I’ve never been a big fan of computer books because if it’s in a book, it’s probably on the interweb. But relying on this ‘internet’ might not be as reliable as Senator Ted Stevens explains, the internet is made up of tubes and those tubes can be clogged. I’ll spare you the rest of the Senator’s scientific explanation, but basically it’s probably a good idea to still buy books.
Speaking of books, Steve Sinchak’s latest masterpiece is “Hacking Windows Vista“. The book tells a story about a young man by the name of “Windows Vista”. The youngest sibling of the Windows family, Vista is much improved than his older brother, Eks-Pee, but he is still far from perfect.
In the first act, the story begins with Vista looking to change his appearance, especially his interface. Vista becomes a frequent in several plastic surgeries including the “Registry” and “Control Panel”. In the second act Vista is off to tone up his fitness for improved performance. He is able to achieve a few gains by turning off some unnecessary organs. In the third and last act, Vista is feeling a little insecure from the school bullies. He identifies his weaknesses and hires several protection services including “Defender”.
In all seriousness, “Hacking Windows Vista” is a great all-in-one collection of most Windows Vista tweaks known to date. It’s very easy to read and follow with clear instructions illustrated by bundles of screenshots. The variety of tweaks include the most basic like hiding icons in the task tray to the more advanced modifying resource files for the sidebar background.
I must admit though by having come across dozens of tweaking and hacking sites including Steve’s own TweakVista.com, this book didn’t contain much that hasn’t been documented before. So if you think you know all the tweaks out there, you’re probably right. This book is more catered towards the user who likes the idea of tinkering with his Windows with some confidence – not “this tweak may render your system inoperable”.
Due to an error, I’ve received two review copies of the book from Wiley Publishings. I tried reading two books at a time but that didn’t work out very well, so I’m going to give both away.
Update: The winners have been drawn and notified by email.
117 Comments
Fabio
Looks like a nice book.
James Cliffe
I want, I WAAANT!
Bala
I would love to win this book as it would help me figure out all the crazy changes MS has made in Vista and to get the best performance out of it.
Chris J
I’m off to uni soon, and would love this book to try and help improve my sluggish and crash-prone new laptop running Vista. I’m contemplating downgrading it to Eks-Pee as it’s so unreliable, but your kind generosity could save me the time and effort. =P
Dave
Great offer, Long! Sounds like a good read.
I’m quite familiar with Vista (since Beta 2), but it’s certainly difficult to teach a friend or relative by word of mouth, so the book will be handy no doubt.
Sept. 11 is my mum’s birthday so I think ‘Hacking Windows Vista’ would be a great present for her to figure out how to fully take advantage of all the features Vista has to offer, courtesy of you of course.
Cheers!
Taimur Asad
Hey Long u got a great blog man.. Keep up the good work!!
and yes dont forget to enroll me into draw
Ian
Winning this book will make my life spent in front of the computer so much more fullfilling.
Greetings from Adelaide, btw.
sitingduck
Windows Vista!!!!!!
oahiyeel
i wannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnt one! though i’m not using vista as of yet.. maybe till SP1 is officially released.
Lachlan Grant
That book looks awesome, I wouldn’t mind a copy, lol =P
Ryan Wagner
I have to admit that the book looks pretty interesting, and I’m curious how much stuff it will have that I didn’t know about. Count me in!
Mariano Conti
Let’s try this and hope for the best! Mariano, mail is nanexcool at gmail.
Steven Hodson
cool a computer tips book with a sense of humor – now that would be fun to read LOL .. as for bribes I’m reminded by a line in a Popeye cartoon “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today”. Mind you I always wondered what would happen if wimpy had asked that on a Tuesday.
Jay
I want this one ! I have heard about it months ago .. and it would be nice to have one.
Thanks Long for sharing so many presents with your fans ^^ (yes that’s what some of we.. are !)
Edo Mangelaars
I want one!
And to make this comment contain more than just that sentence:
Once upon a time there was a cow who liked crowing at 4 AM so her owners gave her a book: Hacking Windows Vista and she was so busy trying out all the tweaks she never crowed again.
The End
Mark Wade
“Bribes are accepted via PayPal.”
I can never be sure if Long is being serious…
Sounds like a good read, can’t be as good as this blog though… (Why bribe when flattery is free?)
Matt Hewitt
I could go for free anything.
Bryan
As a poor college student, I’d love a free book
PiraTazz
I believe there’s a lot of thing to learn from that book!!.. I want a copy..
Zack
Well instead of drivling on about how much I need the book and all that, I’m not. So I’m going to say this instead.
Time flies like an arrow… fruit flies like a banana.
Orion
Looks like a nice book. I would like to win a copy. Good luck!
-Orion
Nate
Count me in Long!
Christoph
That does sound like a very interesting and humorous read, doesn’t get much better than that. I’m all in.
Gaurav Kale
I want that!!!
Ryan
Reading is good.
Grizz
How does he get the applications to fly straight out the monitor like that?
Elias Mereb
Lets take a chance…
Scott Kindorf
Looks like an interesting book. I wonder if it will cover the drastic change of the Sidebar from earlier builds and Longhorn demo videos?
Inferi
I want one ^^ I never win anyways
still i want one
Simon Brown
Yummy. Yes Please!!!
Patrick Jakubowski
Hey, I guess I’ll give it a shot!
Brian Larsen
Nice offer, Long
Zim
Ok, I’d like to participate
Matt Sharpe
Count me in!!
Andreas Kraus
Sounds good
Chris
hey, i guess I’ll try this out. great site….
Pocket Kocurek
ahaha.. any chances for sending to europe lol?
sajith dilshan
hey i want it. why don’t u send it to Sri Lanka. thant’s where i live
Dan
I want it so I can make Flip 3D come out of the screen like the cover
Jordan Messenger
All i can say is Gimme :p
megame
Yes, I’d like that book.
Niyaaz
Now let’s see if you can throw that book all the way to South Africa.
Tomer Chachamu
That’ll be me please.
JustDavid
I’ll take a chance
Catalin Salgau
Is it paper back or hard cover?
Anthony T
I like my Windows’ Glass stained, thankyou very much! (or for that matter tinted so I don’t get blinded by all those bright applications with white pixels glaring back at me!)
Corrine
If his book is as good as exemplified in his “Windows Vista Usability Tips Articles” (which I added to Vista Bookmarks about the time I started the bookmark blog) I expect that all of the instructions are very clear and easy to follow.
See http://www.stevesinchak.com/ShowCategory278.aspx
http://vistabookmarks.blogspot.com/2007/02/reviews-and-collections.htm l
Andrew Tobin
Hey Long,
Sign me up too mate, kthxbai
goldcoaster
Pick me, please.
Lets me save a little more money for a new PC before the old clunker finally gives out on me.
cheers from the Gold Coast
Viran
Normally I wouldn’t go for a free book, as you say, “…if it’s in a book, it’s probably on the interweb.” I can’t pass up this opportunity as it would save a fair bit of time trawling through the web as Steve has already done that for us!
Ehhhhxcelleeent…
Herman Saksono
I want dat book
Nicholas Carchidi
This looks fantastic! I had Vista since it came out and it’s been a real pain trying to figure everything out. The bugs also are a real menice.. It’s time that I get something like this book.
Microsoft did a nice job, but the bugs.. My God the bugs!!!
I would really love to be able to hack Vista.
-Nick C.
Serkan DIRIARIN
nice book!!!
Mike Halsey
Cool book!
)
Alexander Lai
Just do it.
Jock B
This book would be *sooooooo* helpful!!!!
If I had Vista, that is…
Praveen
Long, I want this boooooook
Beau Giles
ooh, I want a copy! =D
Spik3balloon
Count me in.
SeBsZ
I won! Yay thanks!!
Will Ingles
OMGVISTAHAX!
lol may as well give this a try.
horcruxmt
I want the book!
Mat
Cheers Long.
Karolis
Cool:) I love to have this:) I try to win something in this web-site for so long… maybe I will now;)
Maurizio Corso
yay. everybody loves a giveaway
Najeeb
I would love to win one
tinuXP
Yes, thanks, I’ll read every page of the book
Sean Wright
Give me this or I swear I will sock you in the eye. Seriously.
Keith Carey
Long, my friend, please count me into the drawing. Hacking Vista to bite sized chucks sounds awesome!
Zain Baloch
Wow.. thats a great great offer …
and u Rock Man …
i am a Big Fan of U ..
Please let me know by my email what are your activities and what u do ..
i mean studying and other things ..
i really love the way u keep your site updated
i am from Pakistan and want to make a site like yours but for that i would have to be some thing like you
please let me know what i can do ..
thanks
love you ZeeBee
bye!
Nicholas Tarnowsky
I read the “Hacking Windows XP” book, it was alright I guess, but with all the Vista blogs and guides out there, this would have to be SOME BOOK!!!
Simon
“Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.”
– Rick Cook, The Wizardry Compiled
William
Damn leechers, only comment when there is a giveaway! *hides* Thanks Long!
Imran
I want this book
Please.
Fidel
yo damn man nice.. I want this book thanks for giving to one of us lucky person…..
Winston Pang
Nice, I wouldn’t mind a copy.
Morten
Me neither.
Mitch
I
Mitch
Freaky my last comment never worked right?
anyways…
I would love this book, it looks like it is a real winner, I read Hacking Windows XP, it was lovely but already pretty old when I read it! Thank you for the oppurtunity, even though I probably wont win!
mVPstar
Hey Long!
I’m a C9 bro.
And plus, I never win anything. :’(
Paul
O HAI LONG,
LONG TIGHM no SEA
SAIN ME UP PLZ K THX BAI
(the above lolcat dialect was intended)
Paul
SpleenDog
Seems cool, maybe worth a read…
David
In light of other items on your blog such as the Microsoft “Ohana” project and Jackson Fish Market, does any one else think that the cover of this book is hideous?
Kefu
Nice Hacking!!
Luis H.
I want to receive a copy
Ashish A. Rajbhoj
i am computer engg student so this book will be very helpful for me !
thank u very much for giving me one copy !
Juno
can u give it to me????????????
Fowl
What is there to say?
dj_cityboy
hey Long i have been a long time fan of your site and regardless if i win or not. ill always come back….daily!
dont get me wrong id still like to have the book though
peas
cityboy
BrAtKo
Wooow that would be nice to have one copy here in Slovakia.
Mike Binsfeld
please pick me!!!!!!!
Nexus
Long knows I love him.
RC
I won’t win. But I will enter bravely!
Tobias Koerner
Feelin’ lucky…
Robin
And one more for luck
Peter
Pick me!
Rafael
Name: Rafael
Email: rafaelanti-tgtsoft.com
Rafael
Your asshole filter removed my anti-spam tags in my email address. It’s obvious where to stick the @, however.
Kwame
Sounds interesting.
Drew
Two eyes = Two books.
Are you sure it was a mistake?
If I win I promise to keep one eye closed in deference to the books twin.
Drew.
Jason
(This comment intentionally left blank.)
Sarah
Looks like a great read.
xaml
This book would be a great addition indeed.
@Rafael: do you really think you’ll win like that? ;/
Severus
u can download the book from here
—————————————
Edit by Long: As much as I appreciate you sharing the book, I think Steve deserves something for his work.
sb.net
Count me in!!
Lil
Count me in.
Cruel Intentions
Now Now! Since there are so Many Comments in here already and Probability of getting any one of the 2 would definitely be very very bleak, So Let me just comment about the fact the The Book is an Amazing read. I read a couple of reviews of the same and some review chapters available on the site, and it does sound good.
I would suggest that every one here should give the author what he deserves and go ahead and buy the darn book.
P.S. Cruel Intentions in the Comment about going to buy the book, Maybe den I would have a better chance!
\JCB
\CI
John Anderton
Nice book. I agree with what you say, if its in a book, its probably online (as far as computers are concerned). Still having a book to read when you are traveling or just sitting around at home is fun. This is certainly worth a read.
Me wants
Rom
and I thought vista’s security was hard to penetrate…
Liam
Nice book, how big of a bribe do you require?
Blurry D
Count me in!!
Jordan
Give me. GIVE ME. GIVE ME.
jmsb
hey, why not?
Sean C
Harrumph. Didn’t win the Expressions web contest; prolly not a good chance that the random-number-automaton-picker will reward me this time, either.
All goood though…and thanks for the informative insiderism on Forum 07.
Rob
I never win anything.
goldcoaster
This contest ends today – maybe I have a chance to win, then everybody will be my friend just like Zoidberg!
sajith dilshan
pretty please long
i want the book soooooooooooooooooooooooo much
how to rebuild credit after bankruptcy
how to rebuild credit after bankruptcy…
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