A few weeks ago we have been contacted by James A. White who asked us if we would be interested in reviewing a book he just published. Until now we did not review any books, but considering the fact that it is about Windows Vista and computer basics we decided to give it a try. So... here you have our first book review.

Like I said in the introduction, this book is about computer basics and Windows Vista. The book covers all the basics about computing and all the tutorials and examples are about Windows Vista. In this article I will go through each chapter and write my observations and opinions.

"Just the Computer Essentials" starts with the basics about buying a new computer. It gives you a general overview of the major components that form a PC, how they work and what is their role. What i liked most is the fact that the first chapter ends with a table that will help you decide what to look for when buying a new PC, depending on what you intend to use it for. If you are a beginner, this can be of great help and you won't end up buying the most expensive PC and not using it to its full potential. It's always better to buy something cheaper that will get the job done instead of an expensive one that you will never use at full power.

In the next two chapters James presents the basics in computer hardware and wireless networking. All the major components are covered and explained very well. It is really important to understand what the CPU does, what is a hard disk and so on. Unfortunately, James skipped talking about video cards. Even though for most people a video card is not too important, considering the fact that many buy PC's to play games or watch movies in high-definition, I think this component should have been covered in a special chapter.

Next, James talks about the basics of operating systems. Here, he focuses mostly on Windows XP and Windows Vista. He presents the main features of these two operating systems without boring the reader with too many details.

Afterwards, he gives you some general notions about software and e-mail. When it comes to e-mail, he explains very well how it works, what are the major protocols used to transfer e-mail messages and gives a short overview about the most well known e-mail clients. What I did not like is the fact that the software chapter ends pretty quickly. It would have been good to talk a bit about other types of software except productivity suites or financial tools. Most PC users are connected to the internet and it would have been nice to talk about the different web browsers, additional plug-ins & software one must install in order to be able to navigate and access every page on the internet, such as the Flash Player, Java Runtime, etc.

Chapter 7 - "The Basics of Protecting Your Computer" is very well written. It does a great job at explaining the major security threats each user faces while browsing the internet. James also gives very useful recommendations about how to protect your PC. He shows you how to keep your system updated, what security solutions to install and how to manage your passwords so that they won't be stolen very easily by others. If you follow his guidance, I think you won't have too many security problems with your system.

The next two chapters cover two very important topics: how to backup your system and the basics of disaster recovery. Basically, these two chapters are a collection of detailed tutorials that will surely be very handy in emergency situations. You will learn what you need to back-up and how to do it, how to restore your data, how to fix problems that are preventing Windows Vista from starting and how to format and then reinstall Windows Vista. All the instructions are accompanied by lots of screenshots so you won't get lost very easily.

The last chapter shows you how to migrate to Windows Vista from older operating systems such as Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Migration is a very important problem for many users and James covers it really well. If you follow his instructions you will surely be able to migrate all your data safely from your old operating system to Windows Vista.

Conclusion

Even though it has a few shortcomings, "Just the Computer Essentials" is a great book for beginners. James White writes in a very non-geeky way which is easy to understand by people who are not familiarized with computers. Reading this book helps you understand how your computer functions, how to work with Windows Vista, how to keep both your operating system and your data safe. I recommend it to everybody that is not very savvy when it comes to computers and Windows Vista. If you are interested in purchasing it, go to booksbyjim.com.

NOTE: This is not a payed review.

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