Customer Reviews

Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses: How to avoid them, how to get rid of them, and how to get help

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

... than to look to this book for answers to today's virus problems. I had hoped it would provide some useful background information on viruses and "other than generic" strategies for protecting personal computing equipment, but no such luck. I can not even imagine what is found within was helpful when the book was brand new, and it certainly is not now. The writing is discouragingly stilted, but does make for good bedtime reading. It'll put you right to sleep!

One of the worst books written.
Robert Slade is a hypercritical book reviewer.
I thought that his book would be decent.

But it is a lousy book.

What boring, superficial stuff! I could pick up better and more interesting information about viruses by reading the back of Norton's software package than I could hanging around this deadbeat for a week!

I've found the area of virus tracking and protection to be somewhat more complex than the author suggests; perhaps his own experience is limited. Some sections are helpful (lists of specific viruses), but overall, a disappointment.

Let's get one thing clear ... this guide is woefully out of date. But that's the least of its problems. More disappointing is Slade's demonstrated lack of expertise on this subject. He's simply a librarian, culling some obvious facts and figures and resources from the mainstream without truly understanding it.

Worse, he can't write. His poorly constructed sentences are incomprehensible. For example: "It seems to be related to Cohen's proof, by contradiction, that the problem of identification of any given program as 'viral' or 'non-viral' is undecidable." Eh? And there's page after page of prose like this! This is a disaster masquerading as a book.

I found this book totally inconsistent and boring. Don't waste your money, and more importantly, your time!

Astonishingly inept and dull. The book's only redeeming quality was the ability to return it for a full refund.

This book is woefully out of date; however, I can't imagine it would have been much use to anyone even when it was hot off the press! I've read more useful articles about computer viruses in People magazine. Slade presents himself as an expert in this field, yet offers nothing new or remotely useful. He'd much rather give you his opinion than do the thorough research needed to create a useful guide. And his writing is dense, unorganized and deplorable. Obviously writing is not his calling but, worse, there's no evidence that an editor was involved either. I should have realized by the subtitle ("... and how to get help") that I would find very little help within these pages.

You could think of this book in the terms of the jacket copy: a useful guide to surviving in the age of viruses. Or, more appropriately, you could view it as entirely useless, touting "remedies" and "innoculations" that were out of date the day the book was published, let alone now.

I'm siding with the majority on this one. As a corporate IS infrastructure manager, viruses are a big concern of mine and I need to keep current with all practical news. After reading several chapters of this quilt patchwork, liberally borrowed from other sources, I put it aside in frustration. I don't consider this to be the work of a professional -- the writing is simply too awkward. I also question whether anyone would find much value in his advice. For example, what are we suppose to make of this piece of wisdom: "Sending a virus to a sex-related newsgroup seems to be a reliable way to ensure that a large number of stupid people will read and execute your program, and start your new virus off with a bang."

Give me a break (and my money back)!