David A. Karp : Windows Me Annoyances

In an ideal world, an operating system is a collection of software that handles a computer's "dirty work" invisibly, quickly, and most of all, painlessly. For many of us, however, Microsoft Windows exists outside this ideal world. We are annoyed by "personalized Menus" that keep changing, icons we don't use cluttering up our workspace, periodic crashes, unintelligible error messages, and inadequate documentation to help us figure it all out.

Windows Me Annoyances has the insider information you need for overcoming Windows' many annoyances and limitations. Whether you're looking to finally solve a nagging problem, dramatically improve system performance, or customize the interface to better suit your work habits, the Windows Me Annoyances solution-oriented format makes finding information and implementing solutions easy and pain free. Thanks to the thorough and relevant documentation on the registry, Windows Scripting Host, and Windows' built-in networking capabilities, customizing and improving Windows Me is easier than ever.

Based on the author's extremely popular Annoyances.org web sites, Windows Me Annoyances delivers an authoritative collection of techniques and tools for customizing Windows Me, including:

Several approaches and hidden tools for working with the Windows registry, the database of system- and application-specific configuration information
How to bypass Windows roadblocks such as the Home Networking and System Restore wizards, allowing you to take control of the processes quickly and painlessly
A tutorial and reference on automation with the Windows Scripting Host as a means of eliminating many Windows Me annoyances
Using third-party software and utilities to handle some of the more complex workarounds and customizations
Dealing with software that overwrites your file associations and other settings without warning

Windows Me Annoyances is the intermediate and advanced Windows user's best resource for turning Windows into the user-friendly, customizable interface it was meant to be, but doesn't always manage to be on its own.

Amazon.com Review
Anyone who's ever administered an operating system knows what happens when you take an operating system that was built over the course of many years for consumer use and supplement it with features for working with multimedia files and communicating across networks. Instability, or at best user confusion, is the prompt result. Windows Me Annoyances documents precisely such an operating system--Microsoft Windows Me--and shows how the system administrator or power user (or any user who's not afraid to get dirty hands, really) can best cope with its foibles. Presumably, it's just a coincidence that this book features a bloated, misshapen frog on its cover.

David Karp evidently set out not to write a how-to book--there are already zillions of those around--but rather a book of Windows wisdom. In explaining how to solve driver-related problems, Karp not only shows how to load a device driver into Windows, but also how to tell whether your machine is using the one that shipped on the Windows Me CD-ROM or a newer one from the manufacturer--and why you'd want to opt to install a driver through Windows rather than through an installer program. This coverage is typical of Karp's work, which would be better only if it had more information about cable modems, digital subscriber line (DSL) links, and satellite Internet connectivity. --David Wall

Topics covered: Solving problems in Microsoft Windows Me via the easiest and most effective methods possible. Techniques for solving hardware conflicts, adding features, and working around poorly designed aspects of the operating system.