Last time, we tiptoed through the vast field of books for Windows 98 beginners, finding some gems in the midst of the hundred-or-so books best described as wholly adequate. This month, we dig a little deeper, get serious about learning Windows 98 inside out, and try not to get lost in all the gory details involved in understanding this most wondrous of all things: a new Microsoft operating system. (OK, so it’s more of an upgraded operating system. Don’t quibble.)

This month’s crop of books is intermediate to advanced Windows 98 books, varying from books that start basic and progress well beyond what beginners want to know to books that assume you’re writing Windows 98 programs and just need a few bits of arcane information to round out your already impressive knowledge. As befitting such a vast subject material, these books range from already hefty phone-book-thick tomes to a 1,800-page cinder block of a book that almost needs casters to be portable. There is, it seems, a lot to know about Windows 98. Let’s ease into this by looking at the starting-basic-progressing-to-intermediate volumes.

Start Me Out Easy, If You Please
Windows 98: The Complete Reference by John Levine and Margaret Levine Young (Osborne/McGraw-Hill, $40) starts with the basics (“What are windows and dialog boxes?”) but moves quickly to intermediate-level topics. This is a factual, no-nonsense, let’s-get-down-to-business book that covers all the essential aspects of Windows 98 and much of the non-essential. It has a long networking section, and is one of the few books with a section on the Windows Scripting Host. It sticks primarily with Windows 98 itself, not mentioning third-party products that extend the program’s capabilities. It’s good, competent, useful material, presented somewhat drily (exactly as many readers want it). The included CD-ROM contains the book in Web-browser-readable HTML format, full of hypertext links. Someday all computer books will include such a CD, making finding specific information within the book a breeze.

Craig Stinson’s Running Microsoft Windows 98 (Microsoft Press, $40) also starts with the basics and proceeds to the intermediate level, but it keeps the tone a little more accessible to bright beginners. It covers the primary points of Windows 98 interest nicely in a clear, accessible style that harbors occasional colorful phrases to keep you awake. It, too, includes the book’s text on CD-ROM, but it requires Internet Explorer 4 to read it. This book is for those who want to stop at the lower end of intermediate-level coverage.

Another Microsoft Press book, Microsoft Windows 98 Companion by Martin Matthews ($30), aims at the same audience, but sticks to covering the core functions of Windows 98. It places a special emphasis on multimedia operations, and includes a long section on using NetMeeting video. The areas covered here are explained thoroughly and accurately, without glossing over uncomfortable details. If you’re interested in multimedia computing, start with this book.

Let That Be a Lesson To You
Most books that teach in lessons are for beginners, but Sams has an excellent series of lesson-format books for intermediate users. Sams Teach Yourself Windows 98 in 21 Days by Paul Cassel and Michael Hart (Sams, $30) speaks effectively to the intermediate user wanting to get up to speed with Windows 98. While it never gets into professional-level detail, it doesn’t shy away from taking its explanations into fairly technical territory. The daily lesson format provides clear organization and digestible chunks of information. In these books, the lesson paraphernalia (exercises, reviews, homework, etc.) is often just academic window dressing, but here you’ll find it to be truly useful. The writing has personality enough to make it pleasant reading, but is not overbearing. If you plan a concentrated study of Windows 98, this book is just the ticket.

Windows 95 Begat Windows 98. . .
Two books claim to be Windows 98 scriptures; both titles contain the phrase “Windows 98 Bible.” Book titles cannot be copyrighted, so both can have the same title. Luckily, there’s a distinction.

Alan Simpson’s Windows 98 Bible by (you’ll never guess) Alan Simpson (IDG, $40) is another one-size-fits-all book that starts basic (“Monitor: The big TV-like thing. . .”) and ambles on into mid-intermediate territory, with occasional forays into the near-advanced, such as its section on the Windows Scripting Host. The style is semi-formal, spiced with an occasional dash of personality. The book’s CD-ROM includes shovelsful of shareware programs that are widely available for download, except that publishing lead-time probably means that many will not be the current versions. It’s a perfectly adequate book.

The Windows 98 Bible by Fred Davis and Kip Crosby (Peachpit, $35) is a masterpiece. The writing has personality, life, and interest, but doesn’t work at being funny. The book is what two pleasant, knowledgeable, friendly guys have to tell us about Windows 98 after living, breathing, eating, and drinking it all during its rather extended development time. Two areas I checked in all the books were the discussions of FAT32 drives and DriveSpace disk compression. This book not only explains these matters clearly and in more detail than the others, but it also gives us real-world performance test results under the various choices you could make. The results are surprising. Other authors decided what they thought the results ought to be and advised accordingly. These authors checked it out and tell it like it is. They also do not limit themselves to the off-the-shelf Windows 98. When third-party programs extend Windows 98’s capabilities in useful ways, the authors let us know. If I had to buy just one Windows 98 book, I’d buy this one without a moment’s hesitation.

Not Elementary, Not Advanced-Just—Intermediate
In October’s review of beginners’ books, we reviewed a book from Que named Using Windows 98. This time, we find not one, but two books from Que with variations on that title: Using Windows 98, Special Edition by Ed Bott and Ron Person (Que, $40) and Using Windows 98, Platinum Edition by Ed Bott and Ron Person (Que, $50). They are the same book, except that the Platinum Edition has six extra chapters and an additional CD-ROM, giving it more advanced coverage of Internet and networking topics. Both books are the product of a committee of writers, who take a chapter or two each, resulting in a facts-only, generic writing style. Both books explain how and why things work, with extensive details. The common CD-ROM contains the encyclopedic Macmillan Windows Knowledge Base as well as a group of shareware and demo utility programs. The second CD-ROM adds the Microsoft Windows Knowledge Base. As always, the Using series books are full of solid, useful information.

Over the years, I’ve given high marks to the various books in the Peter Norton series. Unfortunately, Peter Norton’s Complete Guide to Windows 98 by Peter Norton and John Paul Mueller (Sams, $30) doesn’t quite measure up to the rest of the series. There are several clues that it’s merely a patchwork update of an earlier Windows 95 book and I found at least one significant feature (DriveSpace 3) that was all but left out. Nevertheless, it’s not a bad book. It’s aimed at the more experienced user; some intermediate users may feel their horizons stretching as they read (and understand) sections that go beyond their comfort zones.

Technical Details Galore
For more of the technical details, try Inside Windows 98 by Jim Boyce (New Riders, $40). The explanations here go deeper into the how and why of things, while still remaining clear enough for a non-professional to understand. It delves into registry matters and advanced configuration options, and takes the networking discussion into near-professional territory. It has material for site managers who administer groups of Windows 98 computers and even has an appendix telling us how to hang onto Microsoft Fax from Windows 95, which Windows 98 inexplicably dropped. Sometimes there’s just no substitute for knowledge of the nitty-gritty technical details; this book fills that need.

For even more nuts and bolts, get Windows 98 Unleashed by Paul McFedries (Sams, $35). This book takes you all the way to heavy, professional-level detail while keeping the explanations clear enough for non-professionals to understand—if they work at it a little. The section on installing Windows 98 provides hundreds of picky but important details that can prevent untold problems from striking your installation process. Marvelous, useful tidbits of information are scattered throughout the book. Although I read about 50 books’ explanations of FAT32 drives and the related issue of slack space, for example, this is the only one that mentioned that typing “DIR /s /a /v” to a DOS prompt will reveal how much slack space is loitering on the drive. Several other books told us we’d have to buy a separate program to find this out. This book is for near-professional users who need useful, real-world information.

Special Purpose Books
Windows 98 Secrets by Brian Livingston and Davis Straub (IDG, $50) was written to be the ultimate in practical advice from super-knowledgeable mentors. It aims to give us undocumented features, little-known tips and tricks, and other “secrets” of Windows 98. It plans to tell us about other programs that fill the gaps left in Windows 98. Does it accomplish these noble-minded goals? Yes, I believe it does. You won’t get a lot of highly advanced, professional-level super-secrets; instead you get many things a bright beginner can understand and a lot that requires intermediate-level knowledge and experience. It’s not a thousand pages of secrets; it’s a thousand pages of solid, practical, understandable Windows information peppered throughout with genuine secrets and other gems.

Windows 98 Installation and Configuration Handbook by Rob Tidrow (Que, $40) is not only about installing and configuring Windows 98. If you think about it, configuring Windows 98 involves understanding its features and functions, so this book has a lot of the same material as the other books we’ve been discussing. I found it to be overly brief in places and not particularly outstanding overall. Any of the other books will cover this and more.

Peter Norton’s Maximizing Windows 98 Administration by Peter Norton and Forrest Houlette (Sams, $30) is not so much about how to use Windows 98 as about how to set it up, configure it, and keep it running smoothly in a networked environment. Thus, it assumes a professional level of knowledge. If you are its targeted reader, you’ll find it lives up to its stated aims.

People who test a lot of software, installing and uninstalling programs regularly, usually end up with a Windows registry that is clogged with irrelevant and potentially harmful entries. Sometimes the only cure for this is to work with the registry directly. Gunter Born’s Inside the Microsoft Windows 98 Registry (Microsoft Press, $40) lays bare the workings of the registry and helps you learn how to manage it. Although Born is a native German, his writing in English is pleasant and clear. Before you go into the deep waters of the Windows registry, chart your course carefully. This book will help.

Windows 98 Professional
Windows 98 Professional Reference by Bruce Hallberg and Joe Casad (New Riders, $50) contains technical details needed by professionals running multiple installations of Windows 98 machines. It assumes heavy experience with computers and networks, and appears to deliver the goods. It’s technical, it’s dry, and it’s accurate. What more could a professional want?

I’ll tell you what more a professional could want. Anyone dealing with Windows 98 at a programming level will simply not rest until they land a copy of the Windows 98 Resource Kit by Microsoft Corporation (Microsoft Press, $70). This is the 500-pound gorilla of Windows 98 books. It has it all: nearly 1,800 pages of technical information that reveal the innards and operations of Windows 98, written by the folks who created it. With it comes a CD-ROM, which includes dozens of professional-level utility programs that the developers used to work with Windows 98 while they were creating it. They do all sorts of cool but obscure things that programmers will love. It’s big, it’s dense, it’s as heavy as a bag of bricks, it’s deep, it’s wonderful, it’s indispensable to the professionals who need this stuff. If you find yourself exhausting the information in the other books and needing to know more, it’s in here.

The Book of the Month
The other day, while I was overseeing a classroom where students work on their Beginning Internet course, a student told me she couldn’t imagine what all the fuss over the Internet was about. All it was for her was a big mess of useless information, full of advertising and frustration. “It’s stupid,” she said.

We had an entertaining half hour as I tried to find out what interested her and then locate Internet sites that would tickle her fancy. I wasn’t totally successful, because I couldn’t quickly locate any angel patterns for glass etching or a recipe for Oregon black-bottom fish, but we did find some fun things. (By the way, searching for “angel images” turns up some alarming XXX-rated sites.)

One way to effectively open up the amazing universe of information on the Net is to get the Official Netscape Guide to Internet Research, 2nd Edition by Tara Calishain and Jill Alane Nystrom (Coriolis Ventana, $30). Here, two cagey researchers who also happen to be vastly entertaining writers tell us Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Finding Things on the Internet.

Don’t be misled. “Internet Research” sounds rather dry, but this book is a lively, friendly blast of information and techniques for bringing the unthinkably immense resources of the Net under control. It offers a nice balance between teaching us how to find things and listing for us hundreds of useful sites, most of which open pathways to additional valuable material.

The techniques taught are sound. If you can’t locate the ZIP code for Frying Pan Landing, NC, for instance, the authors explain how to work with map sites to find it and then search for ZIP codes of surrounding communities, such as Gum Neck Landing and Swanquarter, NC. Browse through this delightful volume and you’ll come away with the keys to getting what you want from the Internet—along with a sense of having had a great time with a couple of zany yet brilliant gurus.

Richard Mann, a prolific computer and technology writer, covers the computer book scene from his home office in Roy, Utah. E-mail comments and suggestions for future Book of the Month candidates to him at mannr@owatc.tec.ut.us.