Introducing Microsoft Windows 98: Bata Edition - Softcover

Borland, Russell

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1572316306 ISBN 13: 9781572316300

Publisher: Microsoft Press, 1997

Synopsis

To help millions of users get up to speed quickly, ""Introducing Microsoft Windows 98"" provides a valuable overview of the features, benefits, and behavior of the newest version of Windows. The book gives readers a crisp, clear introduction to the ways they will use Windows 98, both on their own machine and online, through the Internet and Intranets. Cover Title

About this title

Review

Introducing Microsoft Windows 98: The Official First Look at the Next Version of Microsoft Windows, from Microsoft Press, was written to support beta releases of this new operating system. This guide is largely oriented toward end users but administrators will find enough technical depth to get an overview of the entire product.

The biggest change that Windows 98 will bring is the integration of browser and traditional desktop metaphors. Many end users are sure to find this somewhat disorienting; the first third of Introducing Microsoft Windows 98 will give them some guidance. Much of this material, over 150 pages, is devoted to Internet Explorer 4.0 and NetMeeting 2.0, which supply the most visible new elements of Windows 98.

A chapter on applications and utilities gives users a good overview of Quick Viewers, WordPad, HyperTerminal, ScanDisk, and the new system file checker. The book also features two detailed chapters on communications and mobile user support, although neither feature has changed radically since Windows 95. The chapter on TV-in-a-Windows support for systems with an installed NTSC or PAL card will be of interest to end users.

A long chapter on networking, which is aimed at administrators, gives a good overview of Windows 98 client connectivity within a Novell NetWare environment, in a Microsoft peer network, and on TCP/IP networks. It also provides some details on the Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) that is new to Windows 98. PPTP will allow secure connections over public networks to Windows NT hosts.

The chapter on the core system architecture provides an overview of Windows 98 internals (kernel services, the device driver model, installable file systems, and the protection model) and goes into more detail on the practicalities of MS-DOS application support and the FAT 32 file system. Additional chapters cover Plug and Play, display support, device support, and more. An overview chapter on systems management looks at the Registry and user management, although it doesn't go into the kind of depth you'd expect from a resource kit.

Overall, Introducing Windows 98 provides a good way to make a beta program run smoothly and will be especially valuable in helping end users help themselves.

Edition details

• Publisher: Microsoft Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 1572316306
• ISBN 13: 9781572316300
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 384