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Windows XP Hacks & Mods For Dummies Review by Rodion
Better than I expected
Well, perhaps giving 5 stars to this book is a bit too much (perhaps a 4,5 would have been better).
First I'll clarify what the book's title means with "hacks and mods": what it means is no more that teaching the most important menu options, and capabilities that are taught in any serious manual. And it also enhances the power of XP by installing Microsoft's TWEAKUI program, that's very easy to use but you need to be explained how to use it. It also advices what tools there're to be acquired to enhance XP, make it more stable, use the correct Antivirus, Firewall etc, and it explains very well what garbage you must avoid when you're advised to get and which to aquire from Microsoft and form other software firms.
The book doesn't mince its words in criticising the worst of Microsoft's practice and the many garbage it includes in XP to make it sell you useless stuff. It also advises good websites and software that is usually free and improves XP.
When I started the book it seemed to me a bit "light" i.e.: that it didn't say anything new, but as I advanced I learnt very useful things that I always missed.
Who's this book intended for?: I'd say it's intended for the average XP user who misses to show off a little bit of his XP knowledge to his friends (and enemies). It's not an XP exhaustive manual (which would be boring). The best about this book is that it's very easy to read, the author shows to be proficient in computing but won't bore you with unnecessarily deep stuff.
I've read this book (only two last chapters to finish) and summarized it's brightest points in a Word file that I'll revise.
Even with Windows 7 entering the market, I'm afraid XP will be on the market because it's a very light OS compared to Windows 7 (I mean that XP runs very fast on a 1GB RAM PC) and I'm sure many of the tricks you'll learn here will apply (or be improved) by Windows 7.
You'll read it fast, the book is well structured and very well explained.
By the way: You'll learn stuff in this book that you won't find in a fat XP manual (especially if the fat book was edited by Microsoft).