In an ideal world, an operating system is a collection of software that handles a computer's "dirty work" invisibly, quickly, and most of all, painlessly. For many of us, however, Microsoft Windows exists outside this ideal world. We are annoyed by "personalized Menus" that keep changing, icons we don't use cluttering up our workspace, periodic crashes, unintelligible error messages, and inadequate documentation to help us figure it all out. Windows Me Annoyances has the insider information you need for overcoming Windows' many annoyances and limitations. Whether you're looking to finally solve a nagging problem, dramatically improve system performance, or customize the interface to better suit your work habits, the Windows Me Annoyances solution-oriented format makes finding information and implementing solutions easy and pain free. Thanks to the thorough and relevant documentation on the registry, Windows Scripting Host, and Windows' built-in networking capabilities, customizing and improving Windows Me is easier than ever. Based on the author's extremely popular Annoyances.org web sites, Windows Me Annoyances delivers an authoritative collection of techniques and tools for customizing Windows Me, including:

• Several approaches and hidden tools for working with the Windows registry, the database of system- and application-specific configuration information

• How to bypass Windows roadblocks such as the Home Networking and System Restore wizards, allowing you to take control of the processes quickly and painlessly

• A tutorial and reference on automation with the Windows Scripting Host as a means of eliminating many Windows Me annoyances

• Using third-party software and utilities to handle some of the more complex workarounds and customizations

• Dealing with software that overwrites your file associations and other settings without warning

Windows Me Annoyances is the intermediate and advanced Windows user's best resource for turning Windows into the user-friendly, customizable interface it was meant to be, but doesn't always manage to be on its own.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 9 Ratings

readable, few topics in depth, good insight into GUI - 2001-08-20
Reviewer Rating:
With Windows XP soon upon us, please pity the few hundred thousand ME users who are stuck with a dead-end OS. ME was really only a stopgap solution, a way to implement new features in Win 98 while Microsoft worked on XP. Some of these features included system restore, an image viewer, better multimedia and better hardware support. ME inherited a lot of Win 98 stuff while being new enough to force users to pay for software updates (including Photoshop, Norton Anti-Virus and Home Site).

Typically, a first release of a OS is buggy, and after a few years, it really becomes robust and useful. But after XP is released, it is unlikely that consumers will buy ME anymore or that OEM manufacturers will ship computers with it. It also is unlikely that Microsoft will release a service pack, now that its efforts are focused on XP. That means that the people unfortunate enough to have bought consumer PC's during the intervening year will be using a legacy OS with diminishing support for new hardware and software.

This minority will need to solve problems on their own, using books like this one. This excellent book goes over the differences between ME and 98, ME Secrets and ways to tweak the registry for certain things. The first part is interesting from a usability point of view. It covers the user interface in thorough detail, with shortcuts and insights as to why Microsoft chose a particular solution. ( A good number of these tricks can be found elsewhere, but I found several new ones: such as using Microsoft Family Logon for a security, tweaking the search tool, removing stubborn icons, disabling autorun for CDROMS and stop Windows from randomly checking your floppy drive).

The book contains an excellent appendix on DOS, a fairly thorough guide to what System Restore does and a good troubleshooting guide to hardware installations. It also contains an outstanding discussion of file associations and how to change or preserve them. I also found the section on error messages and general protection faults to be unusually helpful. Several other chapters (which didn't especially interest me) focused on editing the registry and vb scripts to automate windows tasks.

Topics I would have liked to see more coverage on was software installations and plugins. Particularly, removing and reinstalling programs and especially MS Office. Recently I installed and reinstalled Office 2000 and found the error messages from ME and Office very confusing. I realize this is an OS book, not a book on applications, but still it would have been nice to know some procedures for managing software installations. Also, there was not much discussion on Windows Update, which seems to cause a lot of problems.

Perhaps it is unfair to point this out, but the best source of information for ME troubleshooting seems to be news groups and the MS site, not books like these. Although this book was published later than the first dozen or so and seems to be more carefully written, no one can expect it to contain info about the latest bugs and fixes. Newsgroups have informed me about bugs related to Norton AV, Windows Update and helped me figure out the ME doesn't support RAM over 512 MB.(!!!) You wouldn't find solutions to these problems from these books.

Another book I highly recommend is Ed Bott's "Special Edition Using Windows Me," which is a little bigger, a little easier to read, with more more screenshots and a little more thorough treatment of the OS. The Bott book tends to have info about multimedia and extras like msn messenger, while the Oreilly book is more readable and discusses a few topics in depth.

Very good for help, tips and explanations - 2001-09-21
Reviewer Rating:
This book will not explain the meaning of all those error messages, but instead will give you solutions for them. It has detailed information on Windows registry, hardware updating, interface customizing and so on.

Maybe one chapter is indispensable to read (the registry), but in most cases, you'll get directly the solution for your problem, without having to read a whole chapter; however, just read it as a textbook and you'll understand a lot about your system.

Most tips and solutions work for the generic W9x (95, 98, 98 2Ed) and some even for W2000. Anyway, the book explains the differences (if any) between WME and the former.

One recommendation: Try one solution or tip at a time, otherwise Windows will not let you know how well are you working.

ME Helper - 2002-04-05
Reviewer Rating:
I started my life with PCs using DOS then reluctantly made the transition to Win 3, then 95, then 98 and now ME. Me has a nice new feature or two but that doesn't justify the bloated OS.

This book will help you make your ME computer run and look like a Win 9x computer. It will explain the registry, help you decide what to get rid of, let you change the look and feel of the OS and show you some basic VBS programming. There is much more.

It is a well written book and when I change operating systems I would look forward to another book on it by Mr. Karp.

(There are so many tips in this book it is kind of like having a subscription to about 6 PC magazines and getting the info all at once.)

Worth the price for chapter on "Registry". - 2005-09-25
Reviewer Rating:
Most users with the skill necessary to implement the suggestions in this book have either found their own solutions or learned to live with the annoyances. I believe that this book would have been much more useful five years ago when Windows ME was new.

The book devotes a long chapter to the registery and related utilities. This chapter teaches the skills needed to implement the solutions described in the remainder of the book. The excelent treatment of this topic has applications far beyond those documented.

Likes & dislikes - 2001-08-23
Reviewer Rating:
I had asumed that this book come with a CD & didn't come with a CD, I was dispointed to say the least. But I like to read the book & learn more about Windows ME & all it's bad points & how to fixes them. I'm glad I had purchased the book.

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