Windows XP Best Books ?

While viewing a thread in a Microsoft Forum on XP books, a few interesting things were said. One was how extremely comprehensive a Goggle search was for any computer question, with thousands of choices. Others posted that Google was truely great for a specific question or troubleshoot, it is always nice to have one or two good books to brouse through and refer to. A couple of books mentioned were: "Windows XP Inside Out" (2nd Edition) 1,344 pgs. by Bott, Siechert and Stinson. Pub. 2004. This $44.99 book is available at Amazon.com for $17.99 brand new. There is also a Deluxe Edition which retails for $59.99 that is more advanced. It is discounted also. The other book mentioned was much more advanced: "Windows XP Professional Resource Kit" (3rd Edition) 1,523 pgs. by The Microsoft Windows Team with Charlie Russel and Sharon Crawford. Comes with CD Rom. $59.99 retail, $30 discounted. Amazon didn't have this one. These two books seemed too advanced for me, but while I was at Amazon, I ordered a book that seemed a little more intermediate in scope: "Special Edition Using Microsoft Windows XP Home" (3rd Edition) by Cowart & Knittel 1,075 pgs. Pub.2005. Retail $44.99. Amazon had this brand new book with CD ROM for (brace yourself) $3.45 ! Re-entered for verification: $3.45 I was so surprized that I ordered one. (July 29). The shipping was more than the book! $3.99 It seems that since Vista came out, they are unloading these XP books. Please post if you are using this book, and let us know what you think of it. I was hoping to get a few more leads on XP books that you think would be helpful to me and to others reading this Thread.
Please indicate whether the book is (beg.) beginer (int.) intermediate or (adv.) advanced. It would also help if you rated the book on a scale from 1-10. A 10 being super good. Example: (int.) (R-9). Thanks

 

On a post at a Microsoft Forum, a fellow noted that when he checked for info on logging-in in Secure Mode in Windows XP Gigabook for Dummies, 882 pgs., he found nothing at all in any chapter or in the index. He was disapointed and remarked about being continually insulted by a joke book. He asked how anyone would ever consider giving a Dummies book as a gift! A bit harsh, wouldn't you agree? There are some that probably enjoy this kind of humor.

 

Oops! I quoted using the wrong word. It was safe mode. Looks like I am the Dummie. :cry

 

please don't be offended you geeks us dummies need it simple

i found this site a while ago and its handy for beginners

http://www.teacherclick.com/winxp/index.htm

 

My "Bible" is Windows XP Annoyances for Geeks, 2nd edition, covers SP2, by David A. Karp. Check out www.annoyances.org ISBN 0-596-00876-7
640 pages and around USD$35 initially.

It covers everything I wanted to know when learning XP. I guess it is for Intermediate users up to Experts, but is written in such a clear way that beginners could use it, and increase their knowledge at the same time.:major

My copy is 2 years old, and well dogeared. I used it continuously for a long time, and still use it on a regular basis. I would be lost without it to jog my memory on various tips, tweaks, etc.

Bazza