things that were non-implementable for my OS (for instance, the Group Policy Editor is not available in the Home Premium version of Vista, but there's plenty of instruction in the book on how to use this Editor). But all in all, it was a good book for the money, and I recommend it.

Great book, but not for beginners

I wanted a book targeted at people who already have intermediate to advanced skills using previous versions of Windows. This is one of three Vista books I've read cover to cover that fit that description. This is the one that skips the most beginning topics and has depth in the most advanced topics. Great coverage of what's going on underneath the GUI where the truly major improvements over XP are. Best coverage I've seen of how the registry works outside of books devoted to the registry. Excellent description of how Vista simulates previous versions of Windows for applications not written for Vista.