Windows Vista All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies [Paperback]

Woody Leonhard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0471749419 | ISBN-13: 978-0471749417 | Edition: 1

With Vista, Windows has had an extreme makeover. Many of the features that were old friends in Windows XP now look and act differently. And if you’re thinking of upgrading to Vista but haven’t done it yet, wow — there are eight different versions! How do you know which one to choose?

That’s easy — look in Book One of Windows Vista All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies. Windows expert Woody Leonhard starts off this everything-you-want-to-know-about -Vista guide by helping you choose the version that fits your needs. He follows that with minibooks Two through Nine, each devoted to one specific area — setting up, securing, and customizing Vista, going online, adding cool hardware, getting the most from multimedia, exploring Vista video, and setting up a network. You’ll find out about:

• Ripping and burning discs of data, music, or movies
• Organizing desktop files and folders
• Collecting and editing your digital photos in the Photo Gallery
• Controlling users, making backups, and maintaining your system
• Locking down your system to deflect spam, scams, spyware, phishers, and viruses
• Exploring alternatives to Internet Explorer
• Adding hard drives, printers, key drives, USB hubs, and other hardware
• Making movies, adding music to your iPod, and setting up Media Center

Covering almost anything you will ever need to know for a long and happy relationship with Vista, Windows Vista All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies is a guide you’ll refer to again and again.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

9 books in 1 — your key to Windows Vista survival!

Your one-stop guide to new Vista features, video, music, networks, cool hardware, and more

Tame and tease Vista's new features with the expert advice in these handy minibooks. From gadgets to glass, desktops to downloads, backups to browsers, find what you need to know about Vista, iPods, free antivirus software, pictures, scumbusting, Windows renovation and resuscitation, and much more.

Discover how to

• Choose and install the right Vista version
• Rip and burn discs of data, music, or movies
• Organize your desktop files and folders
• Spruce up pictures in the Photo Gallery
• Play music and podcasts anywhere

About the Author

Woody Leonhard's wisdom and straight-shooting style have saved many from Windows agony. He invented the "MS-DEFCON" system for consumers to safely apply patches. He runs the AskWoody.com Web site and has written a dozen For Dummies books.

Product Details

• Paperback: 792 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (December 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471749419
• ISBN-13: 978-0471749417
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #421,535 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I've written a whole lotta computer books over the years, starting with "Windows Programming for Mere Mortals" in 1991, going through the "Hacker's Guide to Word for Windows" (with Vince Chen and Scott Krueger), the "Mother of All Windows Books" and "Mother of All PC Books" series (all with Barry Simon), then the "Underground Guides" to Word, Office, Telecommuting, and many more, "Word Annoyances", the "Woody Teaches Office" series, and the "Special Edition Using Office" series (with Ed Bott). I'm probably best-known for my "Dummies" books, which tell the straight story (whether Microsoft likes it or not!) in a way that won't put you to sleep.

My books have been translated into dozens of languages, and are widely available at bookstores, computer shops and warehouse chains all over the world. I've edited several series of books for various publishers. I've also written hundreds of magazine articles, most recently for PC World and the late, lamented PC/Computing magazine. I used to publish a handful of electronic newsletters, and print newsletters before that, but now confine myself to dispensing news, advice, and a wee bit o' insight, at www.AskWoody.com and my column in the Windows Secrets newsletter, www.WindowsSecrets.com.

I started in the computer book biz in a very odd way. I wrote a novel. An action-adventure novel, no less, set in Saudi Arabia. I never found a publisher, although I keep threatening to dust the novel off and submit it again. But along the way, I came to know - and love and hate - a brand new word processor known as Word for Windows. I wrote a lengthy electronic book about all of WinWord 1.10's bugs, which were legion, and how to work around a whole bunch of 'em. Posted it on CompuServe. Andrew Schulman (who wrote "Undocumented DOS" and "Undocumented Windows" among many others) stumbled into my "Hacker's Guide to the Univers", and he asked me to write a book for him. It all went downhill from there.

My writing has won an unprecedented eight Computer Press Association awards and two American Business Press awards - more than any other computer book author, I think. I was one of the first Microsoft Consulting Partners, and a charter member of the Microsoft Solutions Provider organization.

I still think of computers as a "means", not an "end". I wonder when people lost sight of the fact that PCs were invented to make life easier, to get your work done and get home early. I firmly believe that PCs make passable slaves but horrible masters.

I'm impressed with much of what Microsoft is doing to Windows, although the continuing security screw-ups really leave me shaking my head. I'm much less impressed with what's happening to Offfice. In my opinion, Microsoft is using its monopoly on the desktop to sell more server software, making Office updates less and less compelling for the individual or small business user. Like me. And I'm appalled that Microsoft is now selling a "service" that protects us from the flaws in their own product.

Yes, indeed, the gods must be crazy.

I went to grad school in Boulder, Colorado (M.S. and A.B.D. in CS/Software Engineering), worked in Saudi Arabia for five years, then spent 15 years on top of a mountain in the Rockies. I moved to Phu ket in 2000, with my teenage son, Cocker spaniel and beagle. I live in the hills above Patong now, with my long-time girlfriend, Add. If you ever get to Phu ket, drop me a line! It's an incredibly beautiful place to visit. Or to live, for that matter.