Free Microsoft VB, ADO.NET and .NET Books

 

Exploring Windows 10

Windows 10 is designed to please both touch and mouse users. It’s also designed to be intuitive for users of both Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, incorporating the “best of both worlds” to enhance your experience and help you be more productive. The Start menu is back, putting all your apps, settings, and files just a few keystrokes, clicks, or taps away.

Introducing Windows 10 for IT Professionals, Preview Edition

Get a head start evaluating Windows 10—with early technical insights from award-winning journalist and Windows expert Ed Bott. This guide introduces new features and capabilities, providing a practical, high-level overview for IT professionals ready to begin deployment planning now. This book is a preview, a work in progress about a work in progress. It offers a snapshot of the Windows 10 Technical Preview as of April 2015, on the eve of the BUILD Developers’ Conference in San Francisco.

Windows 8 Inside Out

You're beyond the basics - so dive right into Windows 8 and really put your PC to work! This supremely organized reference is packed with hundreds of timesaving solutions, troubleshooting tips, and workarounds. It's all muscle and no fluff. Discover how the experts tackle Windows 8 - and challenge yourself to new levels of mastery!

Introducing Windows 8

Network administrators will get an early, high-level view of these topics and more: Performance, reliability, and security features; Deployment options; Managing the new UI using; Group Policy and Windows PowerShell; Internet Explorer 10; Virtualization and cloud solutions; Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack; Recovery features.

Beginning Windows 8

Become familiar with, with non-technical vocabulary used throughout, ways to get up and running within the new Windows user interface, minimize downtime, increase productivity, and harness the features you won't ever knew existed to manage your computer and revel in the satisfaction and excitement that accompany it.

 From ideas and tweaks in order to easy-to-follow guides as well as detailed descriptions, this book goes inside Windows 8 to find out the true energy and flexibility which lies within, and guides you at the own pace through getting the most effective from it.

Training Guide: Administering Windows Server 2012

Made to help enterprise managers develop real-world, job-role-specific skills -- this Training Guide targets deploying and controlling Windows Server 2012. Build hands-on expertise through a number of lessons, exercises, and suggested methods - and assist maximize your performance at work.

Microsoft System Center: Introduction to Microsoft Automation Solutions

Microsoft System Center: Introduction to Microsoft Automation Solutions introduces you to two Microsoft Automation solutions: Azure Automation and Service Management Automation. It explores both of these tools and how they can be used to meet the automation needs of your Microsoft Azure cloud solutions or your enterprise data center environments.

Mastering PowerShell

Windows PowerShell Essentials shows how to build scripts and utilities to automate system tasks or create powerful system management tools to handle the day-to-day tasks that drive a Windows administrator's life. It also covers PowerShell v2/v3 in detail, with full chapters on remoting, modules, events, and the PowerShell Integrated Scripting Environment.

Introducing Windows Server 2012 R2: Technical Overview

This book is intended to provide you with an overview of the new features and enhancements introduced in Windows Server 2012 R2. The intended audience for this book is IT pros who deploy, manage, and maintain Windows Server workloads in data center, private cloud, and hosting provider environments.

Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Administrator's Companion

Get your midsize IT infrastructure up and running smoothly. This indispensable, single-volume reference details the features and capabilities of Windows Essential Business Server 2008. Gain the real-world insights, practical workarounds, and key troubleshooting tactics you need for on-the-job results. Downloadable Link - Windows Essential Business Server 2008

Windows 8 for Dummies

This Pocket Edition isn’t intended to make you a whiz at Windows; instead, it dishes out chunks of useful computing information when you need them.You don’t have to become a Windows 8 expert, you just need to know enough to get by quickly, cleanly, and with a minimum of pain so that you can move on to the more pleasant things in life. Best of all, you can get what you need out of this book whether you’re working on a touchscreen, laptop, or desktop computer. Downloadable Link - Windows 8 for Dummies

Windows 8 Cheat Sheet

Shorcuts, how to's and general knowladge all in a cheat sheet for Windows 8. Downloadable Link - Windows 8 Cheat Sheet

Windows 7 – The Pocket Guide v 1.0


There are thousands of customizations you can apply and this pocket guide only scratches the surface. As always, I’ve written this book so anyone can pick it up and work through it. Downloadable Link - Windows 7 – The Pocket Guide v 1.0

Windows 7 Beginners guide

A beginners guide to Windows 7 with step by step instructions. Downloadable Link - Windows 7 Beginners guide

Windows 7 Annoyances: Tips, Secrets, and Solutions

Windows 7 may be faster and more stable than Windows Vista, but that's a far cry from problem-free. With Windows 7 Annoyances, you'll learn how to deal with a wide range of nagging problems before they deal with you. Annoyances.org founder David Karp offers you the tools to fix all sorts of Windows 7 issues, along with solutions, hacks, and timesaving tips to make the most of your PC.

Downloadable Link - Windows 7 Annoyances: Tips, Secrets, and Solutions

The Computer Active Ultimate Guide To Windows 7


Windows 7 has lots of new features to explore and new things to learn. The Computer active Ultimate Guide to Windows 7 gives you everything you need to know about the new operating system.
We'll make sure you're ready for the latest version of Windows, with buying and upgrading advice, easy-to-follow step-by-step workshops and troubleshooting tips - all in Computer active's trusted, plain English style.

Downloadable Link - Ultimate Guide To Windows 7

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Pocket Consultant

Portable and precise, this pocket-sized guide delivers ready answers for the day-to-day administration of SQL Server. Zero in on core support and maintenance tasks using quick-reference tables, instructions, and lists. You’ll get the focused information you need to save time and get the job done whether at your desk or in the field!
Get fast facts to:

--Manage SQL Server services and clients
--Configure, manage, and tune servers
--Implement policy-based management
--Administer security and access
--Monitor server activity and tune performance
--Automate maintenance
--Perform backups and recovery

Downloadable Link - Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Pocket Consultant

Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Administrator's Companion

Get your midsize IT infrastructure up and running smoothly. This indispensable, single-volume reference details the features and capabilities of Windows Essential Business Server 2008. Gain the real-world insights, practical workarounds, and key troubleshooting tactics you need for on-the-job results.

Downloadable Link - Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Administrator's Companion

 

Windows 7 Annoyances: Tips, Secrets, and Solutions

Windows 7 may be faster and more stable than Windows Vista, but that's a far cry from problem-free. With Windows 7 Annoyances, you'll learn how to deal with a wide range of nagging problems before they deal with you. Annoyances.org founder David Karp offers you the tools to fix all sorts of Windows 7 issues, along with solutions, hacks, and timesaving tips to make the most of your PC.

Downloadable Link - Windows 7 Annoyances: Tips, Secrets, and Solutions

The Computer Active Ultimate Guide To Windows 7

Windows 7 has lots of new features to explore and new things to learn. The Computer active Ultimate Guide to Windows 7 gives you everything you need to know about the new operating system.
We'll make sure you're ready for the latest version of Windows, with buying and upgrading advice, easy-to-follow step-by-step workshops and troubleshooting tips - all in Computer active's trusted, plain English style.

Downloadable Link - The Computer Active Ultimate Guide To Windows 7

Training Guide: Administering Windows Server 2012


This particular book covers most of the topics and abilities that are the topic of the Microsoft
 accreditation exam 70-411. The concept behind this guide is that through reading it, you are able to learn how to perform tasks you may want to perform on the day-to-day basis inside your role as the Windows Server 2012 manager. Using the exam objectives like a working definition of this role has
 the extra benefit of providing you with a better knowledge of the topics as well as tasks listed upon
 the 70-411 examination objectives. This book will help you in preparing for the actual exam, but it’s not really a complete exam planning solution.

Downloadable Link - Administering Windows 2012 Server+Downloadable PDF Book

 

Windows Server Evaluation

This guide provides you with the necessary information to go through the datacenter built. The objective is that will help you build an evaluation environment in your own datacenter and walk with the real-world guided experiences described with this guide. In addition to the actual guided experiences, you’ll have the actual
 flexibility to expand on the merchandise functionality and learn more depending on your business requirements. Where pointed out, some of the experiences tend to be interdependent and build on previously experiences...

Downloadable link - Windows Server Data Center 2012 R2 Evaluation Guide

Windows Server 2012

Windows Server 2012 has become the most significant release from the Windows Server system ever. With a new user interface, powerful brand new management tools enhanced Home windows Power Shell support, and 100s of new features within the areas of networking, storage space, and virtualization, Windows Server 2012 might help IT deliver more whilst reducing costs. Windows Server 2012 also was designed for that cloud from the ground up and offers a foundation for building both open public and private cloud methods to enable businesses to consider advantage of the benefits of cloud computing. This book supplies a technical overview of Windows Server 2012 and it is intended to help IT professionals familiarize themselves using the capabilities of the brand new platform. This present edition also replaces the sooner preview edition, with Screenshots and feature descriptions now being depending on RTM instead of Beta.

Introducing Windows Server 2012 + Downloadable PDF Book

Microsoft Visual Basic 2005, Visual Studio 2005, and .NET Framework 2.0

First look/ features/ what it can do. For current VB6 experts the authors fully understand the code migration issues you’ll likely encounter. Includes a quick primer on .NET Framework programming. If you already work with .NET extend your existing skills. From the innovations in rapid application development, debugging, and deployment, to new data access, desktop, and Web programming capabilities, you get the prerelease insights and code walkthroughs you need to get productive right away.

Upgrading Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 to Microsoft Visual Basic .NET

A technical guide to upgrading Visual Basic 6 applications to Visual Basic .NET.

Includes coverage of upgrade topics from APIs to ZOrders, fixing issues with forms, language, data access, and COM+ Services, upgrading applications with XML Web services, ADO.NET, and .NET remoting, architectural advice, function and object model changes reference, code samples, and other examples.

Microsoft Smartphone Programming

Collection of articles on smartphone programming

Microsoft Windows 98 Resource Kit

The Microsoft Windows 98 Resource Kit provides all the information you need for a successful Windows 98 rollout. Detailed discussions, explanations, and insights on how to install, configure, and support Windows 98 will save you time and effort and help maximize your organization's technology investment. Written in cooperation with the Windows 98 development team, this exclusive Microsoft publication constitutes the perfect technical companion for network administrators, support professionals, systems integrators, and other computer professionals.

Dissecting a C# Application: Inside SharpDevelop

E-mail required to download the single 500-page PDF file. The developers who created SharpDevelop give you an inside track on application development with a guided tour of the source code for SharpDevelop. They will show you the most important code features and explain how you can use these techniques in your own projects. You will gain valuable experience of building an application on this scale, learning from the decisions, mistakes, problems and solutions that lead to the current version on SharpDevelop.

Developer Guide to Migration and Interoperability in Longhorn

The guide, in its current form, is a first look at some of the important issues to consider in light of the significant changes encompassed by the new APIs in Microsoft's next operating system, codenamed "Longhorn." This release of the guide provides alpha patterns and practices. The content—including nomenclature, code samples, APIs, and guidance—may change in future releases. The guide is also an alpha in that it is incomplete. Several key areas are not addressed, but will be in future editions. The guide will be incrementally iterated over and expanded significantly moving forward.

  • Real World XML Web Services - this is a beta book by Microsoft's Yasser Shohoud. It's written from a .NET programmer's point of view, although the first few chapters discuss Web services programming in general.

  • Teach Yourself ActiveX in 21 Days - When I was first asked to do this book, a lot of folks on the team thought ActiveX was some kind of programming language like C++, HTML or JavaStuff. In fact, it's all of them and none of them. ActiveX is a technology—a way of using a computer's environment to communicate over the Web efficiently and reliably. HTML, C++ Visual Basic, DirectX, and many other tools can be used to take advantage of ActiveX technologies.

  • Proudly serving my corporate masters: What I Learned in Ten Years as a Microsoft Programmer - this is not a technology title per se. Adam Barr, an early Microsoft employee presents his view on the company, its executives, code development, interviewing process and life in general.

  • Data Structures and Algorithms with Object-Oriented Design Patterns in C# - This book was motivated by my experience in teaching the course E&CE 250: Algorithms and Data Structures in the Computer Engineering program at the University of Waterloo. I have observed that the advent of object-oriented methods and the emergence of object-oriented design patterns has lead to a profound change in the pedagogy of data structures and algorithms. The successful application of these techniques gives rise to a kind of cognitive unification: Ideas that are disparate and apparently unrelated seem to come together when the appropriate design patterns and abstractions are used. This paradigm shift is both evolutionary and revolutionary. On the one hand, the knowledge base grows incrementally as programmers and researchers invent new algorithms and data structures. On the other hand, the proper use of object-oriented techniques requires a fundamental change in the way the programs are designed and implemented. Programmers who are well schooled in the procedural ways often find the leap to objects to be a difficult one.
  • The .NET Developer's Guide to Windows Security - One of the major goals of this book is to help clarify how Windows security works so you'll be able to use it effectively in your applications and also in your everyday life. But even if you have a perfect understanding of all the security features of the platform, and make all the right API calls and configure security policy very carefully to keep out attackers, if you don't write your code with security in mind, none of that will matter because you'll still be vulnerable to attack.
  • Improving .NET Application Performance and Scalability - This guide provides end-to-end guidance for managing performance and scalability throughout your application life cycle to reduce risk and lower total cost of ownership. It provides a framework that organizes performance into a handful of prioritized categories where your choices heavily impact performance and scalability success. The logical units of the framework help integrate performance throughout your application life cycle. Information is segmented by roles, including architects, developers, testers, and administrators, to make it more relevant and actionable. This guide provides processes and actionable steps for modeling performance, measuring, testing, and tuning your applications. Expert guidance is also provided for improving the performance of managed code, ASP.NET, Enterprise Services, Web services, remoting, ADO.NET, XML, and SQL Server.
  • Small Business Server 2000 Planning and Installation Guide - Small Business Server 2000 installs and configures all application components and service packs through a single, integrated setup utility that checks disk space, system compatibility, and dependencies. Small Business Server Setup detects current versions and recommends appropriate component or service pack upgrades. Small Business Server Setup significantly reduces the complexity of installation by automatically setting many common parameters to defaults and consolidating the number of screens encountered during setup.
  • Windows Server 2003 Deployment Kit: Deploying Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 - IIS 6.0 provides the services to support a secure, available, and scalable Web server on which to run your Web sites and applications. This book provides prescriptive, task-based, and scenario-based guidance to help you design an IIS 6.0 solution that meets the specific needs of your organization. Deployment scenarios include installing a new Web server, upgrading an existing Web server from an earlier version of IIS, and migrating existing Apache or IIS Web sites and applications to a newly installed Web server.
  • Windows Server 2003 Deployment Kit: Designing a Managed Environment - This book provides the foundation you need to understand and deploy Group Policy within Microsoft® Windows® Server 2003. The guidance in this book will help you reduce the cost of managing a diverse set of organizational and computing needs, and to centrally manage domain-wide and forest-wide security, servers, computers, and users
  • Windows Server 2003 Deployment Kit: Planning Server Deployments - This book provides comprehensive information about planning server storage and designing and deploying file servers, print servers, and terminal servers in medium and large organizations. You can also use the guidelines in this book to maximize the availability and scalability of your servers by planning for remote server management, designing and deploying server clusters, and designing and deploying Network Load Balancing clusters.
  • Windows Server 2003 Deployment Kit: Designing and Deploying Directory and Security Services - Whether you are designing a new Active Directory logical structure, deploying Active Directory for the first time, upgrading an existing Windows environment to Windows Server 2003 Active Directory, or restructuring your current environment to a Windows Server 2003 Active Directory environment, part one of this book will assist you in meeting all of the Active Directory design and deployment goals for your organization.You also need to make important decisions early in your deployment regarding the design and deployment of Windows Server 2003 distributed security services for authentication, access control, and, increasingly, certificate use. Part two of this book will assist you in preparing the design and planning documents needed to create a sound foundation of distributed security services.
  • Windows Server 2003 Deployment Kit: Deploying Network Services - This book provides comprehensive information about planning, designing, and implementing a secure core network infrastructure that uses Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Domain Name System (DNS), Windows Internet Name Service (WINS), Microsoft® Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server, and Internet Protocol security (IPSec). You can also use the deployment guidelines in this book to extend your core network infrastructure by deploying a network access infrastructure supporting a variety of network access methods, including dial-up, virtual private network (VPN), wireless, and switch access. You can provide centralized authentication, authorization, auditing, and accounting for all of these network access types by using Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS).Cheap Laptops running MS Windows
  • Windows Server 2003 Deployment Kit: Planning, Testing, and Piloting Deployment Projects - The first of six books in the Windows Server 2003 Deployment Kit, this book provides guidelines for planning, testing, and piloting the deployment of Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP Professional operating systems in medium and large organizations. IT professionals can use this book to create a comprehensive project plan, which serves as a framework for designing and deploying complex technologies and operating system features. A key component of this book is a roadmap that summarizes each of the chapters in the kit. The roadmap can be used to match business solutions with the design guidelines discussed in the kit. In addition, because testing and piloting are critical tasks in any deployment project, this book contains guidelines for designing and setting up a test lab, testing applications and resolving application compatibility issues, and designing and implementing a pilot project.
  • Windows Server 2003 Deployment Kit: Automating and Customizing Installations - This book provides comprehensive information about planning, designing, and implementing automated installations in medium and large organizations. Options range from automated installations of a basic operating system to complex installations of a customized operating system and applications. The technologies and tools discussed in this book include: unattended installation, image-based installation with the System Preparation (Sysprep) tool, and Remote Installation Services (RIS). IT professionals can use the guidelines discussed in this book to create a functional specification that describes how to automate the installation of Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP Professional.
  • Windows Kernel Mode Fundamentals - Everyone who develops kernel-mode drivers for the Microsoft Windows family of operating systems should understand fundamental operating system concepts and features, be familiar with their effects on the design and operation of kernel-mode drivers, and keep current with the changes and enhancements introduced in each new version of Windows.
  • Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Administrator's Guide - Guide for installing, configuring, managing, and maintaining Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003.