Quite a few people made this book a success, and it took a team to bring it all together. It was a fun and inspiring book to write, and there are many people I want to thank for being a part of it. First of all, Walter Glenn, I appreciate your thinking of me when you were first introduced to this project; Alex Blanton, thank you for selecting me to write it. It has been an honor to work with Microsoft Press and I have enjoyed every minute of it.

I’d also like to thank Laurie Stewart for her compulsive attention to detail and the amount of time she devoted to getting the book just right, as well as all of the others who worked in the background. Jean Trenary, Sandra Haynes, Maureen Forys, Andrea Fox, Cari Miller, and Sachi Guzman, you’ve all been wonderful, enthusiastic, and incredibly enjoyable to work with.

Of course, I want to thank Neil Salkind, my agent, who is always there and always supportive; it’s wonderful how you’ve always believed in me unconditionally. Special thanks to Elsa Rosenberg, who set me up with the Windows XP Expert Zone, and Chris Norred who keeps giving me those awesome Expert Zone assignments.

Finally, a special thanks to my family, Mom, Dad, Jennifer, and Cosmo, who continually put up with, without complaining, having a writer in the family who either has too much to do or not enough. Ah, the life of a writer. And to my online friends—James Truscott, Pam Green, and Mindy Duffee—thanks for letting me experiment on you via IM and e-mail while you were trying to do your own jobs. It takes a winning team to write a book, and I had an amazing lineup!