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79 of 81 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Windows 7 Book Geared More Towards the Beginner to Intermediate User, December 27, 2009
This review is from: Windows 7 Bible (Paperback)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
You may be intimidated by the size of this tome when you pick it up (it is 1100+ pages) but you needn't be. It is truly a Windows 7 book geared toward the Beginner to Intermediate PC user. When I received it, I had a benchmark I was working against which is Windows 7 Inside Out. The Windows Inside/Out book was written more for the techie in mind. Very little fluff on the user interface or how to use fun and creative applications. The Inside/Out book was not a book geared for fun ... however, the Windows 7 Bible IS. The Windows 7 Bible really caters to creativity too! The first half of the book is all about getting around Windows 7, customizing your desktop and Windows experience and learning about cool new features like "Flip 3D" (press the Windows and Tab button simultaneously ... COOL). The book shows the cool, fun parts of learning Windows 7 without ever being intimidating or too technical. There are no CD's with code and the book takes you to the edge of creating a home network ... but not much farther. If you are a computer hobbyist that just needs a good reference book on getting around Windows 7, learning how to sync devices, manage files, work with media, making music, using Windows Live Mail, etc ... this is your book. If you want something much more technical that gets more into networking and performance, I suggest Windows 7 Inside Out. If you just need a book to get a handle on Windows 7 and have some fun, buy the Windows 7 Bible. It's worth the money.
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55 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Everything you need to know, January 10, 2010
This review is from: Windows 7 Bible (Paperback)
I'm a person who tried her best to hold on to XP as long as possible, but the time came that change was inevitable as my old computer died. Those who went from XP to Vista and then to W7 might have found the transition easier. But, for me,who only stayed in Vista for 2 1/2 weeks while reinstalling programs, hardware drivers, and transferring documents, the change was considerable. Since I purchased the computer just before W7 was released it came with Vista and Dell gave me a free upgrade to the W7 Home Premium Edition, and then I purchased an upgrade to the W7 Pro edition. This is a lot of change for a Grandma to adjust to, and I couldn't have done it without this book. For the Vista part of the adventure, I purchased a "missing manual" series book which was no help at all. I had to partition the secondary hard drive and couldn't make heads or tails of what it was telling me to do since it neglected to explain an intermediate step. I had to go to the internet to get clear directions. That book is thick and heavy and probably contains everything someone else needs to know, but it had nothing I tried to look up. The transition to W7 came and The Windows 7 Bible is even thicker and heavier and I wasn't looking forward to any of this. But, amazingly, whatever problem or issue came up, I could find a clear and sensible solution for in this book. It is well-indexed; logically arranged; and gives clear, logical, and sequential instructions and explanations. With this book by your side, you feel you're talking to someone efficient from tech support. When I was having problems trying to make changes to our company webpage and run some programs that were not compatible with W7 yet, I found just the advice I needed to resolve the issue quickly while staying in my comfort zone: upgrade to the Pro version and create a virtual XP machine. This works perfectly and, though it sounds complicated (the word "virtual" is a bit intimidating) by following the instructions, I was back up and running my old programs in no time. The folder structure in W7 is totally different from the folder structure in XP. Ordinary processes (like setting a restore point)are handled differently. I couldn't find where my Photoshop presets were hiding. I couldn't figure out why some programs are installed in one program folder and others in another program folder (has to do with 32 or 64 bits). I kept hitting dead ends since nothing was where I expected it to be. You can spend hours going around in circles trying to figure it out yourself, but thanks to this book you don't have to. You can find whatever you're looking for and--from setting up libraries to creating disk images--can do it easily. I have customized my computer to do things my way and am beginning to feel confident enough to put the book on the shelf instead of on my desk. I have also developed a good relationship with Windows 7 and (I think) I will come to feel as comfortable with it as I did with XP.
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33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Appeals to the Widest Audience, January 19, 2010
This review is from: Windows 7 Bible (Paperback)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
There are so many Windows 7 books out there it is hard to give any one 5 stars. This book, the Windows 7 Bible may be 5 stars to some, and well, less than 5 stars to others. Why? Because, although this book appeals to the widest audience, in that it is a perfect blend of easy to read instructions, and complete enough to not disappoint, even the avid computer user, it still is not the simple yet effective tool for the beginner. For example if you were someone who was introducing the older parent to computers for the first time, they would be challenged to use it. For that audience I recommend Windows 7 Step by Step (Step By Step (Microsoft)), it appears to be the top seller here at Amazon for those new to computing. I also like the Teach Yourself VISUALLY Windows 7 (Teach Yourself VISUALLY (Tech)) because a picture says a thousand words, and for someone who doesn't know the words that most of us take for granted, that is a great way to learn. When I was learning Excel 2007 for the first time, even though I was deeply steeped in Access 2007, I needed a quick guide that would provide the essentials, and the visual series was just right. You could turn to any section, and the clearly illustrated photos of the work screens made the procedures effortless, and unmistakable. You could pop open a page, read what you wanted to know, and be familiar enough with the function to step right through it. The number one seller, but not for beginners is the Windows 7 Inside Out, or at least not for people new to computing that don't want to spend the time to learn it more in depth. One thing I like about the Inside Out series, which I have quite a few is that they include an eBook on a CD. That way you can copy it to your hard drive and have access to the pages, and advanced search features without having to go and dig out the book. More so if you have a network you can access the eBook from any one of your PC's. Yes it does copy into any one of your PC's as well, so it is always at the ready. Pertaining to the Windows 7 Bible, the thing I am impressed about it the most is that you can crack the book on any page, and instantly know what they are talking about. The authors wanted to cover as much material as possible, but explain it in such a way that everyone would understand it. There is a large section on Windows Live Mail, which is advantageous since that one function is something used more frequently than most any other. Without going into each chapter section, the book covers the basics as well as some of the more advanced features. All in all an enjoyable read. I would recommend it.
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