Easy Internet

Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0789716399, Paperback)

Sometimes, no words are sufficient when it comes to reassuring the technoreluctant that they can indeed deal with the Internet as easily as they deal with their vacuum cleaner. In Easy Internet, Joe Kraynak makes pictures do what words cannot. Just about everything any beginner might want to do online, from finding a service provider to creating their own Web pages, is presented in a series of easy-to-follow illustrations.

The pages show just what the user will see. Illustrations of a mouse show where to click. Pictures of a keyboard illustrate where and what to type, and the verbal instructions are boiled down to be as short and clear as possible. Kraynak covers all the important tasks--logging on, Web browsing, e-mail, newsgroup usage, downloading, chatting, Internet telephony, and Web-page publishing--using the most popular software, including Netscape, Microsoft Internet Explorer, and America Online. He also recommends software to simplify some tasks and shows how to get and install it.

If this approach has any drawbacks it's that the illustrations leave little room for detailed explanations of some tasks. Some new users may need a bit of extra coaching for the first download and program installation. After that, though, all the guidance is here. In the third edition, Kraynak assumes readers will be using Windows 95 or Windows 98 and that they know enough to turn on their computers and find their way around the menus. Beyond that, he holds their hands every step of the way. --Elizabeth Lewis