Microsoft Windows XP Professional Administrator's Pocket Consultant (Pro-Administrator's Pocket Consultant) [Paperback]

William R. Stanek (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 22, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0735621403 | ISBN-13: 978-0735621404 | Edition: 2nd ed.

Whether you support 50 users or 5000, this practical guide provides fast answers for the day-to-day administration of the Windows XP Professional operating system. This popular, pocket-sized resource has been fully updated for Windows XP Service Pack 2, with new information on security administration, networking, maintenance, and more. Focus on essential system support issues and procedures with quick-reference tables, instructions, and lists. You’ll get the precise information you need to solve problems and get the job done—whether you’re at your desk or in the field!

Get fast facts to:

• Manage and troubleshoot the Windows environment
• Configure hardware and network devices
• Customize desktop settings and optimize the user workspace
• Manage user accounts, system access, and passwords
• Enable mobile networking and remote access
• Configure offline files, disk quotas, and shadow copies
• Schedule routine maintenance and backups
• Troubleshoot system problems and optimize performance
• NEW—Install and maintain programs, and manage disk drives and file systems
• NEW—Utilize security features including Add-on Manager, Pop-up Blocker, and Windows Firewall

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Ounce for ounce and dollar for dollar, the Pocket Consultant series from Microsoft Press is one of the best values around. The editors do a good job of recruiting competent authors and having them comply with well-thought-out style and formatting rules. Microsoft Windows XP Professional Administrator's Pocket Consultant is one of the gems of the series. Author William Stanek has spent time working with his subject--this book wasn't rushed to market to match the Windows XP release date--and he's good at revealing its administrative procedures clearly and concisely. The book is nicely indexed, so locating the section you need takes very little effort. This book--slightly larger than a paperback novel--is ideal for a harried administrator responsible for many different software products, as well as for consultants who need to learn how to use Windows XP Professional in a hurry.

A particularly nice characteristic of Stanek's style: His skill at combining straight procedures ("Just follow these steps and it'll work") with supplementary information about options ("On the other hand, if you're doing something unusual, you might need to modify the standard procedure a bit"). As no real-life installation of Windows XP ever seems to match authors' ideas of normalcy, the supplementary information is critical. Screen shots are nicely handled as well. Their presence helps clarify what the text means, but they're not so large as to waste space. --David Wall

Topics covered: Microsoft Windows XP Professional, as system administrators need to understand it. The author explains hardware installation, permissions setting, network security zones, and several kinds of network connectivity. Coverage of the specific requirements of mobile users--including virtual private networks (VPNs) and dial-up--is particularly welcome. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

William R. Stanek has over 20 years of hands-on experience with advanced programming and development. He has written nearly 100 books including: Microsoft Windows Vista Administrator's Pocket Consultant, Windows Server 2008 Inside Out, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Administrator's Pocket Consultant 2nd Edition, and Microsoft IIS 7.0 Administrator's Pocket Consultant (all from Microsoft Press). He also wrote MCSE Core Exams in a Nutshell and Windows Vista: The Definitive Guide for O'Reilly.

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Microsoft Press; 2nd ed. edition (November 22, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735621403
• ISBN-13: 978-0735621404
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #337,628 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

William has over 20 years of hands-on experience with advanced programming and development. He is a leading technology expert, an award-winning author, and a pretty-darn-good instructional trainer. Over the years, his practical advice has helped millions of programmers, developers, and network engineers all over the world. He has written more than 100 books. Find William on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/WilliamStanekAuthor.

William has been involved in the commercial Internet community since 1991. His core business and technology experience comes from over 11 years of military service. He has substantial experience in developing server technology, encryption, and Internet solutions. He has written many technical white papers and training courses on a wide variety of topics. He frequently serves as a subject matter expert and consultant.

William has an MS with distinction in information systems and a BS in computer science, magna cum laude. He is proud to have served in the Persian Gulf War as a combat crewmember on an electronic warfare aircraft. He flew on numerous combat missions into Iraq and was awarded nine medals for his wartime service, including one of the United States of America's highest flying honors, the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross. Currently, he resides in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and children.

William recently rediscovered his love of the great outdoors. When he's not writing, teaching, or making presentations, he can be found hiking, biking, backpacking, traveling, or trekking in search of adventure.

Follow William on Twitter at http://twitter.com/WilliamStanek. William also writes as Robert Stanek. To learn more about Ruin Mist, Magic Lands, Bugville Critters, visit http://www.bugvillecritters.com/.

William R. Stanek (www.williamstanek.com) lived in Japan from 1985 to 1989. He traveled extensively and made many friends. While living in Japan, he spent much of his free time in Aomori (青森), Hachinohe (八戸), Misawa (三沢), and Tokyo (東京). He misses the wonderful food and drink and the good friends he made. He says, "On break, I traveled all over. On the island of Hokkaidô in Sapporo they have these wonderful Ice Festivals. My favorite thing about spring was the Cherry Blossom Festival. I'd take day trips to Aomori (青森) and Hachinohe (八戸) all the time. While in Japan, I studied kendo, the Japanese language, and Buddhism."

William lived in Europe from 1989 to 1991. During that time, he lived in Germany (mostly) and had several extended stays in the UK and Scotland including deployments to Mildenhall, UK. He spent his time in the UK travelling, and especially enjoyed his visits to Cambridge and London. He's been a football (soccer) fan since he was old enough to kick a ball and especially enjoyed being in Kaiserslautern for the championships. He misses the wonderful food and drink and the good friends he made. He says, "There's nothing like Fridays at the pub or Saturday market."

William lived in Hawaii from 1991 to 1996. During that time, he worked shift-work at Kunia Field Station, attended Hawaii Pacific University and University of Hawaii, and spent a lot of time at the beach. He and his wife's first child was born in Hawaii. William's writing career began in Hawaii when his first book, Electronic Publishing Unleashed, was published in 1995. The runaway success of that book and it's sequel, Web Publishing Unleashed, helped establish him as a leader and innovator in technical writing.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Giving me a greater and better understanding of the XP ., December 9, 2001

By 

Michael J Woznicki "Michael J Woznicki" (Holland, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Microsoft Windows XP Professional Administrator's Pocket Consultant (IT Professional) (Paperback)

Being new to Windows XP Professional I need to find books that will allow me to be able to get answers quickly and I don't want to spend a great deal of time looking for them. The pocket consultant is a blessing for me and for those just starting out with XP this may be a book you'll want to keep right by your side.

Being only 300 pages, don't be fooled into thinking this book can't possibly coverage every aspect of XP professional, it's not design for that. The content of the book is to give you coverage of the topics and areas within XP and answers questions from the foundation level.

Covering areas like administration, networking, setup and configuration, troubleshooting, monitoring devices, desktop support, toolbar configuration, laptop users, remote access connections, policies, the internet and VPNs, you'll have a very well rounded reference manual to work with.

Not written to be a Exam Prep type of book it does make a good source of information for the XP Professional exam, but you will need other material to fill in the details. Overall the book is easy to follow and does answer most of the basic to some intermediate questions. The only change I would make is making this book portable to the palm device.

45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Small in size, but bursting with information., January 21, 2002

By 

sfbibliophile "sfbibliophile" (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Microsoft Windows XP Professional Administrator's Pocket Consultant (IT Professional) (Paperback)

As an NT4/2000 admin, this has been all I needed to get myself up to speed with XP. This book focuses on key aspects of day to day XP use and administration--you won't find coverage of hardware requirements and installation procedures, nor will you find exhaustive white papers masquerading as psuedo-documentation. I used to hate MS Press offerings, but the pocket consultant series has allowed me leave the 'bibles' and resource kits at home. I keep the OS and Exhange consultants on my desk and have actually started re-reading some of them for pleaure just to keep from forgetting some of the stuff I don't utilize daily on the job. I've even gotten some of my early adopting power users to buy and use this book.

If you're studying for certs or need in depth info for design research/general reference, buy a bible book, resource kit, or cert guide for the minutia and specific testing guidelines. But buy this book too because it's small and lightweight and is like set of XP Cliff notes.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just for administrators, September 19, 2005

By 

Niles Angell (Union City, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Microsoft Windows XP Professional Administrator's Pocket Consultant (Pro-Administrator's Pocket Consultant) (Paperback)

Out of 5 Windows XP Prof. books this is the one I use the most. This book is packed with useful information, well written, excellent details. By the way, contrary to many other publications that claim to be up-to-date with the latest software version, this book was REALLY written about Windows XP Service Pack 2.