Building the Perfect PC -- For many computer users, a ready-made system is about as satisfying as a frozen microwave dinner: sure, it works, but it's not exactly what you need or want. Don't accept the assortment of components bundled for your price point; build your own PC. With straight-forward language, clear end-to-end instructions, and extensive illustrations, this book covers a variety of complete systems and their components. Regardless of your experience, you can take control and create your ideal machine. Sample Chapter 1, Fundamentals, is available free online.

Windows DevCenter Survey -- We're asking WindowsDevCenter.com readers to participate in an online survey. It's your opportunity to help shape our online editorial direction and influence which book titles we pursue. You'll also have a chance to win some of our most popular Windows books. Take the survey.

Finding All Encrypted Files on a Volume -- Windows Server's Encrypting File System (EFS) is a useful tool for preventing unauthorized access to important business documents, but using this feature carelessly can place your business operations in jeopardy. Mitch Tulloch shows you how to find and protect all encrypted files on a volume. Mitch is the author of Windows Server Hacks.

Lightweight XML Editing in Word 2003 -- Strictly speaking, you can edit custom XML in Word, but there are limitations that make the process needlessly complex. Evan Lenz presents a lightweight approach to XML editing in Word that works in all editions of Word 2003. All you need besides Word is an XSLT processor. Evan is a coauthor of Office 2003 XML.

Technical Writing Using OpenOffice.org Writer -- If you're in the business of writing technical documents, you could benefit from using OpenOffice.org Writer. In this article, Jean Hollis Weber reviews Writer's many features, including a customizable interface, support for styles, advanced page layout capabilities, and a full macro language. Jean is the author of OpenOffice.org Writer: The Free Alternative to Microsoft Word.

Cooking Up a User Interface -- No matter how much you do behind the scenes to create a solid and robust application, users of the application see only your user interface. Chapter 9 of Access Cookbook, 2nd Edition shows you how to design a UI that is workable, aesthetically pleasing, and helps users get their work done. Learn how to take full advantage of special keystrokes, create a map-based interface and forms that carry data forward from record to record, and much more. If you like this chapter, read the whole book (and up to nine others) on Safari with a free trial subscription.

Performing Web Queries in Excel 2003 -- Excel's QueryTable object offers a quick way to perform a web query that imports data from a web page into a worksheet. Find out how to do it and how it works in this sample lab from O'Reilly's upcoming Excel 2003 Programming: A Developer's Notebook.

Top Three Windows RSS Readers -- Which are the best RSS readers out there? Wei-Meng Lee picks his favorites and gives you guided tours of them all. Wei-Meng is the author of Windows XP Unwired.

Rapid Application Development with VB.NET 2.0 -- Jesse Liberty has supported the idea that it really doesn't matter if you program in C# or in VB.NET, since both are just syntactic sugar layered on top of the Microsoft Intermediate Language--the true language of .NET. But that appears to be changing with Whidbey. Get a look at the new My object in VB.NET 2.0 in this article by Jesse, author of Programming Visual Basic .NET, 2nd Edition.

SafariU: Create, Customize, and Share Teaching Material -- Looking for a way to truly customize your course textbook and offer students exactly the material you choose to teach, while saving them a good bit of money? Become a SafariU beta tester and check out the new web-based publishing platform from O'Reilly that allows you to create custom textbooks and online syllabi.

Upgrading and Migrating Print Servers -- Forget the "paperless office"; printers are still corporate workhorses. That means upgrading and migrating print servers is more important than ever. Mitch Tulloch shows you tools and tricks to make these tasks easier. Mitch is the author ofo Windows Server Hacks.

What's New in Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition? -- What's new, what's hot, and what's not in Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition (SE)? Wei-Meng Lee gives you the rundown on everything from graphics support to new form factors and dual display modes. Wei-Meng is the author of .NET Compact Framework Pocket Guide.

Using Gtk with Mono -- Because it is cross-platform and object-oriented, the Mono team decided to use the Gimp Toolkit (Gtk) as the basis for its UI framework. Gtk#, the C# wrapper for Gtk, is the result. Learn how to write a Gtk# program and how to deploy it in a Windows environment, from Niel M. Bornstein, a coauthor of Mono: A Developer's Notebook.

Hacking Excel, Part 2 -- Learn how to remove phantom links from your workbook, and how to make Excel return the nth occurrence of specified data, in these sample hacks from O'Reilly's Excel Hacks.

How to Write a Basic Gtk# Program with Mono -- Gtk#, the Mono API for the GTK+ UI toolkit, is the open source alternative to Windows.Forms. This article shows how to install Mono on Windows, how Gtk# works, and how to write a simple Gtk# program. This kind of mini-project is just the sort you'll find in O'Reilly's upcoming Mono: A Developer's Notebook.

Top 12 Ways to Degunk Your PC -- If you want to clean up your PC, and get it running as fast as it should, follow Joli Ballew and Jeff Duntemann's 12-step program for degunking your PC. Joli and Jeff are the authors of the bestselling Degunking Windows, from Paraglyph Press.

Reading and Writing Registry Keys with Visual Basic -- Need to use Visual Basic to perform basic operations upon Registry keys? It's not tough to do, once you know the basics. Ron Petrusha shows you how. Ron is a coauthor of VB.NET Language in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition.

Liberty on Whidbey: C# Generics -- The single most anticipated (and dreaded?) feature of Visual C# 2.0 is the addition of Generics. Jesse Liberty shows you what problems Generics solve, how to use them to improve your code, and why you need not fear them. Jesse is a coauthor of Programming .NET Windows Applications.

Best Practices for Assigning FSMO Roles -- Getting FMSO roles right is key to the proper operations of an Active Directory environment. Learn how to make sure you use them properly in this article by Mitch Tulloch, author of Windows Server 2003 in a Nutshell.

coLinux: Linux for Windows Without Rebooting -- Linux just keeps getting easier to try. A new, free software project called coLinux, or Cooperative Linux, lets you do nearly everything User-mode Linux does--on Windows 2000 or XP. Learn how to install, boot, network, and upgrade coLinux in this article by KIVILCIM Hindistan. You'll find all of O'Reilly's Linux books and articles at linux.oreilly.com.

Getting the Most Out of Site Links -- Site links are one of the more confusing aspects of Active Directory. Mitch Tulloch demystifies them, and shows you how to get the most out of them. Mitch is the author of Windows Server Hacks.

Troubleshooting Stop Errors -- What to do when the Blue Screen of Death appears? Mitch Tulloch offers five tips on troubleshooting Stop error messages. Mitch is the author of Windows Server Hacks.

Creating a Shortcut for Searching Active Directory -- Active Directory lets administrators publish information resources on their networks. But how can users find those resources? Mitch Tulloch shows you hacks and shortcuts for doing it. Mitch is the author of Windows Server Hacks.