Windows NT Event Logging [With *]

Overall, this book is a good tutorial on NT's Event Logging feature; but needs a little more system troubleshooting advice for NT administrators. O'Reilly is a name I've come to respect for good technical information; and this book is no different. The author is technically accurate, which is many times lacking in a lot of computer books; he gives real-life examples, adds some humor with an edge (although it could use even more), and writing style and organization are above average. Good step-by-step instructions, good screen shots, excellent bibliography and source citations.However, enough troubleshooting material that could be helpful to an NT troubleshooter was missing to prevent a 5 star rating. This book has a serious edge toward developers (about half the book) and there is not enough detail for NT system administrators that are looking to it for troubleshooting advice.The author, Murray, starts out by saying that the Event Log is used mostly as a troubleshooting tool by NT administrators trying to fix problems, but then the book lacks advice and detail to make our lives a little easier. Don't get me wrong, it was a good book; but I think it slightly misses its core audience.For example, I don' think the well known advice of "The earliest error in the log is usually the best indication of the problem" is even mentioned, much less, more advanced troubleshooting advice. Security auditing is covered well, but the system log is neglected. I guess I was hoping that the book would provide me with more real-life examples of what to expect in a system log; and some examples of common error messages and what their causes were. I was hoping for a database of system events with their cryptic messages defined into english. The book contains some, just not enough.Another feature I found disappointing was that the author mentions (and includes on CD-ROM) several great event log utilities (non-programming), but then aren't used in the book text. I think a little more value could have been added by including a chapter or two using the utilities to make me a better system administrator.I'm glad I read the book and I'm a better NT administrator and troubleshooter because of it.