Amazon.com Review
In
Microsoft Help Desk for Microsoft Office 2000, Stephen Nelson has compiled more than 750 Office 2000 articles from the Microsoft Knowledge Base, the database of problems and solutions that Microsoft's own support experts use to assist their customers. True enough, you can query the Knowledge Base free of charge on the Microsoft Web site, but this book earns its cover price by making it easy to browse articles and quickly locate sets of related ones. Because the whole text of this book appears on the companion CD-ROM, it's often faster to find the information you need there. The CD-ROM would be even better if its search interface allowed you to explicitly limit keyword searches to articles on selected Office programs, but it's strong as it is.
Don't look here for information about normal Office operations, however obscure they may be. These articles have to do with abnormal conditions and how to deal with them. A typical entry states the symptoms, including exact error messages and specific behaviors. It then quickly states why the problem occurs and suggests ways to fix or work around it. Articles include references to Knowledge Base articles too, so you can check for more current information online. Some solutions are easy to implement; others involve Registry editing and (particularly in the Access section) code listings. While it's probably too much for a home user, this book is perfect for organizational support departments. It also would fit well into a company library, where Office users could consult it independently when they encounter trouble. --David Wall
Topics covered: All major programs in Microsoft Office 2000 Premium--including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, FrontPage, and Access--as well as the Office 2000 setup routine and some of the suite's minor programs. Problems and solutions appear for many problems, including those related to installation, data sharing, everyday use, and using Office programs in a networked environment.
