Reviews (68)

A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide - REVIEW
When it comes to purchasing things on the internet it's all about getting then deliver on time, which you did. Great Job and keep it up. Thanx.

Good luck with Amazon
The book is great... I gave a bad review b/c of amazons way of charging me 6 dollars to read the book online when I never saw any print about that... I didn't want to pay for that, and there is no way they going to let me get out of paying it.I would recomend this boook to any one intersted in A+ certification, however buy the book from anyone outside of amazon.

Excellent Study Guide
I bought this book for my son as a study guide, he is almost finished reading it for the first time, now he says he is going to go back and highlight key information that he will need on his exam.He is raving about this book, worth the money spent and a very good price. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - A+    2. Certification Guides - General    3. Computer Books And Software    4. Computer Science    5. Computer Science (General)    6. Computers    7. Computers - Certification    8. Tests    9. Computer Communications & Networking    10. Computer Hardware & Operating Systems    11. Computers / Technical Skills    12. Computing and Information Technology    13. General Theory of Computing   

Editorial Review

Applications software may get all the glory, but it's the hardware and operating systems that do the heavy lifting in any computer system. Technicians who have earned CompTIA's A+ certification are recognized as qualified to solve complicated hardware and OS problems and can earn a good living doing so. Read more

Reviews (14)

Good Book
I think this book is worth buying. It builds on a foundation of basic computer knowledge and takes you into more advanced topics. It covers all of the objectives for the A+ exam but I would recommend that you use it in conjunction with other exam readiness material. Again, this book is not a waste.

Terrible study material for the exam
I can't believe others gave this A+ Complete Study Guide great reviews? This book was horrible. I had to study other textbooks and materials so I can pass the real exam. If I just study this book alone, I would fail the actual exam. The book is so wordy! Blah! Blah! Why do I want to hear long sentences. Just get to the point! And the sentence structure was terrible. I don't understand what was going on most of the time. Just focus on the subject without the jargon. Not enough on Windows XP and networking, but many questions had these on the actual exam.

Not as advertised
I am sure that this book will serve the needs of most of the buyers as a competent treatment of the subject area. I am studying for the exam and wanted two things: A large set of practice questions for drill purposes (the cd had 30 questions) and a portable reference copy of the book. The ebook included can only by read from the cd according to the text file that comes with it, but in fact for me the book was totally unreadable from the CD on a PC or a Mac with serveral different versions of the adobe reader that I tried. I am not interested in reading a 900 page book just to pass an exam and found that the dummies book plus the testking questions were enough. This book did not suit my needs at all. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification    2. Certification Guides - A+    3. Computer Books And Software    4. Computer Science    5. Computer Science (General)    6. Computer technicians    7. Computers    8. Computers - Certification    9. Data processing    10. Electronic data processing personnel    11. Examinations    12. Study guides    13. Computers / Technical Skills    14. General Theory of Computing    15. Microsoft Windows    16. PCs (IBM-compatible personal computers)    17. Study guides, home study & revision notes   

Reviews (8)

Good preparation books
I used three books to prepare for both Hardware and OS certification exams - this set and A+ Complete Study Guide, Third Edition (220-301 and 220-302) by David Groth.
Book Too Big
This book is gigantic. It's full of "in between" information and is not suitable for an IT grad or someone with experience. The A+ is not a professional exam, its an entry level exam. I recommend the fast pass or something written by Mike Meyers.

Great Book! - Good True-to-Life Questions!
This is a great book set. I havn't finished it yet, and from what I've read in the questions they do infact cover a good amount of the actual test content. Of course, not word-for-word but subject-wise, a lot of the questions are similar. While a lot of the content dealing with the A+ test is basicially garbage since computing today doesn't require knowledge of the IRQ of a floppy drive. In my opinion, this "Garbage Content" is a bad reflection upon CompTIA. Anyway, James Jones has made this book's information clear and concise to coincide with the test, and he has done a great job of it. James Jones A+, CompTIA C- (At best). ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification    2. Certification Guides - A+    3. Certification Guides - General    4. Computer Books: General    5. Computer Science    6. Computer Science (General)    7. Computer technicians    8. Computers    9. Computers - Certification    10. Data processing    11. Electronic data processing personnel    12. Examinations    13. Study guides    14. Tests    15. Computers / Technical Skills    16. Computing and Information Technology    17. Study guides, home study & revision notes   

Editorial Review

The Read more

Reviews (56)

Sybex Rocks
Sybex rocks, Mike Myers is also very well written but they don't have the entire book in pdf format or any format for that matter. That makes studying easier. Now all they are missing is to get off their Bill Gates paranoia and let you print from the pdf. Overall it's a great study guide. Five stars would mean I could print the pdf.

Helpful
This book has a lot of really useful information. I highly recommend it if you know nothing of computers. I know a lot of computers, being a computer technician, but this book talks about stuff I would have never figured out.

Cut out the fluff, and beef up the O/S Technologies
I passed both exams relying solely on this book.However, I nearly tanked on the O/S test b/c the book just barely covers Windows XP, which accounts for 60% of the O/S exam (directly or indirectly).And, like someone else pointed out, I would have certainly failed had I not had 5+ years in IT behind me.If you are inexperienced or not sure about yourself, don't rely on this book due to the complex nature of Windows XP.You'll do fine with the hardware, although there is a lot of fluff that would waste your time.For the O/S part though,Windows XP *should* have had its own section in the book with a detailed discussion.Since, this book failed to do it, not to mention the many typos and logical errors of a critical nature, the only recourse for the unfortunate Comptia A+ candidate is to dole out some additional cash for a book dedicated to Windows XP.
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Subjects:  1. Certification    2. Certification Guides - General    3. Computer Architecture - Repair & Maintenance    4. Computer Books: General    5. Computer Science    6. Computer Science (General)    7. Computer technicians    8. Computers    9. Computers - Certification    10. Computing Technology Industry    11. Computing Technology Industry Association    12. Electronic data processing per    13. Electronic data processing personnel    14. Examinations    15. Networking - General    16. Professional - General    17. Study Guides    18. Operating systems & graphical user interfaces (GUIs)    19. PCs (IBM-compatible personal computers)    20. Study guides, home study & revision notes   

Reviews (4)

Lot of info, but horrible to read, review
I got this book for my PC Technology Class, I've used it for 2 weeks, and I just hate this book. The thing that gets me mad the most is that its ALL OVER THE PLACE. They'll be talking about the BIOS, then go to expansion slots for like 3 pages, and then go back to Bios's again (pg 197-208). It's very confusing to follow, they should have sections, instead of cramming everything without header titles. The only good thing I like about it is that is has a lot of info, but if you have the time, and patience to find it, then this book is probably OK for you.

Just In Time
Taking a computer class one night a week is more than enough for any average person w/ a full-time job. After the registration, the school location and the reality of how much books cost new these days. Amazon came through for me a week before class and this was after tracking all the various campuses and tips from friends. Buying the book used same me easily $30 to $40. The is in great condition, you would of thought it was new.

Good resource, but only to a point. . .
I enrolled in an online course with Thomson Education Direct (which has recently changed to Penn Foster).The course was designed to prepare me to pass the A+ exam and this textbook was part of the package I received after I graduated.The book is loaded with information and includes end-of-chapter questions and exercises to help you prepare for the A+ exam, plus a CD with further instructional material and test questions.I take the tests first thing, to see where I stand, and find that, unfortunately, the test questions are riddled with mistakes, but I think, No problem.Though the book is a fifth edition, the CD is probably a new thing and that could account for the mistakes.I'll just use the textbook to check the test questions and make sure they're correct.
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Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - A+    2. Computer Architecture - Repair & Maintenance    3. Computer Books: General    4. Computers    5. Computers - Certification    6. Computers - General Information    7. Hardware - Personal Computers - General    8. Computers / Personal Computers & Microcomputers / General    9. Personal computers    10. Systems management   

Reviews (4)

Superb PC Reference
I am an EET studying for certifications. Also I use this book for a general troubleshooting reference. This is one of the best out there. I have several others and most just ramble about the technologies as an overview but do not get into applications needed. Meyers conveys the information as he is addressing people who are working in the real world. Good diagrams and the book is very well put together. Hey it is McGraw Hill. A top notch Publisher. A+

Great Book, Great Bargain
While I would not count on the book to teach me everything I must know to pass the A+ exams, I would definitely trust it to give me a strong foundation.Meyers includes all the basics and then some, and he goes into detail in a manner that should cater to almost all experience levels.The thing I liked the best about this book was how easy it was to read from beginning to end.Highly recommended to those who are looking for a place to start.

Very Readable with Lots of Detail
The text is well presented with about 40% white space on each page. The important items in each topic are highlighted and reviewed at the end of the chapter. My only suggestion for improvement would be to provide an answer key. Each question and key word has the page the topic was covered and hopefully the answer is there staring you in the face.
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Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - General    2. Computer Books And Software    3. Computer Books: General    4. Computers    5. Computers - General Information    6. Hardware - Personal Computers - General    7. Microcomputer Maintenance And Repair (General)    8. Utilities    9. Computer hardware & operating systems    10. Computers / Technical Skills    11. Microprocessors    12. Personal computers   

Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - General    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Science    4. Computer Science (General)    5. Computers    6. Computers - Certification    7. Information Technology    8. Information Technology (Engineering)    9. Computer Communications & Networking    10. Computers / Technical Skills    11. Computing and Information Technology   

Reviews (1)

A well written technical guide
I purchased this book for a class on PC Maintenance. It is a well written, articlulate book and assumes NO prior knowledge on the part of the reader regarding PC hardware. It covers both the older and newer (ex SATA) technologies. The CD's are OK, but they are encoded in Quick Time format as opposed to DVD. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer input-output equipment    4. Computer technicians    5. Computers    6. Computers - General Information    7. Electronic data processing personnel    8. Examinations    9. Hardware - Personal Computers - General    10. Maintenance and repair    11. Study guides    12. Computers / Personal Computers & Microcomputers / General    13. Computing and Information Technology    14. Personal computers   

Editorial Review

The Certified Computer Technician title--otherwise known as A+ Certification--is one way to document your technical skills for your résumé, and Read more

Reviews (174)

Great Book
What else can I say? If you complete this book, you will pass your A+ Certification. This book is money well spent.

Not worth the paper it is printed on.
The information in this book is worse than incomplete. The practice questions in the book and on the CD are nothing like those on the EXAM. There are many practice questions that are poorly worded, and have WRONG answers. There are also many questions with TYPO's. Example there was a question comparing DIMMS and RIMMS, but all the the answers referenced SIMMS. Stay away from this please!!!!
Passed my A+ because of this book!
I had taken the hardware exam and failed it the first time around. Then a friend gave me the Mike Meyers' Passport book and this one. He highly recommended Passport but after reading the first chapter I was bored to tears. After reading this book, the only thing I had to complain about were the bad jokes. The presentation of the information is solid, and he takes his time explaining things. He also puts in bullet points for what you should concentrate on when studying. After reading this book 1 time from cover to cover I took the hardware again and passed it, and passed the software on the first try. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification    2. Certification Guides - A+    3. Certification Guides - General    4. Computer Books: General    5. Computer Science    6. Computer Science (General)    7. Computer technicians    8. Computers    9. Computers - Certification    10. Data processing    11. Electronic data processing per    12. Electronic data processing personnel    13. Examinations    14. Study guides    15. Computers / Technical Skills    16. Computing and Information Technology    17. Systems management   

Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - General    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Science    4. Computer Science (General)    5. Computers    6. Computers - Certification    7. Information Technology    8. Information Technology (Engineering)    9. Computers / Technical Skills    10. Computing and Information Technology   

Reviews (8)

Great book!
Explanations of complex terms are simple and easy to understand.Book is layed out well with multiple choice questions after each chapter and other questions and explanations for good comprehension.Definitely recommend this book as a great resource and prep book for A+
Interesting Read
I have read about 20% so far and the author is amazingly undry for a text book. His writing style is light but packed with information and it reads fast. Unlike my other A+ book his history lessons are interesting and makes comprehending the material much easier. By far one of the best text books I have ever owned

Not up to its description
You certainly should know that the included practice tests are just MS Word docs, in a format that does not match the actual test, with incorrect answers. And the movie clips are useless. So factor the CD out completely when you consider buying this book.
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Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - General    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Engineering    4. Computer Science    5. Computer Science (General)    6. Computers    7. Electronics - General    8. Engineering - Electrical & Electronic    9. Science/Mathematics    10. Technology & Industrial Arts    11. Electrical engineering    12. Technology / Engineering / Electrical   

Reviews (14)

Good book for review
I worked with PC's for 10 years before reading this book.I already knew about half of the information in this book, but it helped confirm what I already knew and fill in the gaps for theother half.I didn't order this book from Amazon.com, I bought it off the shelf from Fry's Electronics.After looking at the other books they had on the shelf, this one seemed the most straightforward.Unlike other books written by Microsoft, I still have this one in my reference library.

Good book as a supplement..
I've looked at a dozen A+ certification books along with reading the reviews about them. Every one of them seems to get mixed reviews. They run the gauntlet from being the best book on the subject to being the worse. I bought the "All in 1 guide to A+ certification" by Mike Meyers, which while it has some flaws, seems to be fairly thorough. Of course, I haven't taken the A+ exams yet, so I could be WAY off. I passed hardware part of A+!!!!!!!!!!!
The intent of this book is try and give the absolute 'bare bones' minimum information you need to just pass in the easiest format.- It does that. I ended up with a 810 out of 900(pass is 510), and the 1 other book I used I did not receive until 2 days before I wrote the exam. Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification    2. Certification Guides - A+    3. Certification Guides - General    4. Computer Books: General    5. Computer Science    6. Computer Science (General)    7. Computer technicians    8. Computers    9. Computers - Certification    10. Data processing    11. Electronic data processing per    12. Electronic data processing personnel    13. Examinations    14. Study guides    15. Computer Hardware & Operating Systems    16. Computers / Reference    17. Computing and Information Technology   

Reviews (2)

A+ Certification Concepts and Practices (stand-alone)
This is an Instructional Design marvel... The text is oversize, crammed with excellent and superior illustrations of more than 50 diagrams and screenshots per chapter. This is integrated into an electronic study guide. The electronic book is exactly the same material as your print book so you can take it to work or along on a business trip too. The study guide includes questions for review and an adaptive test simulating a certification exam. The electronic test, study guide and images use only 12MB in nicely organized fashion that I find useful going beyond self-learning. I'll replace our Mike Myers book in our training programs with this one. The only shortcoming I can report is that there isn't any video with the course. I used Mike Myers for our vocational training because of his great book that is integrated with a lab manual and video series. This is as good and put together the two are a marvel. A+Certification : Conceps and Practice review
This book is used by my current college computer maintance class.Thebook itself is very informal, but the software that is attached cost moneyto activate.Of cource at our college, we have software already on thecomputer, but the company that made this book should not give a free cdwhen you must pay to look at the information on the cd.I gave this bookthree stars because the information in the book is excellent.The book andpractice guide have very good information dealing with passing a+certification, and are good resources when dealing with upgrading, or evenjust building a brand new computer out of parts.I am a computerprogrammer, and most of the programming books along with a+ certificationbooks give a freeware version of the program.So, if you are not up forspending even more money on this book and software, then this is not thebook for you. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - A+    2. Certification Guides - General    3. Computer Science (General)    4. Computers    5. Computers - Certification    6. Study Guides    7. Computers / Technical Skills    8. Information technology industries   

Reviews (19)

A LOT of the stuff on my A+ hardware exam was not in this book
Before I took the test, I thought this book was ok, but after taking the A+ hardware exam last week and only barely passing, I have to say that a lot of the material on the exam were MISSING from this book.

A+ Certification
I have two books.
Excellent source for exam study.
I purchased this book to use for a+ exam prep (2003 objectives) after conducting a lot of research on Amazon.
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Subjects:  1. Certification    2. Certification Guides - A+    3. Computer Books: General    4. Computer Science    5. Computer Science (General)    6. Computer technicians    7. Computers    8. Computers - Certification    9. Electronic data processing per    10. Electronic data processing personnel    11. Study guides    12. Computers / Technical Skills    13. General Theory of Computing   

Reviews (3)

I have to agree that this book is very poor
I, too, starting working on computers in 1991 and own dozens of computer review books. "A+ Certification Study Guide, Fifth Edition" by Michael Pastore needs to be removed from circulation.
For the love of God, don't buy this book!
I starting working on computers in 1991 and own over 40 computer review books and without a doubt, "A+ Certification Study Guide, Fifth Edition" by Michael Pastore is the worst I have ever read! This book has a definite potential
Over the past 15 years the one thing that I have noticed about the A+ exam books is that authors covered one section more than another. Another thing I have noticed is that in order to be a useful guide the book has to be written in a logical order and have plenty of exercises. This book is a good tool for the new A+ exams.Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification    2. Certification Guides - A+    3. Certification Guides - General    4. Computer Architecture - Repair & Maintenance    5. Computer Bks - General Information    6. Computer Books: Operating Systems    7. Computer Science    8. Computer Science (General)    9. Computer technicians    10. Computers    11. Computers - Certification    12. Data processing    13. Electronic data processing personnel    14. Examinations    15. Study Guides    16. Computer Hardware & Operating Systems    17. Computers / Technical Skills    18. Computing and Information Technology    19. General Theory of Computing   

Reviews (16)

Helpful but not comprehensive
I will be honest - I've got about 3 years on the job experience in tech support and I was required to pass A+ as a condition of my current employment.So, I got this book because it had the same goal: pass the test and be done with it.It does it make it quite clear that the authors do not expect this will be your only resource for taking the test.For me, it's all I used (in addition to my hands-on experience).I passed my tests last Friday by a decent margin, and I have to admit that a lot of the questions I saw were practically lifted from the book.My understanding is that those who wrote it have all taken the test and are familiar with the questions asked.
Here's the Latest Update on this book
Okay people, here's the latest information on this book. There is definitely enough information in this book for you to pass the 220-301, the hardware exam.But there is NOT enough info in this book for you to pass the 220-302, the operating system technologies half. Regarding the core hardware exam, this book will teach you everything you need to know to pass..so long as you read, remember and can obsorb the material...and of course it never hurts to supplement your knowledge with other books.
Good review, too long and many errors
Though the book is a good review, it seems to jog wildly off topic for a typical exam cram.My idea of an exam cram is just the information you need to pass the exam.I'm not interested in a history lesson of PC technologies or in-depth discussions of signalling that isn't covered on the exam and isn't used except by hardware engineers.
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Subjects:  1. Certification    2. Certification Guides - A+    3. Certification Guides - General    4. Computer Books And Software    5. Computer Science    6. Computer Science (General)    7. Computer technicians    8. Computers    9. Computers - Certification    10. Data processing    11. Electronic data processing personnel    12. Examinations    13. Study guides    14. Tests    15. Computers / Technical Skills    16. Computing and Information Technology    17. Systems management   

Reviews (68)

Not very technical
This book does not go into the real technical issues.
Textbook is dated, but it'll still help
To begin, let me just say that I recently took my A+ exams and passed using this as my primary study guide. However, it would be important to mention that my scores could have definitely been better. On hardware I got about a 590/900 & OS I got about a 560/900. Passing scores are currently 515 and 505 respectively.
I passed and this book helped a lot!
Even though I have been doing PC Support for the last 4 or 5 years, this year my employers decided I needed to be certified. I bought this book even though it was not the current edition it helped alot. It was a lot of reading but the author inserted some comic relief to help. I studied this book for two weeks and passed my certification tests. It doesn't go into Windows XP enough but it gives you a lot on DOS which believe it or not, I still have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. I would recommend this book to anyone getting started in the pc repair industry. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification    2. Certification Guides - General    3. Computer Architecture - Repair & Maintenance    4. Computer Books: General    5. Computer Science    6. Computer Science (General)    7. Computer technicians    8. Computers    9. Computers - Certification    10. Computing Technology Industry Association    11. Examinations    12. Hardware - General    13. Maintenance and repair    14. Microcomputers    15. Study guides    16. Computer Hardware & Operating Systems    17. Computers / Technical Skills    18. Computing and Information Technology    19. General Theory of Computing   

Reviews (3)

I passed
I passed the hardware exam on my first try.However, it did not have a great amount to do with this book.Although the book helped me feel confident about my knowledge it did not teach me anything new that I needed for the exam.The book seemed more geared to what Mike Meyers thinks a technician should know about PCs more than what CompTIA thinks a computer technician should know. Just the Facts please
I would have appreciated this resource better if his ego was left out of the writing - too many opinions and too much humor. I don't care to learn about the personality of the author, I am more interested in the content, the raw knowledge for which I am paying, presented in a clean, professional and efficient manner. No answer guide
While this book is very good at what it does, teach you about PC hardware to prepare you for the A+ exam, it gives self test exams after each chapter without providing the answers. If you don't mind thumbing through the chapter to verify your answers you will probably like this book. It's a pity rhis information wasn't included in the description of this book. I called McGraw Hill's customer service and they simply stated there is no answer guide to this book. You're on your own. The same holds true with Mike Meyer's A+ guide to Operating Systems. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - General    2. Computer Books And Software    3. Computer Engineering    4. Computers    5. Computers - Certification    6. Hardware - Personal Computers - General    7. Microcomputer Design    8. Study Guides    9. Computer Hardware & Operating Systems    10. Computers / Technical Skills    11. General Theory of Computing   

Reviews (8)

Good Theory Book for A+ prep
I used this book together with Q&A book and I did great. I took both tests the same day and i passed them. I just prepared myself one month studying about 7 hours per week. However, what I really disliked from this book was that the chapters order didnt match a+ studyguide. BEsides that, this book is really enough on a 80% to pass the test.

It's a great learning tool
This book besides the huge amount of information, helps you a lot when studying and learning the contents of what an A+ certified person should now, plus other things.
Bad buying experience from Amazon.Book has outdated CD.
I just purchased this book, ISBN: 1-59200-032-0, from Amazon this week and just tore open the CD and put it in my computer to install the test software.The installer cheerfully alerted me that this software only covers the 2001 test objectives, but that 90 days after the 2003 objectives are released, they would be downloadable from their web site, "http://premierpressbooks.com".While there is an errata document (which you should definitely download) dealing with the book portion, there is nowhere I was able to find any software update for the test.
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Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - A+    2. Certification Guides - General    3. Computer Books: Integrated Systems    4. Computers    5. Computers - Certification    6. Computer Hardware & Operating Systems    7. Computers / Personal Computers & Microcomputers / General