About.com Rating

The Bottom Line

Microsoft Windows 7 unleashed is a very well written book that will be highly useful to advanced users and Information Technology professionals. It is not, however, a book for beginner or intermediate users of Windows.



Pros

• Very well written, organized and easy to read
• Strong insight and common sense advise
• Free updated online version when Windows 7 is finalized
• Extensive Keyboard Shortcuts section

• Accurate and useful Table of Contents and Index

Cons

• Too technical for many Windows users
• All images are grey scale - no color
• Does not address features unique to laptop computers

Description

• Part 1 - Customizing Windows Explorer, Internet Explorer, the file system, startup/shutdown and Start Menu/Taskbar.
• Part 2 - Optimizing and maintaining a PC with Windows 7.
• Part 3 - Using the Control Panel, Group Policies, MMC, Services, optimizing the Registry and using command line control.
• Part 4 - All aspects of security: Operating system, Internet Explorer, Email, file system, user, wired and wireless networks.
• Part 5 - A troubleshooting guide for Windows, devices and startup problems.
• Part 6 - Detailed instructions about setting up and troubleshooting a small network.
• Part 7 - Scripting functions in Windows
• Part 8 - Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts, Understanding TCP/IP

Guide Review - Book Review: Microsoft Windows 7 Unleashed by Paul McFedries

Microsoft Windows 7 Unleashed (retail price $49.99 USD) is the latest title by technical author Paul McFedries.

It is well written, organized, easy to read and contains a tome of information (almost 800 pages) about Windows 7. I really like this book. I am, of course, an advanced user and an I.T. professional. For beginner and intermediate users, this is not the book for you.

The book does a good job of highlighting how to customize and optimize Windows 7, including a detailed explanation of all Windows 7 services available and how they launch - manually or automatic. Also, there is a thorough and lengthy section on many aspects of security.

The "User Level" on the back cover of the book identifies it's target reader as "Intermediate - Advanced". I would say that this is a bit optimistic a pursuit for an intermediate user of Windows. For example, I wouldn't recommend intermediate users go into the Registry and change things. However, I do recommend this book for advanced users and IT Pros - they will be quite happy with it.

What I found a bit disappointing is the lack of color on anything but the cover of the book. We live in a color world; everything on computers is in color. Why not use color images in the book? Yes, I know color is expense - so is Windows 7.

One missed opportunity for this book was the lack of focus on features for Laptops (Notebook PCs). The majority of PCs sold are Notebooks. Likewise, there are Windows features specific to these devices that can be configured and optimized. A section on that would be very helpful to IT professionals as there are so many of these devices used in corporations.