Mr. Norton has produced a readable and instructive introduction to Microsoft's operating system.

The 22 chapters are liberally sprinkled with amusing yet instructive cartoons and run from basic computer concepts to patching commercial programs to suit you.

The emphasis throughout is on usability, rather than theory. Examples are given for all the commands, together with detailed explanations. The book is riddled with useful tips which you're unlikely to find in a manual and even such matters as choosing a programming language are dealt with in an informal but informed manner.

There are chapters on choosing software, using batch files, detailed explanations of pipes and filters, the most common errors and how to avoid them.

The index is comprehensive, as is the glossary. There's a complete summary of all the DOS commands but the best feature is that it reads well.

Every first-time user of MSDOS should read this book from start to end. Even those who've been using MSDOS for a while will find many things that may have overlooked and it's much friendlier than a manual and many other introductions to the operating system. Highly recommended.

Bryan Skinner