Review of:
Word 97 Annoyances 
by Jacquelyn Sykes, Alamo PC

As I read the first few chapters, I kept asking myself, "Where was this book when I first started using Word 97 back in May 1997?" This book not only had the answers I had spent hours trying to find in the Help file, it also answered questions I didn't know I had. There is a nice balance between seriousness and unforced humor. 

Why do I recommend this book so highly? After all, it's not the longest one on Word 97 available. First, I believe you get very good value for your money. While the book has only 322 pages, including the index, they all pertain to its subject. Second, the authors wrote very tightly without losing clarity. It was a joy to read. Chapters 4 and 5 were more difficult than the rest since they discuss programming. Third, Chapter 8, The Viral Threat, has the best explanation of macro viruses and how your computer becomes infected, that I have read. Fourth, it contains many concrete explanations of various aspects of Word 97, why you should change its options and how to do it. 

 What This Book is Not

 This book doesn't tell you how to install Word 97 nor does it tell you the different parts of a Windows 95 window. It doesn't even tell you the different parts of a Word 97 window. If you need that type of help read the appropriate book in the ...For Dummies or Idiots series or another introductory book. This book doesn't waste paper on rehashing the basics. I have found that once I learned the basic operation of Windows and a Windows program that I no longer needed to refer to those sections in my reference books. 

Unless you have never used Windows 95 and a word processor, I recommend that you check a basic book, if you need one, out of the San Antonio Public Library and spend your cash on Word 97 Annoyances. 

 So, What is This Book?

 Word 97 Annoyances discusses those aspects of Word 97 that you may find annoying, that are hard to use, or that are hard to find. It helps you to eliminate or change those aspects of Word 97 that get in the way of your productivity. 

What annoyances? The blurb on the back cover gives this example: "You may be annoyed that something (it's called Find Fast) takes over your machine every so often to scan and index your files. Or that it's so difficult to select a block of text that begins in the middle of a word. Or that, when you want to select a new style for some text, a visually attractive drop-down list takes forever to appear." 

 My favorite feature of Word 97 may be your major annoyance. The authors recognize these differences so they explain the purpose of a feature or toolbar button and why you might want to change it. Then they tell you how to do so. 

 What does Word 97 Annoyances Cover?

 It contains nine chapters and two appendixes. The authors recommend that you read "the first four chapters sequentially, and always have a PC by your side when you do." I recommend that you read the first three chapters (Initial Inanities, Vital Changes, Tales of the Toolbar), think about the recommendations, decide which of them you want to implement and then go to your PC with book in hand to actually change things to suit you. You don't have to make changes all at one time either. 

 Then read Chapter 8, The Viral Threat, which tells you about Word macro viruses in very clear terms. More importantly, it tells you how to check your computer to see if it's infected and how to cure it, if it is. 

 If you never read another chapter in the book, you will have received your money's worth in just these chapters. What exactly do they cover? 

• Chapter 1, Initial Inanities, "discusses the causes and nature of annoyances in Word." These include complex problems, the way Word was designed or implemented and just plain stupid design.

 

 

• Chapter 2, Vital Changes, covers changes you can make to Windows 95, Office 97 and Word 97 to make your computing life easier. When I worked through this chapter, I found that I had already implemented many of the recommendations for Windows 95 and Office 97. Some because I learned good maintenance habits back in the days when a 20-MB hard drive was cutting edge computing and others because First Aid 97 had recommended them. I found many of their suggestions acceptable, but, in a few cases, I disagreed with them because I found a particular feature more useful than they did. This is the first chapter where a major feature of the book becomes apparent. The book has copious, large, easy to read screen shots. They make it easy to implement the suggestions.

 

 

• Chapter 3, Tales of the Toolbar, "walks you through a complete reworking of the Standard and Formatting Toolbars." The authors consider the setup of the Standard Toolbar especially to be a demoware version for marketing purposes. Again, I choose to keep a button because I find it more useful than they do. This chapter particularly illustrates how they provide sufficient information so you can choose the course of action that's right for you.

Chapter 4, Word as Workhorse, is a basic tutorial on Visual Basic for Applications, the language used for macros. It walks you through creating several VBA programs. I actually did three of them. One for practice and the other two because they are very useful. They are worth your time, unless you are on the web in which case you might want to download them from ftp://ftp.wopr.com/pub/examples.zip. 

 Why do you want these particular programs? Because they will automatically generate a Word 97 document with samples of all your loaded fonts at the size you request. Even on my 200 MH Pentium computer it takes several minutes for it to so since there are over 600 fonts loaded at the moment. (Graphics and Publishing programs all want to put their own fonts on. Until I've worked for a program long enough to know which are essential and which aren't, I'm reluctant to take them off.) 

I'm not a programmer, I haven't even looked seriously at a program since 1984 (when I took some courses using Atari Basic), and I was able to do it. 

 Chapter 5, VBA Fights Word Annoyances, shows you how to use VBA to take care of many Word annoyances. I didn't try any of these yet. 

 Chapter 7, Power Hacks, gets into advanced tips, tricks and macros. It involves making changes to the registry. The authors tell you how to back up the registry before you start. They also tell you to work slowly and carefully. Since the areas addressed aren't giving me problems at the moment I haven't tried any of these yet either. 

 Chapter 9, Where and How to Get Help, provides a list of magazines, web sites, newsletters and listservers where you can get help. This short chapter contains many on-line links. Several other chapters also give links. I've followed up on several. I found one error although it may not have been wrong when the book went to press. On page 26, while the address to get one of the converter files (for Ami Pro, Word Pro, Word Star, DOS word and more) is correct, the file name given is incorrect. It should be wdsupcnv.exe. 

 Visit Woody Leonhard's web site at http://www.wopr.com/wow/wow.htm to receive an e-mail newsletter full of news and tips for Office 97. 

Appendix A, The Built-In Word Dialogs, gives information on the dialogs accessible from VBA programs. 

 Appendix B, The Built-In Word Commands, contains a list of the 965 procedure names that have special meaning to Word. They're there for use in assigning your own VBA routines. This is advanced customization, which I did not explore. 
 
 

Vital Statistics

 While I didn't find this book on the shelf at the two bookstores I checked, you can have a bookstore order it for you. On the other hand, you can order it from the web. The publisher (http://www.oreilly.com/order/specials.html) is offering a special as of October 23, 1997. If you buy Windows Annoyances, Word 97 Annoyances and Excel 97 Annoyances (List Price: $73.85) you can get them all for $59.95. You can also order it from Woody Leonhard's web site http://www.wopr.com/. You'll actually be ordering from Amazon.com but if you go through his site, he will get credit for the sale. Amazon sells it for $17.56 plus shipping.