Windows Vista for Starters: The Missing Manual

THE MISSING CREDITS

About the Author

David Pogue is the weekly tech columnist for the New York Times, an Emmy-winning correspondent for CBS News Sunday Morning, and the creator of the Missing Manual series. He’s the author or co-author of 40 books, including 17 in this series and six in the “For Dummies” line (including Macs, Magic, Opera, and Classical Music). In his other life, David is a former Broadway show conductor, a magician, and a pianist. News, photos, links to his columns and weekly videos await at http://www.davidpogue.com. He welcomes feedback about his books by email at [e-mail].

About the Creative Team

Teresa Noelle Roberts (copy editor) is a freelance copy editor and proofreader, as well as a published fiction writer and poet. When she can tear herself away from the computer, she may be found gardening, belly dancing, or enjoying the beautiful beaches of New England.

On this edition, she was joined in her editorial duties by Missing Manuals editorial veteran John Cacciatore.

Lesa Snider King (production editor and graphics goddess) assists David Pogue on many projects. As Chief Evangelist for http://iStockphoto.com and a veteran writer for international graphics publications, Lesa is on a mission to teach the world how to create beautiful graphics. You can see more of her work at http://TheGraphicReporter.com, and catch her live at many conferences. Email: [e-mail].

Shawn King (graphics assistance and beta reader) is the host of a popular Internet broadcast called Your Mac Life, and has been using computers since several years B.D. (Before DOS). Having grabbed a PC mouse and literally followed every single step on every single page of this book to test for accuracy, he can safely say that he now knows more about Windows Vista than he ever hoped to know. Email: [e-mail].

Phil Simpson (design and layout) works out of his office in Southbury, Connecticut, where he has had his graphic design business since 1982. He is experienced in many facets of graphic design, including corporate identity/branding, publication design, and corporate and medical communications. Email: [e-mail].

Acknowledgments

The Missing Manual series is a joint venture between the dream team introduced on these pages and O’Reilly Media. I’m grateful to all of them, and also to a few people who did massive favors for this book. They include Matt Parretta and Frank Kane, PR guys for Microsoft who devoted themselves to helping me find information; Windows Vista product manager Greg Sullivan, who tolerated being henpecked with my questions; HP and Motion for loaning me testing gear; and proofreaders Sohaila Abdulali, John Cacciatore, Genevieve d’Entremont, Jamie Peppard, and Sada Preisch.

Incidentally, this book is adapted from a much heavier, fatter, more advanced tome called Windows Vista: The Missing Manual. That 850-page monster featured contributions from some of the best technical writers in Windows-dom, and some of their prose still inhabits these pages: Joli Ballew, C.A. Callahan, Preston Gralla, and Brian Jepson. I was honored to work with them.

Thanks to David Rogelberg for believing in the idea, and above all, to Jennifer, Kelly, Tia, and Jeffrey, who make these books—and everything else—possible.

—David Pogue

The Missing Manual Series

The Missing Manuals are superbly written guides to computer products that don’t come with printed manuals (which is just about all of them). Each book features a handcrafted index; cross-references to specific page numbers (not just “See Chapter 14“); and RepKover, a detached-spine binding that lets the book lie perfectly flat without the assistance of weights or cinder blocks. Recent and upcoming titles include:

• Windows Vista: The Missing Manual, by David Pogue

• Windows XP Home Edition: The Missing Manual, 2nd Edition by David Pogue

• Windows XP Pro: The Missing Manual, 2nd Edition by David Pogue, Craig Zacker, and L.J. Zacker

• Word 2007: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover

• Excel 2007: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald

• PowerPoint 2007: The Missing Manual by Emily A. Vander Veer

• Access 2007: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald

• CSS: The Missing Manual by David Sawyer McFarland

• Creating Web Sites: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald

• Digital Photography: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover, Barbara Brundage

• Dreamweaver 8: The Missing Manual by David Sawyer McFarland

• Dreamweaver MX 2004: The Missing Manual by David Sawyer McFarland

• eBay: The Missing Manual by Nancy Conner

• FileMaker Pro 8: The Missing Manual by Geoff Coffey and Susan Prosser

• Flash 8: The Missing Manual by Emily Moore

• FrontPage 2003: The Missing Manual by Jessica Mantaro

• Google: The Missing Manual, 2nd Edition by Sarah Milstein and Rael Dornfest

• Home Networking: The Missing Manual by Scott Lowe

• The Internet: The Missing Manual by David Pogue and J.D. Biersdorfer

• iPod: The Missing Manual, 5th Edition by J.D. Biersdorfer

• PCs: The Missing Manual by Andy Rathbone

• Photoshop Elements 5: The Missing Manual by Barbara Brundage

• QuickBooks 2006: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore

• Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Tiger Edition by David Pogue

• Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Tiger Edition by David Pogue

• AppleScript: The Missing Manual by Adam Goldstein

• AppleWorks 6: The Missing Manual by Jim Elferdink and David Reynolds

• GarageBand 2: The Missing Manual by David Pogue

• iLife ’05: The Missing Manual by David Pogue

• iMovie 6 & iDVD: The Missing Manual by David Pogue

• iPhoto 6: The Missing Manual by David Pogue and Derrick Story

• iPod & iTunes: The Missing Manual, 4th Edition by J.D. Biersdorfer

• iWork ’05: The Missing Manual by Jim Elferdink

• Office 2004 for Macintosh: The Missing Manual by Mark H. Walker, Franklin Tessler, and Paul Berkowitz

For Starters

The “For Starters” books contain only the most essential information from their larger counterparts—in larger type, with a more spacious layout, and none of those advanced sidebars. Recent titles include:

• Windows Vista for Starters: The Missing Manual by David Pogue

• Windows XP for Starters: The Missing Manual by David Pogue

• Access 2007 for Starters: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald

• Excel 2007 for Starters: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald

• Quicken 2006 for Starters: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore

• Word 2007 for Starters: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover

• PowerPoint 2007 for Starters: The Missing Manual by Emily A. Vander Veer

• Mac OS X for Starters, Leopard Edition: The Missing Manual by David Pogue