Inside Windows NT
Beginning with broad NT concepts and then focusing  sequentially on various key systems, Solomon dissects NT with a  surgeon's care and a software engineer's thoroughness. That's not to  say that this book is mainly about writing programs. Rather, this is  the kind of guide that power users wish for, explaining why and how  things happen and glossing over very little. Programmers will value  the clear NT API hints.Initially, the author talks about  important NT tools (such as Performance Monitor) and concepts (such as  the idea of virtual memory and how it's mapped). He illustrates all  abstract concepts with excellent conceptual drawings that make it  easier to comprehend what NT is doing. A chapter on NT's architecture  explains how the system works as a whole. Later chapters focus on  individual subsystems, providing extensive coverage of processes,  memory, input/output, security, caches, and NT. After reading the  chapter on memory management, for instance, you'll have a solid grasp  of paging and the internal settings that affect it. The book also  contains experiments that guide the reader through  concept-illustrating procedures. For example, readers crash their  machines to see and analyze the dump log--a valuable skill.--David  Wall--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.