Upgrading and Repairing Microsoft Windows (2nd Edition) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I should first state that I am a BIG fan of Scott Mueller and his book series "Upgrading and Repairing PCs". Mueller is THE authority when it comes to PC hardware and I've been his fan since 1995. Thus, I decided to order his first book on the Windows operating system.
Now here's the review of U&R Windows:
Pros:
Mueller goes into the history of DOS and Windows in very intricate detail in the first chapter and it's very interesting. He then proceeds to cover Windows operating system upgrades and installation scenarios. A detailed explanation of the product activation is explained and is most intriguing. Mueller also goes over the different versions of Windows (OEM, Retail and Volume) with differences in each.
Then he goes in the various processes used in Windows startup routines in his famous "last to the minute detail" explanation of registry entries, and system processes. A healthy and detailed list of Windows services, what they are and how they work are given in chapter 4 and reading this chapter was quite enjoyable.
The rest of the book follows with networking, tweaking, troubleshooting, file systems, data recovery, securing the operating system and scripting. I was quite pleased to see a section detailing on how you can reset a Windows administrator password.
Cons:
Chapter 8 of the book, Protecting and Securing Windows, needs a serious re-write and is the most disappointing part of the book. Although 3 competing software firewall are discussed (Norton Personal Firewall, Tiny Personal Firewall and Sygate Personal Firewall), only 2 anti-virus programs (Norton Antivirus 2005 and AVG Free Edition) are discussed. Where is NOD32, Kaspersky or Mcafee?
The spyware removal section is the standard "lock, stock and barrel" answer of using Ad-Aware and Spybot to clean off spyware, with a suggestion to use HighJackThis at the very end. For an advanced Windows repair book like this, I was really expecting more from Mueller.
Completely missing from the book is mention of any of the freeware Sysinternals utilities (Filemon, Regmon, Autoruns, etc) that are so vital to troubleshooting Windows (and FREE!). A discussion of Windows PE or BartPE would make this book golden. Device detection information using system information utilites such as Everest, PCI32 or Belarc Advisor would also be an asset to this book.
Also, a scripting chapter (presumeably made by Brian Knittel, co-author of the book) goes in "deep and heavy" into scripting and seems out of place in a book like this.
Summary:
Overall, I like this book. It appears, however, that Mueller's authority is mostly in the hardware arena and not in the software one.

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The ultimate guide for anyone who wants to know how Windows ticks and how to keep it ticking.Upgrading and Repairing Microsoft Windows, Second Edition, is the book hardcore Windows Vista and XP users have been clamoring for. Mueller, author of the bestselling Upgrading and Repairing PCs, and Knittel, famous for his bestselling Special Edition Using Windows books, now bring you an equally in-depth guide to Windows troubleshooting and repair. This comprehensive resource includes information on:Installation

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