Why waste money on expensive tech ebooks when you can get lots of useful titles for free? Rob Beattie selects eight of the best free examples, which will save you more than £100
Solved: 100 Most Annoying Windows 8.1 Problems
by Jason Miller
bit.ly/windows377
What you’ll learn: This book is essentially a list of numbered tips, starting at T and finishing at ‘100’. It helps with many of the problems most frequently raised by Windows 8.1 users, including setting up the Desktop and Start menu, turning off window ‘snapping’, connecting to the correct wireless network, using search to find Control Panel settings and many more. Many of the tips apply to other versions of Windows, too.
Knowledge level: There is a mix of tips, tricks and techniques, but the book is on the whole designed for beginners
Supported formats: Kindle
How much you’ll save: £14.39 on Windows 8.1 for Dummies (bit.ly/dummies377).
Introducing Windows 10 for IT Professionals, Preview Edition
by Ed Bott
bit.ly/10windows377
What you’ll learn: The ins and outs of the Windows 10 operating system, which Microsoft hopes will make up for the debacle of Windows 8. There’s a fair bit on ‘enterprise-wide deployment' and other flannel you can sail past, but there’s also plenty of good information on the interface, setting up OneDrive, whether to upgrade or install from clean, setting up user accounts and Microsoft accounts, as well as new features including Hello, Microsoft's biometric authentication.
Note that this title covers the Technical Preview of Windows 10, released in April this year, but the author says he will update it for the final version of the operating system.
Knowledge Level: The title suggests it’s for pros, but the style is engaging and inclusive, making it a good read for confident users.
Supported formats: Kindle, PDF, Mobi, ePub
How much you’ll save: £6.49 on Windows 10: A Beginner’s Guide (bit.ly/ beginners377).
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5: Quick Start Guide
by Victoria Bampton
bit.ly/lig ht377
What you’ll learn: You’ll find out what Adobe’s flagship image-management and editing program can and can’t do; and how to install it, set up a proper workflow for your images, sort them into collections, add metadata, find the ones you’re looking for and then use the program’s built-in tools to edit the best ones. There are loads of screenshots and step-by-step workshops, making it a great guide for novices.
Knowledge level: It assumes only basic knowledge, so it’s suitable for beginners.
Supported formats: PDF
How much you’ll save: £24.79 on Adobe Photoshop Lightroom for Digital Photographers (bit.ly/adobe377).
WordPress in 12 Easy Steps
by Megan Hussey
bit.ly/wordpress377
What you’ll learn: Everything. WordPress powers millions of websites the world over and this book shows you - step by exhaustive step - how you can join in the fun. The hosting section is skewed towards the author’s favourite two services but, that aside, this does a great job of getting you started, explaining the difference between pages and posts, installing themes and plug-ins, and sorting out your site’s SEO.
Knowledge level: It assumes the readers knows nothing about anything WordPress-related, so it’s suitable for beginners.
Supported Formats: Kobo
How much you’ll save: £17 on the paperback edition of the same book (bit.ly/press377).
Mastering Excel Macros Introduction
by Mark Moore
bit.ly/excel377
What you’ll learn: The book introduces the language of macro programming (VBA or Visual Basic for Applications), explains how to record and use some simple macros and promises further ‘chapters’ when you sign up to the author’s free newsletter. It’s short, but there’s plenty of useful introductory information that provides enough to get you started with this powerful, often neglected feature of Excel.
Knowledge level: It’s written for someone who uses Excel regularly and wants to learn more about writing their own macros, so you’ll need to be a confident user.
Supported formats: Kobo
How much you’ll save: £21.99 on Excel Macros for Dummies (bit.ly/macros377).
Own Your Space - Keep Yourself and Your Stuff Safe Online
bit.ly/space377
What you’ll learn: How to avoid adware, spyware, scareware, ransomware and viruses. It also provides plenty of good information on cyberbullying (and how to spot it), along with online shopping advice and an explanation of the risks associated with webcams and sexting. It avoids too much finger-wagging and should go down particularly well with younger teens.
Knowledge level: it’s designed for teens, parents and teachers, some of whom may be knowledgeable about technology but naive when it comes to online safety. Suitable for beginners and upwards.
Supported formats: PDF
How much you’ll save: £12.50 on The Teen’s Guide to Living with the Internet and Online Dangers (bit.ly/teen377).
The Operation Quick Money Handbook
bit.ly/money377
What you’ll learn: This wouldn’t be a true round-up of tech ebooks if we didn’t include at least one get-rich-quick scheme. This book claims to promote a proven system (of course) that will start making you big bucks within two weeks. The secret? It’s our old friend affiliate marketing, whereby you promote other people’s products on your website or blog. It pushes the ClickBank affiliate program and suggests you start by promoting a self-help book/DVD combo called Wake Up Millionaire. You have been warned.
Knowledge level: Beginner
Supported formats: PDF
How much you’ll save: Who cares - you’ll be making thousands of pounds!
CSS3 Succinctly
by Peter Shaw
bit.ly/css377
What you’ll learn: All about CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), the visual power behind HTML-based web pages. Even if you use template-based services such as WordPress, Wix or Weebly for your website, knowing a bit of simple CSS can really add pep to your pages. The language is clear and concise, the advice is good, the examples are relevant and it covers the latest version of CSS. It would have been useful to see some stuff about CSS animations and transitions but we’re nit-picking.
Knowledge level: This will appeal to anyone from ‘beginner’ level right through to ‘expert’ user.
Supported formats: PDF, Kindle
How much you’ll save: £9.45 on CSS3 in Easy Steps (amzn.to/1MMIzuL).
OTHER SOURCES OF FREE EBOOKS
■ Daily Free Books (bit.ly/daily377) provides a list of titles that are currently available to download for free on a time-limited basis. When we visited, there were good ebooks on eBay, hacking, WordPress and Photoshop.
■ It’s worth checking out individual software vendors to see if they have any extra tutorial materials and guides you can download for free. AVG, for example, has a range of free ebooks you can download on subjects including Facebook, hacking and online safety, (avgread.me/1MuU4sz)
■ Finally, don’t discount your local library. Many carry a good selection of computer-related titles (especially the popular ‘For Dummies’ series) and make them available for download in multiple formats. Go to www.overdrive.com to find out if your local branch is one of the 30,000 libraries in more than 40 countries that’s part of the scheme.