BKPEUW98.RVW   981016

"Platinum Edition Using Windows 98", Ed Bott/Ron Person, 1998,
0-7897-1489-2, U$49.99/C$71.95/UK#46.99
%A   Ed Bott
%A   Ron Person
%C   201 W. 103rd Street, Indianapolis, IN   46290
%D   1998
%G   0-7897-1489-2
%I   Macmillan Computer Publishing (MCP)
%O   U$49.99/C$71.95/UK#46.99 800-858-7674 http://www.mcp.com
%P   1108 p. + 2 CD-ROM
%T   "Platinum Edition Using Windows 98"

The very first sentence in the introduction should be enough to
convince you that this book is *not* intended as any competition to
"Windows 98 Annoyances."  Windows 98, and Microsoft, is lauded in the
strongest possible terms, which does not bode well for dealing with
problem issues.

Part one looks at the basics.  There is a chapter on new features in
Win 98 (rather padded with verbiage), instruction on starting and
stopping, common elements of the interface, and the help system.  Part
two reviews disk and file management.  Given the major place of the
new Active Desktop interface, I was astonished to find its
introduction, in chapter five, to be so short, although more
information is given in chapter eight.  Two chapters look at standard
file management, and a final chapter provides a truly excellent base
introduction to disk management.  The suggestions on application in
part three are pretty much the usual, although the chapter on Notepad
and WordPad has some very interesting tips.  System management is the
emphasis of part four, with basic discussion of system information,
backup, the Registry, and scripting.  Most of the configuration
coverage is fairly standard in part five.  Most of the Internet
review, in part six, deals with applications such as MS Internet
Explorer and Outlook Express rather than the net itself.  I was,
however, dismayed at the content of chapter thirty-two, dealing very
tersely with important and complex issues, and devoting a great deal
of space to the use of proxy servers and other systems which are very
effective, but probably beyond even advanced users unless they also
manage large networks.  Part seven deals with local network issues and
is, again, very simple in approach.  A series of appendices looks
quickly at installation, messaging and fax, PowerToys, command line
reference, and special notebook features.

As usual with the larger "Using" series books, the multiplicity of
authors makes the style and level uneven.  Some chapters are good,
some are bad, but most of this book is simple documentation
replacement.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1998   BKPEUW98.RVW   981016