Mastering Windows XP Professional [Paperback]

If you've never used a prior version of Windows, and are just looking for a book to get you started with XP, you will probably be happy with this book. Indeed, it may be the better book for beginners. However, I'd still recommend buying Microsoft Windows XP Inside Out instead. BOTH books address most questions you'll have from simple to complex, but "Inside Out", in my opinion, is easier to understand, easier from which to get answers and goes into greater depth in a clearer style on the advanced issues. Even if you're a novice, you may eventually appreciate the greater depth and the extra details that can sometimes make the whole picture fall into place.

I ordered both books from Amazon because I wanted to learn how to use "Share-Level Access", available in Windows 95/98/Me, in Windows XP. Specifically, I wanted to assign a "Read-Only" and "Full Access" password to my hard drive on my Windows XP Professional computer and share it with my other Windows 98 and Windows ME computers on my Windows peer-to-peer network. In "Microsoft Windows XP Inside Out" I found the answer in "Chapter 31: Managing Shared Folders and Printers" at the top of page 947 under the heading "A Third Model: Share-Level Access in Windows 95/98/Me". The "answer" is that Share-Level access no longer exists in Windows XP Professional, and unfortunately the "work around" requires setting up appropriate user accounts on the XP computer for the 9X/Me computers that wish to gain access to the XP computer. I was unable to find this answer in "Mastering Windows XP Professional". Also, in researching this question in "Mastering Windows XP Professional", I found the following quote in the chapter "Connecting to Windows XP Peer-to-Peer Networks and Domains" on page 641 under the heading Creating Shares:

"WARNING If you are using the NTFS file system on your computer and the other computers are using FAT or FAT32, they will not be able to access a drive on your computer even if it is shared."

Since I knew from my own experience that this was clearly wrong, I notified SYBEX, the publishers. To their credit they provide their website address on the back of the book, and on the site they invite you to report errors via an easy to use online form. Imagine my great surprise when I got a speedy e-mail reply (in one day) and soon thereafter got a personal phone call from Sybex management thanking me for bringing the matter to their attention, asking for suggestions for further improvements, and promising a speedy correction, which I believe they will implement. To err is human, but for a company to admit it, correct it, and provide that level of customer service is divine. I'll be keeping both books.

One of the problems with a book of this size and ambition is determining the goal of the author and from there determine if the book meets that goal. To this extent, the title "Mastering Windows XP Professional" should cover the details of the operating system. In this text Mark Minasi at times gives too much detail on items that are, and should be, covered well in other books (for example, HTML programming) and at other times properly keeps the coverage at an overview level because there are exhaustive texts available (for example, Windows Scripting Host or configuring IIS).

The book does what it promises in allowing a new or experienced user to master Windows XP Professional without trying to make them an IT, Networking, or Integration professional by covering many topics outside the realm of the basic XP operating system. Also, as is common with Minasi's books, this is not designed to be a study guide for certification but a reference for real-life users to deal with and resolve real-life problems.

Does this mean that this is the definitive text on Windows XP Professional? No. While it is an excellent text, it does not rise up to the level of Mark's other books. There seems to be a pattern developing in his works. For example, "Mastering Windows 2000 Professional" was somewhat disappointing, but the second edition became the definitive text. He is obviously listening to what people say about the books and incorporating their comments into the second and successive versions.

All-in-all it is well worth the money and a great reference book. It is well organized and covers several areas that are skipped over or minimally covered in other books. For example, Internet Connection Sharing is better documented here than in any other text I have seen to date. A recommended buy, but expect the second edition to become the definitive text on the subject when it comes out (as they always do).

But then if I find even a few tidbits that make my life easier when supporting MS products (which can be a royal pain), I consider the book to be well worth it.

If you are looking at supporting XP, don't assume that its the same as 2000. Get this book, read it over, and find out what new goodies they put into this release.