A comprehensive and well organized aid for Mac OCX (Tiger). I'm a computer novice, but was able to solve several computer problems with the help of this book.

This book is a great step forward for someone who has a Mac Mini, an Apple, or Mac OS X wireless system, and a missing/inadequate instruction manual. However, the book is myopic. It says little about how to hook my Dell desktop or a similar Windows-based PC to the wireless system. Our Mac Mini is in the Game room on the other side of the kitchen. When my AirPort router died [days it's 1 Year warranty expired], I decided not to buy a $130 replacement but to get a more powerful $90 ZyXEL router, researched and bought through Amazon, for my Dell PC and DSL connection. This gives a much stronger signal to my Mac Mini and the rest of the network. No more feeble signal via the AirPort router. The ZyXEL is a joy to have. Of course I can't get my Mac Mini to recognize my Dell PC to trade messages or documents. I plan to sell it while I still can. I am rooting for Microsoft's rumored new PC to blossom and force Apple and Mac to be (gasp!) user friendly. Meanwhile, I will share messages and documents between the Mac and the Dell with a USB flash drive. The book is no help to me.

This book is packed with useful how-to and background information about Mac OS X 10.4. It is especially strong on Unix -- it has the best description of Unix on Macintosh I've ever read.

The book covers the Mac OS X itself and the iLife applications, but not any third-party applications. It has been updated for Tiger but most of the information is applicable to Panther (Mac OS X 10.3).

It is sold as a troubleshooting book, and it does have a lot of information about solving specific problems, but that's not really where the emphasis is. Most of the information is "how to" do various things, such as installing, updating, configuring, turning features on or off, and where things are stored in Mac OS X. It is written as a narrative rather than a book where you primarily look up things. The authors did this deliberately because they believe "the best way to effectively troubleshoot is to understand what is going on, rather than blindly following a set of steps that fix the problem." There is not an emphasis on error messages or tables of symptoms. The book does have a good index and a detailed table of contents, so I think most problems would be easy to look up.

The book is clearly written and explains each topic from the beginning, but it is a fairly advanced book, oriented towards less-common tasks and situations rather than everyday activities. Techies will get the most benefit from it. A good book for beginners is David Pogue's Mac OS X Tiger: Missing Manual.

I was a late bloomer when it came to OS X. I don't like change for change's sake, but recently work forced my upgrade from OS 9. Well, I did it, but I didn't have to like it! It wasn't long before I started getting mauled by the Tiger. This time, however, I had no lifelines... either my own long experience or a "Sad Macs" book... of which I dog eared a couple copies over the years. When Landau recently published his Mac OS X Help Line- Tiger Edition debuted, I was pretty sure it was time to start dog earing another of his books. Well, just today in fact, I wrote "Paid In Full" on the jacket of that book! It helped me through a permissions problem that had me about to rack a round into a shotgun and put my computer to sleep the hard way. Whew, the book was lots cheaper than a G4! Landau saved the day again!

Ted Landau is one of the most credible and thorough Mac troubleshooters ever. His MacFixit web site is the most potent tool that any Mac user can put in his arsenel. Now, you have all of his collective years of experience and know-how gathered in one place. The topics covered are almost endless, with everybody from novices to seasoned pros benefitting immensely from Ted's expertise. This boook should be included with every Mac as standard issue from Apple.