Most Helpful Customer Reviews
107 of 111 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent introduction for the novice, October 2, 1999
This book (4th Edition) answered the questions I had about networking my small business. Specifically, I needed to know: 1) should I use a peer-to-peer or a client/server LAN, 2) if client/server, should the server be dedicated as a server or could the server also be used as a workstation, 3) which operating system would be most appropriate for the clients or peers, 4) which network operationing system would be most appropriate for a server, 5) is the installation of the network within my scope. Before buying the book I had searched the Web in vain (both computing-specific sites and search engines) looking for answers to these questions. This book provided the information I needed to answer all five questions. The information is very product specific (eg, Novell NetWare can be difficult to install and the complication and expense is not justified for a five-user network; a peer-to-peer LAN is easy to set up with Win95 or Win98; PCI network cards are much easier to configure than the older styles). The book is well written (ie, easy to read, to-the-point, relevant). If you decide to install a peer-to-peer LAN with Win98, this is probably the only book you will need. If you decide to install a client/server LAN with a network operating system (NOS) such as NetWare or NT Server, you will probably need a book specific to those systems for installation and maintenance (there are Dummy books for both systems - which I haven't yet read). If you don't know which NOS to use, this book can help you decide.
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65 of 68 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Definately for beginners, December 21, 1999
This review is from: Networking for Dummies, Third Edition (Paperback)
Not a bad book, but it is VERY basic. If you have worked with a network before, there is little information you can glean from this text. For someone who knows little about networks, or computers as a whole, this may be a good purchase. Do not, however, expect this book to teach you everything you need to know about working with a network. It is very simple, which makes the topics easy to understand, but expect to get another book centering on your particular network if you plan to do some serious networking. I would, however, recommend this book to newbies in networking as it goes over terms and concepts that everyone must know.
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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gives you all the basics on computer networks + some extras, June 10, 2002
Who this book is for: This book is intended to help the absolute beginner in computer networking get a basic overview of the issues and terminology involved. It is well-written and contains some of the typical "dummies"-humor helping to keep the text easily digestable. What this book is NOT: A how-to manual that will get your network going if you're sitting in front of a screen clueless on a Sunday morning. That said: after reading this book you won't be clueless any more. On to the detailed contents. The book is divided into six parts: Part I: The absolute basics
No further info necessary: How to open up your computer, so that you can install a networking card, for example. Part II: Building your own network
Planning you network; making basic choices of e.g cabling etc. Part III: Network management for dummies
Basic network management: making backups, taking care of security Part IV: Webifying your network
Creating the connection to the internet; creating websites Part V: More ways to network
Miscelaneous, like: networking your home, dial-in networks and non-standard hard-/software (MacIntosh; Linux etc.) Part VI: The part of tens
A number of top-ten lists, partially amusing, partially useless As I wrote: the book is really good in helping you to obtain an overview of the types of networks that exist and the different terminologies/choices involved. Once you have made a decision that you will need/want to create a network involving operating system X running on computers of type y, you will probably need to get another, more specific book to help you dig deeper. If you haven't made that decision yet: Go get this book!
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