Windows Vista - The Missing Manual by David Pogue is certainly no lightweight at an inch and a half thick and 827 pages. Clearly, a brief review cannot do complete justice to such a weighty tome, so here we will just take a peek into various sections of the book.
For new Vista users, i.e. those migrating from Windows XP, the book's introduction describes the new features in Vista – with an interesting section on “Version Hell” – the different features offered by the various versions of Vista. In addition, the final section of the book is entitled “Where'd It Go?” and indicates features of XP that are no longer available in Vista, or aren't where XP users think they should be. For example, XP's Clipbook Viewer is no longer available, and to remove an installed program, previously part of “Add and remove programs” on XP's Control Panel, you now need to look under Start – Control Panel – Programs – Programs and Features.
Apart from the above, the book kicks off with a description of navigating through Vista's menus and how to configure various options. One of the major new features of Vista is the Aero (glass) user interface, and considerable detail on how to customize the look and feel of the display is provided. Even if you have the horsepower to run Aero, there may be specific features that you don't particularly like, so it's good to know that the interface is highly customizable. For example, I used the book's instructions to turn off the transparent window edges (Control Panel – Appearances and Personalization – Personalization - Windows Color and Appearance), and to increase the font size (Right-click on the desktop – Personalize – Adjust font size (DPI) – Custom DPI). Throughout the book, screenshots of Vista's features are supplemented by sidebars with gems of information. For example, “The Solution to Tiny Type” notes that with smaller pixels on modern displays, text can be difficult to read, and then indicates the means to access the DPI scaling box.
One of the features promoted in Vista is an enhanced search capability. Some twenty pages are dedicated to search techniques, from entering text into the Search Box on the Start menu, to using filters in Windows Explorer. The associated descriptions and diagrams are laid out such that the information necessary to use these tools effectively can be readily assimilated.
In discussing Internet Explorer 7 (IE7), the version of Microsoft's browser distributed with Vista, the book provides the basics of things like tabbed browsing and custom printing of web pages. But, the section does lack some details of IE7's security settings. By default, the browser will prevent you accessing certain sites, for example because of pop-ups, and may even stop you from accessing files on your local hard drive or CD's due to included “active content”. Some additional assistance here would have been useful for some users.
Now that we almost all possess digital cameras, Vista includes Photo Gallery, a combined image management and image editing package. The book devotes about thirty-six pages to describing the various features of Photo Gallery such as importing pictures from a camera; including files in disk directories other than the default “Pictures”; adjusting brightness, contrast and colour levels; cropping, fixing red eye; using image tags; and the slideshow controls. An FAQ sidebar points out one of the program's shortcomings in that Photo Gallery doesn't allow you to drag images around to create a customized sort order, a feature offered by many other image management programs.
One of the changes made in Vista is that Disk Defragmenter is set to run automatically but, the default start time is 4:00 am on Sunday morning, which may not be terribly appropriate if your machine is normally powered off at this time. Instructions are given for modifying the defragger's schedule, and how to run the program manually. However, what is left unsaid is that, because the process is supposed to be undertaken in the background, the program no longer provides any feedback on its progress. Fortunately, there are free, third-party solutions that are both fast and informative (e.g. http://opcug.ca/public/Reviews/auslogics.htm).
One of Vista's most contentious features is User Account Control (UAC). This has been widely described as an exceedingly intrusive security system, popping up warnings and confirmation requests almost incessantly. Surprisingly, The Missing Manual condenses the information into a single table. The bottom line is that the extra security is well worth the effort. UAC only kicks in when you try to perform an “administrative task”, such as installing new software, or trying to modify a system file. The UAC dialogue box pops up, and the surrounding screen is dimmed, to indicate that Vista has entered a secure desktop mode. Pressing return, if you are logged on as an Administrator, or entering the Administrator's password for normal users, allows the process to continue. In practice, such warnings are very infrequent and little effort is required to comply with the security requirements. Since the process is designed to prevent rogue software from being able to load without your direct intervention, the additional effort is well worth it.
The Missing Manual provides good coverage of the major topics of the Vista operating system, with lots of details as might be expected in a book of several hundred pages. I particularly like the many sidebar items that provide insights into various features, tips on how to efficiently use the operating system, and general information about different aspects of computers and computing. Anyway, that's my view!
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