NWA-PCUG Newsletter Article
Windows 95 & NT: A Crash Course From Mike Murach & Associates
A Book Review by Carl Bethea, January 98
cbethea@arvest.com
(click to email author)


This book is different than any computer book I have ever used in a number of ways. First it is only 50 pages from start to finish. As the title states this is a crash course and is not intended to be a complete study of these two operating systems. It states very clearly in the introduction that the book is to be used as a quick start guide for people on the job, who do not have time for lengthy study guides or training classes. In the goal to be a crash course, the book is a complete success.

My next observation is that this book is again a crash course and not a complete guide to either system. I find it very hard to understand why anyone would buy this book. The concept of a crash course is good, but I keep thinking it would be better as the first part of a complete guide. I don't think I would pay even the low price of $10, only to find myself having to buy a complete system guide at full value within a short time. If this guide was in the front of a complete system guide book, I would be drawn toward that book over a plain system guide without the crash course. I keep thinking of this book like a TV Guide with only the hours of 7:00pm to 10:00pm in it. Sure, most of the shows you watch are going to be listed, but eventually you will want to see something at a different time, and you will be left to channel surf without a guide. Just as with this book, you will find yourself soon mouse clicking in uncharted parts of the system.

The book takes quick looks at the Start Menu, windows, other menus, dialog boxes, working with drives, and more. Again, not a bad book, just somewhat incomplete for someone about to earn a living working on a computer with Windows 95 or NT. I am sure for some people this book will be a good starting place, and for others a quick way to move skills from older versions of Windows. But I still feel that somewhere down the road, additional information, either in the form of a more advanced training course, or another book will have to be looked into.

Mike Murach & Associates
2560 West Shaw Lane, Suite 101
Fresno, California 93711-2765
209-275-3335, Fax 209-275-9035
800-221-5528

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