Windows XP Home Edition: The Missing Manual
Author: David Pogu
Windows XP Home Edition offers dozens of new features for consumers: an elegant user interface, drag-and-drop CD burning, and powerful ways to view and manage digital photos and music, among other features. With the release of Service Pack 2 (SP2), Windows XP now provides better protection against viruses, worms, and malicious hackers. But it still comes without a single page of printed instructions.
Fortunately, the new edition of Windows XP Home Edition: The Missing Manual fills the void. With its wealth of tips, instructions, and expert advice, this comprehensive resource is your ticket to making your time at the computer safer, easier, and more fun. And best of all, it's been updated to include detailed coverage of Service Pack 2.
Written in easy-to-follow, jargon-free language, Windows XP Home Edition: The Missing Manual, Second Edition is perfectly suited for both first-time PC fans and budding power users. And like the rest of the Missing Manual series, it also relies on technical insight, crystal-clear objectivity, and a sense of humor--meaning no one will be left behind.
The book begins with a tour of the Desktop and instructions for customizing the Taskbar and toolbars. It also includes a primer on how to organize files, folders, and windows for maximum efficiency. More advanced chapters explore control panels and built-in applications; walk through configurations like how to set up a PC for Internet use; and address the standard Windows rituals of troubleshooting, installation, and upgrading.
For the height of manageability and control, the book also conveys all the need-to-know information about the security technologies featured in Windows XP SP2, so you can better defend yourself against viruses, worms, and hackers. Readers even receive guidelines and instructions for installing SP2 on their PC, or across a network of computers.
Co-authored by David Pogue, New York Times computer columnist and Missing Manuals creator, this newly updated guide is the friendly, authoritative book that should have been in the box. It's sure to become your preferred guide whenever you sit down to Windows XP.
Library Journal
As the installed base of Microsoft's newest operating system, XP, grows, guides to its use will continue to proliferate (see also Computer Media, LJ 3/1/02). Upgraders with little previous experience will be drawn to 10 Minute Guide, which highlights changes from earlier versions and explains common tasks step by step. Small and leaving no room for background or troubleshooting assistance, this should be purchased in conjunction with more comprehensive guides, such as The Missing Manual. It provides enough background to allow new home users and upgraders to get up and running, while leaving them feeling as if they have a handle on why and how things work. Ample screen shots and sidebars further this process; recommended for all libraries. Headaches, for beginning to intermediate users, focuses on troubleshooting common XP problems and annoyances, like a too-rapid cursor blink rate. Nutshell is a reference for advanced users of home and professional editions, with an alphabetical format that allows quick lookup of functions and features within larger sections (e.g., networking, the registry, etc.). Each is useful and appropriate for larger libraries.'
New interesting book: Head Lice to Dead Lice or Advanced Aromatherapy
Photoshop CS2 All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies
Author: Barbara Obermeier
Brace yourself—this For Dummies guide is in full, dazzling color! That way you can see how you can lighten, brighten, blur, sharpen, or even age your digital images with Photoshop CS2. Chances are you have Photoshop CS2 and have explored it enough to know that you need a good guide to make the most of all its capabilities and get up to speed fast. Odds are you’ve experimented with some photos and spent hours tweaking them. Maybe you’re a veteran and used Photoshop CS2 to turn the gray sky to blue in a resort photo or to brighten the CEO’s smile. Maybe you’re a novice and gleefully extracted your ex from old photos and gave yourself a flattering mini-makeover at the same time. Maybe you used it to remove a scratch from a treasured family photo.
Regardless, you probably haven’t scratched the surface. Photoshop CS2 gives you so many options and tools for digital image creation, correction, and enhancement that even experienced pros can discover new techniques and shortcuts. With explanations for working on a PC or a Mac, Photoshop CS2 All-In-One desk Reference For Dummies is your complete resource that:
• Combines nine minibooks: (1) Photoshop Fundamentals (2) Image Essentials (3) Selections (4) Painting, Drawing, and Typing (5) Working with Layers (6) Channels and Masks (7) Filters and Distortions (8) Retouching and Restoration (9) Photoshop and Print
• Has more than 650 pages of tips, techniques, and plain-English explanations
• Is in glorious, full color, with all kinds of photographs and examples
• Has tons of screen shots so you’ll know exactly what tolook for on your screen
• Provides a tear out Cheat Sheet that’s your instant reference for finding your way around Photoshop CS2, accessing the tools palette through shortcuts, and making selections
• Gets you up to speed on the new
• Introduces you to the 58 tools in the Tools palette, from the Pen to the Eraser… the Spot Healing Brush to the Burn…the Clone Stamp to the Red Eye
• Explains how to work with Vanishing Point—the new feature that lets you edit three dimensionally on a two-dimension image
• Features special Putting-It-Together exercises that walk you through numbered steps to show you how to do various tasks such as getting the red out of eyes, making and fine-tuning a collage, and more; images on the book’s companion Web site let you follow along
Table of Contents:
| Bk. I | Photoshop fundamentals | 7 |
| Ch. 1 | Examining the Photoshop environment | 9 |
| Ch. 2 | Getting to know the tools palette | 27 |
| Ch. 3 | Starting, finishing, and getting it on paper | 39 |
| Ch. 4 | Viewing and navigating images | 57 |
| Ch. 5 | Customizing your workspace and preferences | 85 |
| Bk. II | Image essentials | 107 |
| Ch. 1 | Specifying size and resolution | 109 |
| Ch. 2 | Choosing color modes and file formats | 129 |
| Ch. 3 | Using and managing color | 153 |
| Ch. 4 | Time travel - undoing in Photoshop | 179 |
| Ch. 5 | Creating actions for productivity and fun | 191 |
| Bk. III | Selections | 205 |
| Ch. 1 | Making selections | 207 |
| Ch. 2 | Creating and working with paths | 223 |
| Ch. 3 | Modifying and transforming selections and paths | 245 |
| Bk. IV | Painting, drawing, and typing | 267 |
| Ch. 1 | Painting and drawing with Photoshop | 269 |
| Ch. 2 | Filling and stroking | 293 |
| Ch. 3 | Creating and editing type | 311 |
| Bk. V | Working with layers | 341 |
| Ch. 1 | Creating layers | 343 |
| Ch. 2 | Managing layers | 367 |
| Ch. 3 | Playing with opacity and blend modes | 389 |
| Ch. 4 | Getting jazzy with layer styles and clipping groups | 405 |
| Ch. 5 | Working with smart objects | 429 |
| Bk. VI | Channels and masks | 437 |
| Ch. 1 | Using channels | 439 |
| Ch. 2 | Quick and dirty masking | 459 |
| Ch. 3 | Getting exact with advanced masking techniques | 475 |
| Bk. VII | Filters and distortions | 493 |
| Ch. 1 | Making corrections with daily filters | 495 |
| Ch. 2 | Applying filters for special occasions | 511 |
| Ch. 3 | Distorting with the liquify command | 535 |
| Bk. VIII | Retouching and restoration | 549 |
| Ch. 1 | Enhancing images with adjustments | 551 |
| Ch. 2 | Repairing with the focus and toning tools | 593 |
| Ch. 3 | Fixing flaws and removing what's not wanted | 605 |
| Bk. IX | Photoshop and print | 627 |
| Ch. 1 | Prepping graphics for print | 629 |
| Ch. 2 | Creating contact sheets, picture packages, and more | 647 |
| Bonus chapters | ||
| Bonus Ch. 1 | Prepping Web graphics | |
| Bonus Ch. 2 | Slicing and showing Web images | |
| Bonus Ch. 3 | Other sources of information |
No comments:
Post a Comment