Win a free copy of Windows Vista Inside Out, Deluxe Edition

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My author copies of Windows Vista Inside Out, Deluxe Edition just arrived. Three boxes that I get to trip over until I find a good place for them.

To celebrate, I’m giving away signed copies to two people. All you have to do is respond in the comments of this thread with two things:

  1. The title and a link to a post on my ZDNet blog, with a comment of 50 words or less about why you recommend that post to other people. (You’ll get two entries for your comment if you format it using HTML so that the title of the post is a clickable link.)
  2. Also in 50 words or less, tell me about a feature or capability in Window Vista that has improved your productivity.

Sorry, due to shipping costs, winners must have a mailing address in the United States. Contest is open until Monday night. I’ll pick two names at random from among all entries that follow the contest rules and contact you via e-mail, so be sure to leave a real e-mail address in the comment form (no, I won’t spam you, sell your address, or publish it).

Published by Ed Bott

Tech journalist. Author of 25+ books. ZDNET Contributing Editor since 2006. Contact info: https://edbott.com/contact-me/

Published

17 thoughts on “Win a free copy of Windows Vista Inside Out, Deluxe Edition”

  1. Well, I advise them to always read your ZDNet Blog. However, I recommend the first in your series, Fixing Windows Vista, one machine at a time because: it shows proof that Vista by itself performs fine, what OEMs do to ruin the user’s experience, and how you fixed it.

    I find the Start Menu search has saved me the most time in Vista. I know exactly what I want to start, I type a few letters, and invariably what I need is right at the top of the list.

  2. My 10 favorite Windows programs of all time
    This is an excellent list of applications that I recommend to people consistently, including two friends just yesterday. So many Windows users are unaware of the great programs out there and this list will really help the many diverse types of Windows users, from geek to grandpa.

    Unquestionably, the most productive tool I use in Vista is the Instant Desktop Search. With the file tagging in Windows Explorer, I can now find absolutely anything on my computer in seconds. Searching is something I wasted lots of time on in XP, but this is no longer a problem!

  3. Hi Ed,

    I don’t live in the US, but I’d love the chance to win a copy of your signed book. How about if I agreed (if I did win) to pay the postage? It’s just a thought…

    Dylan

  4. Dylan, it’s really expensive and involves paperwork and a mandatory trip to the post office for me. I’m going to try to work on a separate contest or two for overseas readers.

    Thanks!

  5. Ed,

    I found your series on Fixing Windows Vista to be very useful as I assist some of my colleagues with performance issues. I think SP1 has reached a level of maturity that the system should be better received than it is, but there’s a lot of baggage left over from the initial rollout.

    I don’t use Vista day-to-day, but I have found the search/start box on the Start button to be a whole lot faster than scrolling through the All Programs list to get a started on a task. I also like the clock gadget (although I have one running on the XP desktop as well).

    -EricF

  7. It is difficult to pick just one post, Ed. I link to the Hands On Vista series in Windows Vista Bookmarks. This collection of tips was very timely for early adopters of Windows Vista and continues to be very helpful. In looking at that collection, I selected my favorite within that category — 10 tips and tweaks for Vista experts.

    It was from 10 tips and tweaks for Vista experts that I learned about the Snipping Tool, a handy tool for making quick screen or partial screen captures. One use is when paying a bill online where the vendor e-mails a receipt of payment. I make a screen capture with the Snipping Tool as a record of payment. It is much easier than writing a long reference number by hand.

  8. The fixing Vista is a must-see for those contemplating migrating from XP and for those who critique Vista for intermittent performance problems. For the XP group, it should be required reading as a preventative tool. For the Vista group, it offers specific directions for solving problems that may have negatively impacted on the user experience.

    I find the re-designed control panel to be a much better way to obtain key information that improves my everyday ease of use and navigating through menu’s when I need to look “under the hood” of Vista.

  9. I must be in brain-dead mode today but if someone could provide a link or some direction to the trick of adding the html code in the comment for which I lose on entry (darn), I would be eternally grateful.

  10. Vince, you need to use this code (substitute angle brackets < and > for the square brackets here):

    [a href=”full URL”]link text[/a]

  11. 1- I’d have to say that 10 tips and tweaks for Vista experts is my favorite, for the Quicklaunch keyboard shortcuts and the snipping tool.

    2- The ability to search quickly through all my files and emails from the Start menu has saved me a lot of time. That’s definitively my top feature.

  12. Maybe an unusual choice, but I liked the crowd has spoken. You somehow managed to bring someone new to the endless release data arguing while still poking a bit of fun.

    For me the best feature for Vista is search. Whenever I use XP now It seems to just take forever both locating files in the start menu and especially trying to find documents and files in explorer. Sometimes the search is a bit slow, but it sure beats flicking through hundreds of files in each folder like XP.

  13. I recommended the 4 Fixing Vista series to many of my friends that have been complaining about Vista.

    I use XP on my work laptop and Vista on my home laptop and, with your guidance in these series and your columns in general, I don’t understand why people are so negative about Vista.

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