Product Description

In an ideal world, an operating system is a collection of software that handles a computer's "dirty work" invisibly, quickly, and most of all, painlessly. For many of us, however, Microsoft Windows exists outside this ideal world. We are annoyed by "personalized Menus" that keep changing, icons we don't use cluttering up our workspace, periodic crashes, unintelligible error messages, and inadequate documentation to help us figure it all out. Windows Me Annoyances has the insider information you need for overcoming Windows' many annoyances and limitations. Whether you're looking to finally solve a nagging problem, dramatically improve system performance, or customize the interface to better suit your work habits, the Windows Me Annoyances solution-oriented format makes finding information and implementing solutions easy and pain free. Thanks to the thorough and relevant documentation on the registry, Windows Scripting Host, and Windows' built-in networking capabilities, customizing and improving Windows Me is easier than ever. Based on the author's extremely popular Annoyances.org web sites, Windows Me Annoyances delivers an authoritative collection of techniques and tools for customizing Windows Me, including:

• Several approaches and hidden tools for working with the Windows registry, the database of system- and application-specific configuration information
• How to bypass Windows roadblocks such as the Home Networking and System Restore wizards, allowing you to take control of the processes quickly and painlessly
• A tutorial and reference on automation with the Windows Scripting Host as a means of eliminating many Windows Me annoyances
• Using third-party software and utilities to handle some of the more complex workarounds and customizations
• Dealing with software that overwrites your file associations and other settings without warning

Windows Me Annoyances is the intermediate and advanced Windows user's best resource for turning Windows into the user-friendly, customizable interface it was meant to be, but doesn't always manage to be on its own.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1065748 in Books
• Published on: 2001-03-15
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 472 pages

Amazon.com Review
Anyone who's ever administered an operating system knows what happens when you take an operating system that was built over the course of many years for consumer use and supplement it with features for working with multimedia files and communicating across networks. Instability, or at best user confusion, is the prompt result. Windows Me Annoyances documents precisely such an operating system--Microsoft Windows Me--and shows how the system administrator or power user (or any user who's not afraid to get dirty hands, really) can best cope with its foibles. Presumably, it's just a coincidence that this book features a bloated, misshapen frog on its cover.

David Karp evidently set out not to write a how-to book--there are already zillions of those around--but rather a book of Windows wisdom. In explaining how to solve driver-related problems, Karp not only shows how to load a device driver into Windows, but also how to tell whether your machine is using the one that shipped on the Windows Me CD-ROM or a newer one from the manufacturer--and why you'd want to opt to install a driver through Windows rather than through an installer program. This coverage is typical of Karp's work, which would be better only if it had more information about cable modems, digital subscriber line (DSL) links, and satellite Internet connectivity. --David Wall

Topics covered: Solving problems in Microsoft Windows Me via the easiest and most effective methods possible. Techniques for solving hardware conflicts, adding features, and working around poorly designed aspects of the operating system.

Review
'Well written and packed with cures for common Windows Me problems we all suffer, this book also reveals undisclosed Windows features. Great for beginners who want to progress to be experts one day.' Computer Buyer, August 2001

About the Author
David A. Karp is a specialist in user-interface design and software engineering. He currently consults on Internet technology, intranet security, and web site production, and has written for a number of magazines, most recently Windows Sources, Windows P

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Customer Reviews

Worth the price for chapter on "Registry".
Most users with the skill necessary to implement the suggestions in this book have either found their own solutions or learned to live with the annoyances. I believe that this book would have been much more useful five years ago when Windows ME was new.

The book devotes a long chapter to the registery and related utilities. This chapter teaches the skills needed to implement the solutions described in the remainder of the book. The excelent treatment of this topic has applications far beyond those documented.

ME Helper
I started my life with PCs using DOS then reluctantly made the transition to Win 3, then 95, then 98 and now ME. Me has a nice new feature or two but that doesn't justify the bloated OS.

This book will help you make your ME computer run and look like a Win 9x computer. It will explain the registry, help you decide what to get rid of, let you change the look and feel of the OS and show you some basic VBS programming. There is much more.

It is a well written book and when I change operating systems I would look forward to another book on it by Mr. Karp.

(There are so many tips in this book it is kind of like having a subscription to about 6 PC magazines and getting the info all at once.)

Very good for help, tips and explanations
This book will not explain the meaning of all those error messages, but instead will give you solutions for them. It has detailed information on Windows registry, hardware updating, interface customizing and so on.

Maybe one chapter is indispensable to read (the registry), but in most cases, you'll get directly the solution for your problem, without having to read a whole chapter; however, just read it as a textbook and you'll understand a lot about your system.

Most tips and solutions work for the generic W9x (95, 98, 98 2Ed) and some even for W2000. Anyway, the book explains the differences (if any) between WME and the former.

One recommendation: Try one solution or tip at a time, otherwise Windows will not let you know how well are you working.