Customer Reviews

The Windows NT and Windows 2000 Answer Book: A Complete Resource from the Desktop to the Enterprise

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My first impression of this book was that it is an excellent resource for those who want to know more about Windows NT and 2000. I've used many operating systems over the years, Windows 3.1/95/98 in particular, but I've only recently started using Windows 2000. I expected this book to help me greatly with the problems and questions I've had, but so far the book has not lived up to the expectations I had after reading the rave reviews here. There are many flaws with the presentation of Windows 2000, including information that is incomplete, inconsistent, and outdated. In addition, I've had several problems that are typical of newcomers to Windows NT but that are not covered by this book. This book may be great for people who are already comfortable with Windows NT and who aren't using Windows 2000, but others might find this book a disappointment.

Note the dates of the rave reviews. I'd agree that it is an valuable resource for running an NT 4.0 network, but times change. The material on Win2K falls way short. He must have worked from early betas of Win2K. Many things changed before the final release from the names to the location of various functions.

The treatment of central issues in Win2K like DNS, GPO's and OU's is thin to non-existent. Many features in Win2K parallel those in NT 4.0, but the "Win2K way" of doing things is ignored. For some reason our good buddies at Microsoft seem to have moved or re-named about half the functions of NT.

Hopefully there will be an updated version of the book, soon. I need to upgrade my certification by the end of the year.

The format is a lot more useful than most books I've seen and you can't fault the author too much for his mistakes. Most reference material on Win2K I've seen has similar shortcomings. Even Microsoft's own course material and the online help in Win2K has errors in naming and locating functions.

If you're working with NT 4.0 the book is very useful. If it's Win2k the book is disappointing.

Tom Doran, MCSE

John Savill has done an excellent job with this book. I bought this book after constantly going to ntfaq.com looking for help and finding the site very useful. However, what good is a website when your only NT machine is down? This book is probably not meant for novices and is not a "Learn NT by night" type. Intermediate and even advanced administrators will find it useful (who will remember all those registry paths and nuances of NT?) as a help and reference guide. The 2000 part is not as comprehensive probaly because 2000 was still in Beta at time of publication. I wish there was a way to get regular updates on paper or disk for some kind of subscription fee. I suggest John go in for a second updated edition (with a GOOD rebate for buyers of the first edition), now that the first service pack of 2000 is already out for sometime and lot of new things have happened since.

If you are trying to get answers about NT 4.0 and Windows 2000, this book has to be near your desk. Trust me, it's amazing. Don't forget to visit his home page, like his book it is a very well done job. Thanks John for your help.

This book doesn't even read like a resource manual. Rather like a story book. You can actually start reading on page one and finish it. Since I bought the book I just can not seem to put it down. It's definitely the next best thing to the invention of the wheel.

The book keeps from having to print out the e-mail FAQ and is a whole lot easier to reference. I seem to learn something new every time I open it. It is a must have for the new user and novice techincal support person. I would like to see a book dedicated to Win2ooo Ative Directory. Keep up the good work!!

This is the first book since Minasi's "Mastering NT..." that I haven't regretted purchasing. I use it daily in an enterprise environment, and I happily await the next edition.

This book is worth it's weight in gold. It is refreshing to find a book this informative.

By far one of the best books on the subject I've ever purchased. The book answers over 800 questions with just the right amount of detail. I have actually enjoyed reading this book and will be keeping it in my brief case.

If you work with NT, you need this book. It is great