McSa/MCSE Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-270): Installing, Configuring, and Administering Microsofta Windowsa XP Professional: Installing, Configuri

by Tony Northrup, Walter Glenn, Anthony Northrup

Ace your preparation for the skills measured by MCP Exam 70-270--and on the job--with this official Microsoft study guide, now fully updated for Windows XP Service Pack 2 with Advanced Security... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0735621527
• ISBN13: 9780735621527
• Release Date: March 2005
• Publisher: Microsoft Press
• Length: 1394 Pages
• Weight: 4.93 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.6" x 7.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Up to the Task

If you want to learn about installing, configuring and administering XP Professional on a network, I think this is a very good book to have. This book prepares you to take exam 70-270. It covers the material very thoroughly with twenty chapters devoted to theory and seven chapters devoted to practicing for the exam. Actually, the last seven chapters were very helpful in learning the subject. These chapters present questions covering all objectives of the exam with an explanation of both the correct and the incorrect answers. You need to be aware that the questions don't simply cover material presented in the first twenty chapters. Quite to the contrary, they present new information that adds to your knowledge base. The questions were of high caliber being verbose and somewhat difficult. This is what you want to prepare for the exam. As a bonus the enclosed CD offers hundreds more questions using the MeaurseUp testing engine. I found the questions to be very good. They were difficult and required a bit of thought to answer. They also include good explanations for both the correct and incorrect answers - very helpful for learning. But, I must say that several of the questions were wrong - only a few, and there were way too many typographical errors. I really think that MeaurseUp (the company producing the question engine) needs to vet their products better. Overall, I found the book and CD combo to be a great value. As a side note, XP Professional will remain relevant for some time to come. It is true that at this time Vista has been out for five months now, but many businesses will not upgrade immediately and many will just clone XP to their new machines. So you still need to know XP perhaps while learning the new OS on the block. You want to study other resources in preparation for this or any exam. I found that answering questions and noting the explanations for the answers is a very good way to master the subject. I researched many Web sites that offer practice exams for a price. It appears that the two I would recommend are also the two that Microsoft recommends, that is, MeasureUp which you get for free on the CD, and SelfTest.

The only resource you need to pass 70-270

It's rare to find a book that covers the exam material so well that you only need to buy one book to pass the test - but this one is an exception. Not only does it cover the material well, it is truly an easy read. The test was relatively difficult because of it's breadth of testing topics but I passed with an 857 (700 required to pass) and I credit it to this guide. Buy this book + read it AND understand it = pass the test.

Solid training resource!

The MCSA/MCSE Self-Paced Training Kit is one of two Windows XP Professional resources I use all the time. The other one is Stanek's highly regarded Windows XP Professional Administrator's Pocket Consultant, 2nd Edition. If you are looking for a one-stop resource for Exam 70-270, I don't think you can beat this self-paced training kit. Very well done.

Best MS Press Guide Yet

I used this guide and passed the exam (score 984). I've used MS Press guides for all of my exams so far and this has to be the best one yet. The only thing I don't like is the page numbering scheme. I was especially fond of the end of chapter review questions, case scenarios, and troubleshooting labs (and the fact that the answers weren't in the back of the book like other ms press guides). The book does a good job of covering the objectives. (You will need to do additional reading of articles and material found on the MS website.) The evaluation version of the XP Pro SP2 accompanying the book is great and it lasts 180 days, plenty of time to get up to speed. The practice exam is also quite good. All in all, this is a great value. I highly recommend it to anyone planning to take this exam or just get up to speed with XP.

Everything you Need to Know about XP

Sub-Title: Installing, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Second Edition This is the official guide, published by Microsoft, it contains everything you need to know to pass the MCSA/MCSE (70-270) examination. In addition to the almost fourteen hundred pages of text, there are two CD-ROMs included. One of these is a trial version of XP Professional (updated to include Service Pack 2 with all of its security changes). The other is a Review Suite of practice questions that will test your readiness to pass the test. This CD also contains a complete electronic version of this book, so you can load it on your notebook and use on an airplane or whatever. It also includes two other complete Microsoft books in eBook format: Encyclopedia of Security, and Encyclopedia of Networking. In short here is everything needed to not only become an expert on XP but to be able to pass the test and prove to a prospective employer that you know the subject. The book contains virtually everything you need to know to install, configure and administer XP. It is the second edition of the book so the input from readers of the previous edition was considered in making the changes to this edition, as well as SP 2 of course.