Don't Click on the Blue E! -- For anyone who has grown disenchanted with Internet Explorer, this book is here to help. With its straightforward approach, it gives non-technical users a step-by-step roadmap for switching to a better web browser: Firefox. As the only book that covers the switch to Firefox, this how-to guide is a must for all those who want to browse faster, more securely, and more efficiently. A sample excerpt, Safety and Security (PDF), is available free online.

Visual Basic 2005: A Developer's Notebook -- This practical book offers nearly 50 hands-on projects in an informal, code-intensive style. Each project explores a new feature of the language, with emphasis on changes that can increase productivity, simplify programming tasks, and help you add new functionality to your applications. This one-of-a-kind book also offers suggestions for further experimentation and links to online documentation and other sources of information. Sample Chapter 2, The Visual Basic Language (PDF) is available free online.

Degunking Your Personal Finances (Paraglyph) -- This unique book gives you a simple, proven, 12-step plan to help you organize your finances, save money, and really put your money to work. It uncovers the mysteries of setting up a usable budget, making the right financial decisions every day, setting up college saving accounts, what types of loans work for you and against you, and how to enjoy a great standard of living without having mountains of bills.

The Art of Project Management -- In this book, you'll learn from a veteran manager of software and web development how to plan, manage, and lead projects. This personal account of hard lessons learned over a decade of work in the industry distills complex concepts and challenges into practical nuggets of useful advice. Inspiring, funny, honest, and compelling, this is the book you and your team need to have within arm's reach. Sample Chapter 3, How to Figure Out What to Do (PDF) is available free online.

Visual C# 2005: A Developer's Notebook -- This unique "all lab, no lecture" guide covers all of the great new features in C# with 50 hands-on projects. Each project explores a new feature, with emphasis on changes that increase productivity, simplify programming tasks, and add functionality to applications. You'll find suggestions for further experimentation, links to online documentation, plus practical notes and warnings. The book also shows developers how to acquire, install, and configure Visual Studio .NET 2005. Sample Chapter 1, C# 2.0 (PDF) is available free online.

iMovie HD and iDVD 5: The Missing Manual -- For both professional and amateur moviemakers, David Pogue's witty and entertaining guide details every step of iMovie HD video production, from choosing and using a digital camcorder to burning the finished work onto DVDs. In additon, this book provides a firm grounding in basic film technique so that the quality of a video won't rely entirely on magic. It's your ultimate moviemaking-made-easy source.

Access Hacks -- This valuable guide provides hands-on solutions to help users master Access. For experienced users, Access Hacks offers a unique collection of proven techniques and tools that will take their database skills and productivity to the next level. For Access beginners, this book helps them acquire a firm grasp of the program's most productive features. Topics covered range from utilizing SQL inquiries to working with Access in multi-user environments. Sample Hack 61, Use Excel Functions Inside Access (PDF), is available free online (along with five others).

Data Crunching (Pragmatic) -- This book describes the most useful data crunching techniques, explains when you should use them, and shows how they will make your life easier. Along the way, it will introduce you to some handy, but under-used, features of Java, Python, and other languages. It will also show you how to test data crunching programs, and how data crunching fits into the larger software development picture.

Ant: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition -- A must-have for Java developers, this second edition has been reworked, revised, and expanded upon to reflect Ant's evolution. It documents the new ways that Ant is being applied, as well as the array of optional tasks that Ant supports. In fact, this new edition covers everything about this extraordinary build management tool from downloading and installing, to using Ant to build web applications, to using Ant to test code. Sample Chapter 6, Getting Source Code from CVS Repositories (PDF) is available free online.

Test Driving Linux: From Windows to Linux in 60 Seconds -- This detailed, step-by-step guide provides both home and business users with a hassle-free way to investigate Linux before purchasing and installing a complete Linux distribution. Quickly learn how to use Linux to perform your most common tasks without changing, installing, or configuring a thing on your computer. This release comes with Move, a CD that allows Windows users to try all the features of Mandrake Linux without the hassle of actually installing Linux. Sample Chapter 7, Edit Digital Images (PDF) is available free online.

Where 2.0 Early Registration Open -- Early registration has just opened for the O'Reilly Where 2.0 Conference, to be held June 29-30 in stunning San Francisco. Join us to learn how vendors, application developers, and consumer web companies are connecting customers, products, and enterprises in real time. Whether you're incorporating location into your business or blazing a new geospatial trail, Where 2.0 pinpoints the people and projects forging this new frontier. Register by May 31st and save $400.

Protect Yourself from WiFi Snoops -- You needn't be at the mercy of WiFi snoops. There's a lot you can do to protect your home or business network, without spending a lot of time or even any money. Preston Gralla shows you how with step-by-step guides to hiding your network SSID, filtering out MAC addresses, and using encryption. Preston is the author of Windows XP Hacks, 2nd Edition.

Addison-Wesley Professional on SafariU -- SafariU, O’Reilly’s web-based platform for creating, publishing, and sharing textbooks, now includes 416 Addison-Wesley Professional titles. With books covering topics from programming, data mining, AI, networking, security, web design, web programming, databases, and a whole range of subjects in between, Addison-Wesley is a welcomed addition to the SafariU repository. Log on to SafariU now to see this incredible new content.

How to Build a Nonprofit for Your Community -- Many open source projects have already created nonprofit organizations that support their communities, while other projects are considering ways to establish nonprofits. David Boswell details how mozdev.org built a nonprofit organization and shows you how to do the same for your community. He covers fundraising, obtaining legal advice, staffing, and more. David is the coauthor of Creating Applications with Mozilla.

Generic Types, Part 1 -- In part one of this two-part excerpt, David Flanagan explores the basic use of generics in typesafe collections, and then delves into their more complex uses. In addition, he covers type parameter wildcards and bounded wildcards. In part two next week, David tackles how to write your own generic types and generic methods. David is the author of Java in a Nutshell, 5th Edition.

O'Reilly Learning Lab: $200 Instant Rebate -- Learning programming languages and development techniques has never been easier. Using your web browser and Useractive's Learning Sandbox technology, the Learning Lab gives you hands-on, online training in a creative environment (and a Certificate from the University of Illinois College of Extended Education upon course completion). Until May 20th, receive a $200 instant rebate when you enroll in any Certificate Series.

Hacking Firefox -- Overlays allow existing Firefox GUIs to be enhanced. In this excerpt, Nigel McFarlane shows you how to use overlays to make items appear in the Firefox default application. For example, you might want to add a menu item to the Tools menu to launch your extension. Nigel is the author of Firefox Hacks.

Adding Custom Buttons to Internet Explorer -- Have you ever wanted to extend the Internet Explorer toolbar by adding your own buttons? It's not that tough to do. Mitch Tulloch walks you through it in a few easy steps. Mitch is the author of Windows Server Hacks.

Where? There! -- Nat Torkington, chair of the upcoming O'Reilly Where 2.0 Conference, blogs on organizing the event, conversations with mapping gurus, and the implications of location-determining and mapping technologies. Ubiquitous, cheap location technology has opened the door for a flood of innovation in location-based services that affect us all. Don't miss the first-ever Where 2.0 Conference on June 29-30 in San Francisco.

Windows XP in a Nutshell: The Command Prompt -- Understanding the command prompt is not only helpful in getting a better idea of how Windows works, but can expose new ways of accomplishing tasks without repetitive pointing and clicking. In Chapter 6 of Windows XP in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition, you'll learn about using the command line, command prompt choices, the complete documentation on MS-DOS batch files, and more. If you like this chapter, read the whole book (and up to nine others) on Safari with a free trial subscription.

Trust and Zeal in Open Source Advocacy -- Advocacy is critical to the spread of open source and free software. Good advocates build trust in their audiences, explaining how, and if, F/OSS can help them solve their problems. Jono Bacon explains how to build trust and avoid overzealous advocacy. Jono is the author of Linux Desktop Hacks.

Hacking Firefox: Add Stuff to Your Toolbars -- In this excerpt, Nigel McFarlane shows you how to trick out your Firefox toolbars, with a focus on two example extensions that benefit from toolbar icons: InfoLister and Gmail Notifier. Nigel is the author of Firefox Hacks.