What's a good first XP book for Mom (or Pop?)

[Al Dykes]

I want to recommend two books to someone who is *very* non-technical
and just doesn't have the focus to work through a big book. She has
used W/98 and some old version of Office for a decade without learning
anything. I just set her up on a shiny new XP machine and part of the
deal is that she can't be calling me for XP/Office questions that are
addressed in "the book". I told her that XP was the same as 98, but
different.

I need a recommendation for XP and one for Office (2003 in this case)

I just looked in the Big Book Store and found that most of the XP
books were useless. The Glossy Microsoft Press book had a chaper on
"Middleware", something no user should need to know about, almost by
definition. The Dummies Guide to XP was a big, fat, unreadable book.

The Dummies Office book looks better, but I find them too chatty,
in general.

Recommendations?

 

[RA]

I want to recommend two books to someone who is *very* non-technical
and just doesn't have the focus to work through a big book. She has
used W/98 and some old version of Office for a decade without learning
anything. I just set her up on a shiny new XP machine and part of the
deal is that she can't be calling me for XP/Office questions that are
addressed in "the book". I told her that XP was the same as 98, but
different.

I need a recommendation for XP and one for Office (2003 in this case)

I just looked in the Big Book Store and found that most of the XP
books were useless. The Glossy Microsoft Press book had a chaper on
"Middleware", something no user should need to know about, almost by
definition. The Dummies Guide to XP was a big, fat, unreadable book.

The Dummies Office book looks better, but I find them too chatty,
in general.

Recommendations?

Sorry I don't have any book recommendations but one really big thing you
could do to make XP feel more like 98 is to change the theme and change the
taskbar to Windows Classic. Then go into view,folder options and change the
tasks section to Windows Classic.
I have a feeling that if she didn't learn anything in a decade with her old
machine, you aren't going to have much luck getting her to learn now. If you
can teach her anything, teach her to use Windows Help and Support and Help
in Office before calling you for any help. Then she can learn one task at a
time.
Good Luck!

 

[Al Dykes]

Sorry I don't have any book recommendations but one really big thing you
could do to make XP feel more like 98 is to change the theme and change the
taskbar to Windows Classic. Then go into view,folder options and change the
tasks section to Windows Classic.

I had the same thought but decided to keep XP as-is because any XP
book is going to give little or no time to the "classic" look.

The Classic folders options is a good suggestion.

 

[Richard in AZ]

I had the same thought but decided to keep XP as-is because any XP
book is going to give little or no time to the "classic" look.

The Classic folders options is a good suggestion.

We use "Teach Yourself Visually Windows XP" from marangraphics* to teach Windows XP to seniors in
our computer club.
*Published by Wiley Publishing.

 

[Guest]

Maybe better to have them take the 'Windows Tour'

 

[Ghostrider]

I want to recommend two books to someone who is *very* non-technical
and just doesn't have the focus to work through a big book. She has
used W/98 and some old version of Office for a decade without learning
anything. I just set her up on a shiny new XP machine and part of the
deal is that she can't be calling me for XP/Office questions that are
addressed in "the book". I told her that XP was the same as 98, but
different.

I need a recommendation for XP and one for Office (2003 in this case)

I just looked in the Big Book Store and found that most of the XP
books were useless. The Glossy Microsoft Press book had a chaper on
"Middleware", something no user should need to know about, almost by
definition. The Dummies Guide to XP was a big, fat, unreadable book.

The Dummies Office book looks better, but I find them too chatty,
in general.

Recommendations?

If feasible, nothing succeeds like the old-fashioned hands-on
approach, especially with parents. And it probably would not be
too difficult a task since I read of an implied hint that Mom
(or Pop) might want to see more or hear more from you. Other
than this, configure XP to have the look-and-feel of Windows 98.