A good book on XP including SP2

[--Pete]

Hi,

So far, I've managed to avoid upgrading from Win98SE on both my game and work computers. Recently, however, I'm running into things that will not work with my older OS. So, I'm going to have to do battle with the tar baby known as XP.

What I'm looking for is a decent book that gets into the guts of XP. Things like:
Determining what is really running and how to shut down the useless 90%.
What hooks Micro$quish has in the system, what those hooks give them access to, and how to yank them.
Reliable security (OK, OK, I know it's MS -- you can quit laughing now).
Registry surgery.

I realize that, for a lot of this info, the Internet is the best source (shudder). But has anyone found a good, in depth book on XP? I've spent a few hours reading reviews on Amazon, and if I read another, "This is a great book. The section on creating folders was especially useful.", I'll have to clean barf off of my keyboard.

--Pete

[Quark]

I realize that, for a lot of this info, the Internet is the best source (shudder).  But has anyone found a good, in depth book on XP?
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I'm sorry, but all my knowledge of XP has come from the Help Desk and internet sites. However, I will toss you one, just one, link.

http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm
This website has a list of all the background services running in Windows XP, what they do, and what are safe to disable.

Sorry for not recommending a book, but that link has information that I recommend to anyone using XP. If anyone else can recommend a book I might check it out myself.

[pakman]

I don't know of any books, but a great website to use after an install of XP is http://www.blackviper.com. He tells you what is running, how to turn it off, how to make your computer run faster, etc.

[Quark]

I don't know of any books, but a great website to use after an install of XP is http://www.blackviper.com. He tells you what is running, how to turn it off, how to make your computer run faster, etc.
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Hah! I recommend one specific part, you recommend the whole site :)

[pakman]

I should learn to read all posts first <_<. However, there is another great website, http://www.tweakxp.com.

[--Pete]

Hi,

Thanks to both Quark and pakman for your recommendations. I hadn't found http://www.blackviper.com yet and it is a great site whether one looks at a part or the whole ;) I'd already seen http://www.tweakxp.com and it too has a bunch of fine suggestions.

Any and all recommendations for references are more than welcome, but I really would like to find a book as well. For one thing, I can grab the book and read it away from the computer -- much to the benefit of both it and me. :)

--Pete

[SpazBear]

Hi,

So far, I've managed to avoid upgrading from Win98SE on both my game and work computers.&nbsp; Recently, however, I'm running into things that will not work with my older OS.&nbsp; So, I'm going to have to do battle with the tar baby known as XP.

What I'm looking for is a decent book that gets into the guts of XP.&nbsp; Things like:
Determining what is really running and how to shut down the useless 90%.
What hooks Micro$quish has in the system, what those hooks give them access to, and how to yank them.
Reliable security (OK, OK, I know it's MS -- you can quit laughing now).
Registry surgery.

I realize that, for a lot of this info, the Internet is the best source (shudder).&nbsp; But has anyone found a good, in depth book on XP?&nbsp; I've spent a few hours reading reviews on Amazon, and if I read another, "This is a great book.&nbsp; The section on creating folders was especially useful.", I'll have to clean barf off of my keyboard.

--Pete
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Hi, Pete. Have you ever looked at books put out by QUE Publishing? I've got the Win98 book, which was pretty good. I'm in the same boat as you, having been on Win98 forever and just now needing to make the jump over to XP. I don't have this book, but I'm seriously considering it as I need to get smarter about XP. Maybe Peter Norton's not your style, though....

~SB~

[--Pete]

Hi,

Have you ever looked at books put out by QUE Publishing?
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Yes. I've got a dozen or more books published by QUE. They range from excellent to charcoal starter :)

I don't have&nbsp; this book, but I'm seriously considering it

Peter Norton was my hero back in DOS days :)

Seriously, I would guess that anything written by Norton would be clear, concise, and correct. What I would wonder about would be the level and content. While I suspect that he could write everything from a beginner's book to an OS hex hacking guide, I get the impression that this particular book is aimed at the novice to low level intermediate user. I get that impression mainly from the description of the book and list of similar books (Using Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Using Microsoft Windows XP Home, and Make the Most of Your Windows PC). These sound like user's guides and what I'm interested in is an admin's guide.

Thanks for the info, and if you do get Norton's book, please add a brief review to this thread. After all, munging OSes is a fun game and thus info on how to do that falls into the Lurker domain ;)

--Pete