This book has the great advantage of presenting such a difficult subject just like a personal teacher would do. It's written in a clear way and explains some important concepts about the 8086 processor.My advice is:if you want to learn assembler here's a good book to start with (even if it seems a little dated!)

I've read this book, and I really liked it. It is great. It teaches assembly language in a simple a versatile way. If you want lo learn Assembly language, this is a MUST-READ.

Norton and Socha's authority makes this book a must to every "beginner" assembly programmer. This book presents basic items such as binary numbers, registers & basic arithmetic inside the 8086 family processors into part 1. The contents of the book becomes closely related with DSKPATCH - a real program written in assembly - so the reader has a UNIQUE opportunity to see how real programmers (and here Norton is a PC guru) use step-wise refinements techniques and modular projects in a real world. The 2nd edition is based in MASM 5/5.1, Borland TASM and OPTASM features. Maybe we must wait for MASM 6.1 update... then it'll become a rating 10...

"Norton's Hut" is definitely thought-provoking--I would recommend it if only for the questions it raises on perceptions/reality as characters question what they think they remember and what their friends remember. Marsden's characterizations of a group of teenagers are also so vivid that reading is almost like watching a movie in your head. Although not quite as much of a page-turner as Marsden's "Tommorow when the War Began" series, "Norton's Hut" is definitely an enjoyable read. A word to parents: if you have problems with some mature language and behavior, it might be advisable to read the book yourself before giving it to a child under 12.

As well as being a very creepy story, this book has some of the most beautiful illustrations that I've ever seen. The pictures are full of details which add to the impact of the story, and are a very accurate representation of the lovely Australian Alps (through which the kids are hiking) - they actually look photographic until you take a closer look.

I was surprised that this book wasn't shortlisted in the Australian Children's Book Awards, but did at least rate a mention in the notable books list.

Designed for the intermediate users of Windows XP, this book, "Peter Norton's Complete Guide to Windows XP" is well-written and well-detailed.
With the analyses that covered both the Home and the Professional editions of Windows XP, it contains every information any intermediate user of the software would need. However, the more acquainted a user of this book is with any of the Windows 9x editions, the easier he or she will find this book. Even power-users appreciate the helpful annotations that are found in most of the sections.
But given the listed price of this book, it is a shame that Norton did not back it up with a CD-ROM. Nearly all comparable texts come with attached easy-to-use CD-ROMs, which serve as comprehensive e-books. And although that I still agree that this is a good book, I will say that its value for money ranks lower than those of many comparable texts that come with CD-ROMs.

Peter Norton's Complete Guide To Windows XP will introduce and discuss all of the new XP features in a style that is both conceptual and informative. Topics include why and when to upgrade to XP and if so, how to do it, understanding services and their configurations, explanation of the new internet options, such as third party cookie alert, firewalls, and web publishing wizard. Value information included on registry configurations and why the configurations work as they do, networking topics and integration ideas for home networks as well as explanations about using the networking wizards and understanding how XP works with software and hardware.

I purchased this book because Win XP Professional as it is preinstalled is very slow and I sought answers on how to enhance performance. This book had the most thorough section on performance enhancement which I followed with great success. I did have one problem and emailed the author who was kind enough to respond and solve it.

I found the book to be well laid out and written to allow a wide range of users to understand the operation and configuration of Windows 2000. The examples contained are precise and step by step so that the novice or expert can easily find the path to a well structured operating system in their home or office PC. The forward references found in the initial chapters allow the reader to fast forward to places of special interest or need and delve into the details or specific functions they are searching for. I believe this will be a valuble addition to any Windows 2000 users library.

I bought this book expecting the usual coverage of how to work with Windows and some theory. I got a lot more. When I ran into problems with my printer, I was able to go into the troubleshooting section and get useful advice on how to fix it. I also found the MSMQ coverage helpful. The company I'm working for is looking at this technology and knowing how to set things up is a real plus.

I found this book to be exactly as advertised. The indexing was easy to follow and the book well written in plain English. There seems to be an understanding for the people that buy this book really need it. My enjoyment of Windows 2000 improved 100% and is still on the up swing. I can, without a minute's hesitation, recommend this book for the beginner and up; I was a beginner in Windows 2000 after all. Thanks for a great book.

This was the first book I read on computers, when I didn't know anything about them. That was two years ago and now that I look back it was a decent book. I remember reading it and being fascinated, even though some stuff was a little complex. All in all this was a good book. If you're an absolute newbie then read it.

This book is not good for advanced users though. Whether it claims to be or not, DON'T BUY THIS BOOK IF YOU KNOW A FAIR AMOUNT ABOUT COMPUTER HARDWARE ALREADY. If you do you will be disappointed. That's why I always go for books that are more advanced to push myself.

.. I was not overly impressed. Being new to the inner workings of a PC I was immediately lost. I've had to read chapters over in order to understand what the authors are trying to say. What has helped me was another computer manual that was beutifully illustrated and helped me to recognize the parts & pieces of hardware that Mr. Norton referred to in his book. I did like the glossary though. This book is definitely not one to recommend to beginners.

Peter Norton's Inside the PC, Eighth Edition, and holds your attention better than most other technical books. It is written in a conversational style, which is easy to understand. Norton lays out his topics logically beginning with basic hardware information and becoming increasingly more complex. He uses pictures, graphs, and tables sparingly, only when necessary. Some of the most interesting sections are his Historical Asides, Notes, Technical Notes, Tips, Standards, and his own Principles, which come from his personal experience. There is a Quick Navigator inside the front cover that tells you where in the book to find general areas of information. The book has a useful glossary and a cross-referenced index. This is a good informational book at an intermediate level.

Most of this book expands on topics of no interest to anyone who has a life. The prose is dense and hard to take. There are many technical details no one in their right mind would care about, even slightly.

You would think such a title would, at least, have its share of useful information. Trust me, it's slim pickings.

Out of 1160 pages of text, there are three on startup problems. Basically, you are told to start in Safe Mode. If you can't, good luck!

An example of the type of help you can expect is on page 20 of Chapter One (introductory material): "A value could tell you which interrupt and I/O port settings a piece of hardware uses. Suffice it to say that you'll find the value you need by using the keys, but you'll find the actual information you need by reading the values. There are three types of values: binary, string, and DWORD. Usually, only applications use the binary and DWORD value types. Values usually store configuration data in a format that can't be understood by humans."

I will modestly add, the way the early topics are explained is truly extraterrestrial. But for people who usually reside on this planet (as, I think, I do) this book is to be avoided. I kick myself for having wasted hours trying to follow the first two hundred or so pages.

This book would do well in a competition for the worst book ever written in the English language. I recommend it as a collector's item for that reason.

The authors got me up and running very fast. I didn't care all that much about details at first and this book avoided those details until later. The best thing it did at first was get me on the Internet with few hassles.

The power primers helped get my overloaded and underpowered system running better. I don't have the money to upgrade my system every few months, so getting the most out of what I have now is very important.

Once I did run into problems with my machine, the various theory and troubleshooting sections helped a lot. I found Chapter 15 especially helpful when I couldn't get games to run properly. The material on DirectX was great, even if it is a little out of date.

So, if you're looking for a book that's going to give you everything you need, try this one. I found that it really helped me when I needed it.

John Mueller and this book have saved me more hours of grief with Windows 95 than I could have imagined any one book would do. For example, when I needed some recommendation about how to keep my machine running correctly, I found everything I needed. There are sections on backup, regular maintenance like diagnostics and disk optimization, and some simple troubleshooting. I also found sections on the use of various files that other books don't even hint at. One such example appears in Chapter 9 where the author explains what the various compatibility files like Autoexec.bat are used for.

This book is a tad theory heavy, but even here the author excels. I now know how various parts of Windows 95 operate, making it much easier for me to diagnose problems with my system. The clear and easy to understand diagrams are a real plus. Again, the author lists filenames in the theory section. These file listings recently helped me fix a problem DLL (also known as DLL hell) by simply copying a new version of the DLL over the old one.

One of the authors, John Mueller, thoughtfully left his email address as part of the About the Author. I contacted him and found him extremely helpful and thoughtful of my concerns. Even though Windows 95 is old news, the author spent considerable time helping me use his book more effectively and even helped me around some problems areas within the book.

About the only two problems with this book are the index (not the author's fault since the publisher puts this together for him) and the lack of new hardware information. However, considering this book was put out before much of the modern hardware appeared on the scene, I can hardly blame the author for this oversight. My only thought is that he should keep the book up-to-date better for those of us who are still using Windows 95 and not filling Microsoft's pockets by buying Windows 98.

If you want a complete history of the Microsoft operating system, this is the book for you. It also gives a overview of the system and can help you see how the parts are connected. Unfortanetly, it seems to be written for someone who is upgrading from DOS V.1. The authors seem most concerned with getting old DOS programs and old hardware to work in Windows 98 and assume that anyone with new components and windows programs will never have a problem. This is not true!

The book assumes you are already familier with the old diagnostic tools. For example, it tells you that the untility Dr Watson is much improved but only hints at what the utility does and gives no instruction for using it. (you will not find Dr Watson on the start menu so new users will not be able to even open it.)

I bought the book mainly because I have a software problem with my new computer. This book told me about starting in safe mode and went on to say that if that did not work the problem could be very difficult to track down. Thank you Mr Norton.

Fortanetly.

Despite the fact that Millenium and Win2K have been released, for support folks the version of Windows we most often encounter is still Win98. This book has just about everything you need to know about Windows 98 right there between the covers.

Unlike one of the other previous reviewers, I found the background and theory portions of the book to be incredibly useful in figuring out just what has gotten out of whack with a system that is giving me fits. The explanations of memory usage, peripheral drivers, and FAT32 should be required reading for anyone who does more than word processing on their computer.

The plus of buying this book is that you get a lot of useful information. There were few questions that I couldn't answer by reading a bit. I found that the information was much better organized than the Microsoft documentation and more complete as well.

In addition, the author provides really good productivity tips that have made working with Windows a pleasant experience. I usually don't have a lot of time to waste getting things done, so anything that helps me work more efficiently is welcome.

The big negative for this book is that the author spends a lot of time discussing theory. He'll talk about how things work for pages at a time. While this is OK if you have a lot of time to read, it's time consuming to dig through pages of theory to find the one piece of useful information you need. I did find the theory useful, so I can't say the author was completely wrong in adding it to the book, I just wish all of the theory had been included in separate sections so I could ignore it.

I gave the book five stars because it is an essential reference despite the organizational flaws. Any book that can fix as many problems as this one can deserves high marks. Perhaps the author will include less theory the next time around.

After having this book (1st ed.) on my shelf for several years, I am compelled to write a review. This book seldom provides answers to any of my NT questions. Recently, after installing a remote disk drive, I encountered a STOP error (fatal error) upon startup. The error message said something about an IRQ problem. The only mention of IRQ in the book's index refers to a single paragraph in the glossary. There was nothing on errors, debugging, system errors, dump files, log files ... anything that would help me understand the problem. This has been my experience every time I open this book. It more likely to infuriate than to inform. However, at nearly 900 pages it does make a good bookend.

I've used this book over the years with enthusiasm. Even though it is somewhat out of date, Norton's books, as always, make it easy to understand what he has to say.

i made a mistake by buying this book. too complex for starters. nothing is explained in detail. More description is given on the networking concepts than on the OS(WIN NT4). i would not recommend this book to anybody, there are better books on NT4.

I want to be clear that I am speeking specifically about information given in chapter one regarding windows 95. The author claimes that Win 95 is not dependent upon DOS, which is totaly false. Win95 and Win98 do, indeed, run on top of DOS which accounts for the backward compatability. Windows NT (New Technology) makes a clean break from DOS. Additionally, the book mentions problems with WinNT repeatedly but fails to point out that none of the problems associated with WinNT are present in Linux.

A great reference book filled with tips & tricks that are based upon real-world practical experiences. Like most Norton products, this book is "complete" and is a pleasant change of pace from other books that talk about "theory" and pay little attention to "experience."

A must read for computer folks that use and work with NT Workstation.

This book lacks any real substance about the Delphi language and merely glosses over topics. Leave it on the shelf and the money in your pocket.

Tthis is not only the worst technical book I have ever seen, but is worse than I could have ever imagined. It totally fails to meet any of the promises on the cover. It contains a very superficial look at Delphi using a cookbook approach, padded out with long sections of irrelevant material (e.g. descriptions of Windows API functions, a section on writing DLLs in C), some of which are just inaccurate (e.g. the sections on the Registry and OLE). It is quite clear that the author only has a superficial knowledge of Delphi and prefers writing about other subjects he understands or half-understands

While this book is mostly unremarkable, it has an informative chapter on how to interact with a network via the Windows API, dynamically map drives, capture printers, etc.