“Even with its user-friendly features,” say the authors of this tutorial and reference for Windows users, “learning Windows is [paradoxically] a big job” (p. xii). More precisely, the job typically requires more than 500 pages, the space required for this and similar volumes to explain the myriad features and options Windows offers. The book would be shorter if it were not necessary to spell out, for each task, Windows’s redundant methods of task performance--the mouse and the keyboard. On the other hand, the book would be longer if it did not assume a familiarity with DOS and the successors to the 8088 chip (novices are advised to “consult [their] local computer guru or vendor” (p. 3)).

Since this book is intended not simply to supplement but to replace the manufacturer’s documentation, it needs to be comprehensive. Since other books have the same goal, it is hard to distinguish one from the other by content. Most of the chapter titles (“File Manager,” “Program Manager,” “Desktop Accessories,” and so on) have their counterparts in competitors’ products, but certain information (on fonts, for example) that could be presented in a single chapter is spread among several. Deciding which organization is superior often comes down simply to a matter of taste and personal convenience. This volume does, however, have separate chapters on and more than typical coverage of two topics: networking with Windows, and Windows’s built-in games, Solitaire and Minesweeper.

This work is produced by The Cobb Group, perhaps best known for its many newsletters and aggressive mail promotion. Subscribers satisfied with the style and content of those publications may want to buy it as a Windows reference. While I cannot fault the content, I did find the style often dense and excessively complicated, given that the book’s audience consists of users, albeit not novices.