How to keep on top of new free e-books

I often recommend the free electronic books from realtimepublishers.com as an inexpensive way to build up a library of tips, tricks and techniques for IT professionals. The books are free because they are sponsored by vendors. The vendors typically have products covered in the area of the book's subject, but they're far from being "infomercials" hyping some overpriced tool.

Disclaimer: I have written a couple of e-books for the company, but I was recommending realtimepublishers.com long before I became one of its authors.

Typically, one of the books will explain a technology or service in detail while the sponsor (separately) gives you a message that its product can help you do the job more quickly or efficiently. As an example, there's the recently published "The Definitive Guide to Securing Windows in the Enterprise" by Dan Jones, sponsored by ScriptLogic. Jones says of his book: "You can spend a lifetime attempting to master Windows security and spend much of your free time discussing and debating the topic with other IT professionals. However, this guide will concentrate on security as more than just philosophy and policies - security is a practical topic with real-world impact." ScriptLogic's message is that its tools will make the job easier.

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I often recommend the free electronic books from realtimepublishers.com as an inexpensive way to build up a library of tips, tricks and techniques for IT professionals. The books are free because they are sponsored by vendors. The vendors typically have products covered in the area of the book's subject, but they're far from being "infomercials" hyping some overpriced tool.

Disclaimer: I have written a couple of e-books for the company, but I was recommending realtimepublishers.com long before I became one of its authors.

Typically, one of the books will explain a technology or service in detail while the sponsor (separately) gives you a message that its product can help you do the job more quickly or efficiently. As an example, there's the recently published "The Definitive Guide to Securing Windows in the Enterprise" by Dan Jones, sponsored by ScriptLogic. Jones says of his book: "You can spend a lifetime attempting to master Windows security and spend much of your free time discussing and debating the topic with other IT professionals. However, this guide will concentrate on security as more than just philosophy and policies - security is a practical topic with real-world impact." ScriptLogic's message is that its tools will make the job easier.

A recent development at realtimepublishers.com should make the job of keeping on top of new titles even easier. Content Central (http://cc.realtimepublishers.com/) is the portal to all the company's publications. Here you'll find news about upcoming e-books, recently released chapters and a complete listing of all previously published works. Click on "Windows Enterprise" and a cascading menu of the four different series appears: Definitive Guide, Tips and Tricks Guide, Administrator Shortcut Guide and Developer Shortcut Guide. Clicking any lists the titles in the series currently available. For example, clicking on the "Tips and Tricks" entry brings up links to:

* "Tips and Tricks Guide to Active Directory Troubleshooting"

* "Tips and Tricks Guide to Windows 2000 Group Policy"

* "Tips and Tricks Guide to Windows 2000 and Active Directory Administration"

Each of these links, in turn, brings you to a description of the book, a bio of the author, the table of contents and links to all chapters currently available.

No longer do you need to visit each sponsor's Web site to register or download a new chapter, you now can do all that at the Content Central site. You can even get an XML/RSS feed to use in your favorite aggregator so you can be kept informed about new developments without having to visit Content Central every day!

Check it out, it's all free. And while you're there, sign up for the latest publications:

* "Tips and Tricks Guide to Network Configuration Management 2005 Edition"

* "The Video Guide to Protecting Internet Access and Communications"

* "The Definitive Guide to Securing Windows in the Enterprise"

* "The Shortcut Guide to Network Compliance and Security"

* "The Definitive Guide to Active Directory Troubleshooting and Auditing"

I did.

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