I have that book too, it's very good for introducing Windows stuff, but I've heard that it's MFC coverage is a little shaky towards the end. It's still a good book, but if you already know how to do Windows stuff in C++ then perhaps another, more advanced book would be better. There are a number of Wrox Press publications that are intended as follow-ons from this book, like "Beginning MFC Programming", "Beginning ATL COM Programming", "Beginning MFC COM Programming", "Beginning NT Programming", and beyond that there are also books on subjects like DCOM. There's a list of all the Wrox options at http://www.wrox.com if you're interested.