Currently there are more than 500,000 programmers worldwide who use Visual Basic and Microsoft Office to develop applications. This is a great book for beginner and intermediate Visual Basic programmers and an excellent training guide for in-house corporate developers. The tutorial/reference focuses on automating objects--mostly Office 95 objects--from Visual Basic for Windows 95.

"Raymond Chen is the original raconteur of Windows." --Scott Hanselman, ComputerZen.com "Raymond has been at Microsoft for many years and has seen many nuances of Windows that others could only ever hope to get a glimpse of. With this book, Raymond shares his knowledge, experience, and anecdotal stories, allowing all of us to get a better understanding of the operating system that affects millions of people every day. This book has something for everyone, is a casual read, and I highly recommend it!" --Jeffrey Richter, Author/Consultant, Cofounder of Wintellect "Very interesting read. Raymond tells the inside story of why Windows is the way it is." --Eric Gunnerson, Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation "Absolutely essential reading for understanding the history of Windows, its intricacies and quirks, and why they came about." --Matt Pietrek, MSDN Magazine's Under the Hood Columnist "Raymond Chen has become something of a legend in the software industry, and in this book you'll discover why. From his high-level reminiscences on the design of the Windows Start button to his low-level discussions of GlobalAlloc that only your inner-geek could love, The Old New Thing is a captivating collection of anecdotes that will help you to truly appreciate the difficulty inherent in designing and writing quality software." --Stephen Toub, Technical Editor, MSDN Magazine Why does Windows work the way it does? Why is Shut Down on the Start menu? (And why is there a Start button, anyway?) How can I tap into the dialog loop? Why does the GetWindowText function behave so strangely? Why are registry files called "hives"? Many of Windows' quirks have perfectly logical explanations, rooted in history. Understand them, and you'll be more productive and a lot less frustrated. Raymond Chen--who's spent more than a decade on Microsoft's Windows development team--reveals the "hidden Windows" you need to know. Chen's engaging style, deep insight, and thoughtful humor have made him one of the world's premier technology bloggers. Here he brings together behind-the-scenes explanations, invaluable technical advice, and illuminating anecdotes that bring Windows to life--and help you make the most of it. A few of the things you'll find inside: What vending machines can teach you about effective user interfaces A deeper understanding of window and dialog management Why performance optimization can be so counterintuitive A peek at the underbelly of COM objects and the Visual C++ compiler Key details about backwards compatibility--what Windows does and why Windows program security holes most developers don't know about How to make your program a better Windows citizen

The Excel for Windows 95 Visual Quick Reference offers a visual approach to learning Excel for Windows' common features. Each topic is covered with a series of screen shots and callouts that walk the reader through each task. An excellent companion book to icon-based software such as Excel for Windows.

A practical insider's guide to coding the new UI features. Coverage includes implementing the new common controls, shell extensions, new environment features called shortcuts, and changes to the common dialog boxes. The disk provides all the source code and a complete application that combines a broad assortment of the new interface elements.

Explaining how and why developers can combine various low-level system calls to accomplish high-end results, this book emphasizes low-level solutions using C and C++. The CD contains sample code so programmers can work with it online.

Here is simply the best and easiest way to connect to the Internet using Windows 95. The disk contains a suite of Internet tools for Windows 95, including a direct and easy-to-use start-up account with an Internet service provider. The book describes how to use these tools to browse the World Wide Web, download files, catch up on information on Usenet, and communicate using electronic mail.