Editorial Review

For Visual Basic (VB) programmers seeking the Microsoft Certified Developer (MSCD) credential, Read more

Reviews (15)

Good enough to pass but...
The practice exam on the cd was terrible and some sections are a bit patchy.If you buy the equivalent book for 70-175 you'll find that about 60% of this book is duplicated in that book. However, this book was my only resource and I passed the exam with just over 780.I think I could have done much better had I bought transcender.

It does the job
I used this book to pass the exam. I scored 957. I did get a few questions in the exam that were either not covered adequately or not at all in this book. But, I do feel that the book did provide a solid resource for the key parts of the exam, i.e. ADO, MTS, COM and n-tier technology. I would only recommend this book to people that have a fairly solid background in VB and want to pass the exam.

decent material for exam preparation
This book definitely covers almost everything that's on the exam.Read more

Subjects:  1. Application software    2. Basic (Programming Language)    3. Certification Guides - MCSD    4. Computer Books: Integrated Systems    5. Computers    6. Computers - Certification    7. Development    8. Distributed processing    9. Educational Software    10. Electronic data processing    11. Microsoft Visual BASIC    12. Programming - General    13. Programming Languages - Visual BASIC    14. Basic, Visual Basic & QBasic    15. Computers / Database Management / General   

Subjects:  1. Computer Books And Software    2. Computers    3. Computers - Communications / Networking    4. Networking - General    5. Operating Systems - Windows    6. Computers / Networking / General    7. Microsoft Windows   

Reviews (10)

Outdated Material--Seek other Study Materials
I had purchased this book in 2004 with the intentions of completing the exam at that time. As most IT pros know, the best laid plans are often foiled and I was unable to really start reviewing the material until earlier in the year. As much as I like the "big happy friendly letters" and writing style of this book, you'll be left lacking. Read the book cover to cover...doing the labs...the practice exams and have successfully passed the exam. Flat out IT WONT DO IT! Get another book!
Better than average!
This book has a few typos and a few factual errors, but that seems to be unavoidable with books of this type.It is better than most that I have read.It is a valuable resource.

70-292 has changed, and this book won't help
Just took 70-292 today.The exam has changed considerably since this book was written.According to sources on MCSA/MCSE forums, the exam has been rewritten as of December 2004.While it covers the same objectives, the focus is very different.No book written before December 2004 will prepare you enough for this exam.
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Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - General    2. Certification Guides - MCSE    3. Computer Books And Software    4. Computers    5. Computers - Certification    6. Microcomputer Operating Environments    7. Operating Systems - Windows    8. Security - General    9. Computers / Certification    10. Computers / Certification Guides / MSCE    11. Microsoft Windows    12. Systems management    13. Certification    14. Microsoft software    15. Examinations    16. Study Aids    17. Study Guides    18. Tests    19. Electronic data processing personnel   

Reviews (1)

Great book
Incredibly useful book, easy to use. Contains all the Excel information you will even need in a basic statistics class. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - General    2. Computer programs    3. Computers    4. Computers - Other Applications    5. Decision Making & Problem Solving    6. Economics    7. Management    8. Miscellaneous Software    9. Probability & Statistics - General    10. Science/Mathematics    11. Statistical methods    12. Statistics    13. Excel    14. Mathematical & statistical software    15. Mathematics / Statistics    16. Probability & statistics   

Reviews (2)

This book covers some topics that are not even mentioned in other competition books.
I passed my HP-UX certification exam called CSA with the help of this book.
Title Information
This book is designed to cover three objectives. One, to provide a comprehensive resource to individuals (including novice, IT/Non-HP-UX administrators, HP-UX administrators) who intend to take the Certified System Administrator for HP-UX certification exam and pass it. Two, to provide a quick and valuable on-the-job resource to HP-UX administrators, administrators of other UNIX operating system software, IT managers, programmers, and DBAs working in the HP-UX environment. Three, to provide an easy-to-understand guide to novice and IT/non-HP-UX administrators who intend to learn HP-UX from the beginning.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computers    3. Information Technology    4. Networking - General    5. Computers / General   

Reviews (4)

Far Too Basic
Other Exam Cram books are pretty good, but this book is the exception.It is far too general and seems copied from help files.The index is limited, e.g. only one reference for global catalog, and the over author's knowledge seemed questionable when he documents requirements for a global catalog and a domain controller (page 17) and fails to realize a global catalog is a domain controller.
not bad if you want to simply pass the exam
This was the only book I read before taking Exam 70-284 to become MCSA: Messaging 2003 certified, and I scored an 850.The book covers the essentials that you _need_ to know, and it was helpful to go through the scenarios and actually play with the server in a Virtual PC session.
Very nice prep guide
ExamCram books have gotten a well-deserved reputation for being lightweight and insufficient as a primary study guide. This book is an exception to that rule, however; it is much thicker (almost 500 pages) than most in its series and more comprehensive. I attribute much of that to co-author Orin Thomas, who also co-authored the Microsoft 70-292/70-296 and 70-299 Training Kits, two of the best study guides I've used yet.
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Subjects:  1. Business Software - General    2. Certification    3. Certification Guides - General    4. Computer Books: General    5. Computers    6. Computers - Certification    7. Electronic data processing per    8. Electronic data processing personnel    9. Examinations    10. Microcomputer Communication Software    11. Microsoft Exchange server    12. Microsoft software    13. Operating Systems - General    14. Study guides    15. Tests    16. Computers / Technical Skills    17. Networking packages   

Reviews (5)

Don't waste your time on this book
I have not written the exam yet. Before deciding on which books to use, I read the reviews, and then checked them for validity.
Inadequate at best
I have about two years of hands-on experience managing a Windows Server 2003 domain in a small-business environment. Recently I decided to pursue MCSA Win2k3 certification in order to learn more about the technology and better fulfill my job responsibilities. I bought a 3-pack of Sybex books for exams 70-270, 70-290, and 70-291 (this one).
Good coverage.
I used this book in preparation for the upgrade exam (since I already have my Win2K cert.) I've used a lot of Sybex books, and now rely on them pretty-much for all of my studying. This one provided solid coverage in direct, straightforward style. I don't like books that beat around the bush, and so this one met my needs well in terms of updating my knowledge of Windows 2000 Server to Server 2003. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification    2. Certification Guides - General    3. Certification Guides - MCSE    4. Computer Books: General    5. Computers    6. Computers - Certification    7. Data processing    8. Electronic data processing personnel    9. Examinations    10. Microcomputer Networks    11. Microcomputer Programming    12. Microsoft software    13. Networking - General    14. Operating Systems - Windows    15. Study guides    16. Computers / Technical Skills    17. General Theory of Computing    18. Microsoft Windows    19. Study guides, home study & revision notes   

Editorial Review

With a new crop of Microsoft Windows servers comes a new assortment of related Microsoft exams. Read more

Reviews (6)

great basic coverage of all objectives
I failed this test twice, so I'm more familiar with the test than I wanted to be, and definitely in a position to say whether or not this book covers the material.Well, it depends on how you use the book.This test is fairly difficult.I base this on the fact that out of the 7 Microsoft exams I've taken previously, I had only ever failed one (the SQL Admin test) before.I think it *should* be hard, because it encompasses four other tests.That's the point of an upgrade test, right?Anyway, this book does not cover absolutely everything that you might encounter on the test.I doubt that there's a book that does.It even omits some things that I think should be included, like EMS and MBSA.However, it packs a lot of great material for each objective into only about 200 pages.I would certainly recommend doing other studying in conjunction with using this book (as does the author) but if you want a great overview, this book is very easy to read, has good coverage of a lot of the new 2003 features, such as the new command line tools, points you to other resources when you need additional information on a subject, and in many cases, puts the emphasis on exactly the right things.

Not enough!
Smartcards, IPSec, default SOA settings....all these subject matters as well as a bunch of others were not even addressed in this book!Yet, the 70-292 exam tested you on all of these.
This book will not help to pass the test period.
I took the test today and I failed miserably. I am certified NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 MCSE. I thought the book was good but was off the mark to pass Microsoft test 70-292. Read more

Subjects:  1. Business Software - General    2. Certification Guides - General    3. Certification Guides - MCSE    4. Computer Books And Software    5. Computers    6. Computers - Communications / Networking    7. Microcomputer Operating Environments    8. Networking - General    9. Operating Systems - Windows    10. Tests    11. Computers / Technical Skills    12. Microsoft Windows   

Reviews (13)

This book is outdated, but will still help you pass.
The Mike Meyers Passport series is excellent for certification prep. This is my third certification I've passed using these books, the other two being A+ and Network+. I took the 70-270 two times before realizing there was a Passport book for the test. I failed the test both times. Then I discovered this book, bought it, read it, and passed it the third time around. Passing is what matters the most, however I didn't get as high of a score as I wanted. I received a score of 715, with a passing score of 700 for this test, which means I barely passed. I believe the reason this happened is because the book has not been updated to include anything about Service Pack 2, or Bluetooth technology (yes, the test asks about Bluetooth). Also, the book seems to center around Windows XP Pro in a workgroup environment. However, the actual test mostly centers around XP Pro in a corporate domain environment. This book will still help you understand XP Pro since most of what is covered is still valid, but the test has changed since the book was published. I recommend this book only if you combine it with sample test questions from Testking.com. The questions provided by them are word-for-word from the actual 70-270 exam for both the questions and the answers that are given (I question the legality of the study guides provided by them, but obviously they must be legal since they have not been shut down by Microsoft or any of the many other testing companies they provide study guides for). If you get the questions and answers memorized, you will speed through the test while passing it with flying colors. I used the Testking materials myself, but didn't read all of it because I decided I'd rely mostly on this Mike Meyers book like I did with the CompTIA tests, though I now wish I had read the Testking study guide all the way through. The Microsoft tests are much more difficult than anything by CompTIA. In all fairness, I still passed and could not have done it without this book, so I give it 3 stars.

Similar to...
I read through this book in a fair amount of time.Most of the details were on the money.This book and exam is very similar to the MCDST certification offered for XP.This book gave me a few extra "hints" that I could have used when I took my MCDST.Overall, this is a good book for this exam.

You can pass with this book!
I estimate that book covers 90% of the exam.I believe the only other resources cover the other 10% is experience and plenty of time on microsoft.com.I will also say that this is by far the toughest Microsoft exam that I have taken (12 of them and counting).If you know this book well and you are a good test taker, you will pass this exam. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - MCSE    2. Computer Books And Software    3. Computers    4. Computers - Certification    5. Microcomputer Operating Environments    6. Networking - General    7. Operating Systems - Windows    8. Operating Systems - Windows XP    9. Professional - General    10. Computers / Technical Skills    11. Computing and Information Technology    12. Microsoft Windows   

Reviews (10)

Not Quite Enough
The book doesn't cover all the topics I had on the exam, and what it does cover it does without much depth.That's OK, I know how to use BOL.I never used the practice question in the book so I can't speak to those.You can get by with this book for the exam if you have some practical experience (imagine that!), use the BOL and most importantly (for me at least), a good practice exam.

Good, but not enought
This book explain difficult concepts in a easy way. It is very well organized but lacks of in depth coverage; most T-SQL commands are just covered briefly with no examples at all (Sybex book has more Exercises). I suggest to buy this one with Sybex 70-228 study guide or any other study guide of your choice. This one alone (if you have no previous experience with SQL 2000) will guide you to "failed" screen message when you reach the end of the test.

Needs Some Error Checking
There are too many mistakes in this book. You have to read fairly carefully to not get caught by them. For example, one of the "Prep Test" questions for chapter 14 is, "How do you create a temporary backup device?". In the answers it refers the reader to the "Performing Backups" section, which does not contain the specific answer that they're looking for. This is one example out of many where the text does not prepare you at all for a question.Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification    2. Certification Guides - MCSE    3. Computer Books: General    4. Computers    5. Computers - Certification    6. Database Management - SQL Server    7. Electronic data processing per    8. Electronic data processing personnel    9. Examinations    10. Microsoft software    11. Programming Languages - SQL    12. SQL (Computer program language)    13. Study guides    14. Computers / Technical Skills    15. Database software    16. SQL   

Reviews (4)

Great source for certification
Great study guide for the ones who want to pass the exam in the first try.

Learn from the Source
Microsoft Press has left no stone unturned in its attempts to help you study for the 70-218 Managing a Microsoft Windows 2000 Network Environment. Learn from the Source
Microsoft Press has left no stone unturned in its attempt to help you study for MCP exam 70-218: Managing a Microsoft Windows 2000 Network Environment. Now with that said, if you are studying for this exam you should already be familiar with a majority of topics covered by this book -- having taken the 70-210 and 70-215 test first. Review them again! If it is in the book, you will more than likely see it on the exam. However, if you feel that you have a firm grip on Windows 2000, utilize the "Where to find Specific Skills in the Book" to help cut your study time and concentrate on the skills you need to learn. Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - MCSE    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer networks    4. Computers    5. Computers - Certification    6. Management    7. Microcomputer Networks    8. Microcomputer Operating Environments    9. Microsoft Windows (Computer fi    10. Microsoft Windows (Computer file)    11. Networking - General    12. Operating Systems - Windows    13. Operating Systems - Windows 2000    14. Study Guides    15. Computers / General    16. Microsoft Windows   

Reviews (7)

Understand MS' thinking
I agree with some of the feedback here. This is not a book for learning ASP.NET. But then the book does state this early on. By all means read my review, even if for an experience, but I wouldn't until you have had an experience with ASP.NET and Visual Studio. To appreciate this book for any benefit you can find from it, go on a course first.
Frustratingly Incomplete
It looks like the book was rushed out the door.While there seems to be some good information in it, I was repeatedly frustrated with the end of the chapter tests asking questions that were covered nowhere in the book!Then when I did the first of the included Prep Logic tests, some of the answers were opposite of what was stated in the book.If you can't be consistent within the scope of the book it really throws it's reliably into question.Don't plan on using this as your sole resource.

Passed using this book but stay away from prep logic
I passed the exam using this book.I use .Net at work and read one intro book before this one.This is a good book and good practice tests at the end of the book tested skills that the exam tested.I actually saw very similar questions on the test.Some of the sample questions did not come from the text of the chapters, which I see a lot of people complain about, but I was OK with that.They do explain in the opening chapter that this should not be used to learn the basics of the language.Read more

Subjects:  1. BASIC (Computer program language)    2. Business Software - General    3. Certification    4. Certification Guides - General    5. Computer Books: General    6. Computer Networks    7. Computers    8. Computers - Certification    9. Desktop Publishing    10. Electronic data processing personnel    11. Examinations    12. Internet - Web Site Design    13. Internet - World Wide Web    14. Microsoft software    15. Study guides    16. Basic, Visual Basic & QBasic    17. Computers / Technical Skills    18. Internet    19. Study guides, home study & revision notes   

Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - MCSE    2. Client-Server Computing - Windows    3. Computer Books: General    4. Computers    5. Computers - Communications / Networking    6. Networking - General    7. Computers / Networking / General    8. Microsoft Windows   

Editorial Review

You may not be a dummy, but that doesn't mean you were born knowing how to use spreadsheets. Read more

Reviews (9)

Good for Just Basics
This book is fine if all you want to do is basic spreadsheets. If cutting, pasting, basic formatting, or creating VERY simple formulas is all you need to do then this book is fine. However, if you are trying to do anything more complicated forget using this book. For instance, the section on creating Macros wasn't very detailed. In addition, the book is completely missing any explanation of how to use the more complicated formula functions (there is no mention of how to do any of the statistical functions). Probably 80% of what an average user needs is in this book. But for anything beyond the basics, forget it; you'll need another reference.

Useless
I foudn the book compleely useless and a waste of money.It explains nothing.After studying this book for two hours I was unable to do anything whatsoever in Excel. Look elsewhere.

Gentle intro but no depth
This is a good book for a non stressfull introduction, but there are few good hands on examples. I've found that by doing complex detailed step by step examples you can learn more faster. The learnkey.com website has a good excel class ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business    2. Certification Guides - General    3. Computer Books: Spreadsheets    4. Computer programs    5. Computers    6. Computers - Spreadsheets    7. Electronic spreadsheets    8. Microsoft Excel (Computer file    9. Microsoft Excel for Windows    10. Spreadsheets - Excel    11. Computer Software Packages    12. Computers / Spreadsheets / General   

Reviews (8)

EXCELLENT 957 Pages BOOK WITH CD
EXCELLENT 2000 Publish Date 957 Pages BOOK WITH CD::: CAUTION : I am not certain, but there may be more than 1 edition of the same ISBN Number. The one I am commenting is the 957 page book 2000 Published with CD with PRIBNTED DATE 2000.
A bed time story
This book is definetly not useful for continuing to learn VB.I found it poorly written, boring, with various grammatical mistakes and vague examples that are not very practical.

Good book but be aware that it is meant for a classroom
I purchased the book recently and enjoy the presentation of thematerial.One item to note, however, is that this book is meant for aclassroom environment.What this means is that there are samplequestions at the end of each chapter but SURPRISE no solutions.Thesolutions are contained in an instructors manual.This fact shouldhave been disclosed in the book's description so that I might havepurchased a diferent one. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Basic (Programming Language)    2. Certification Guides - MCSD    3. Computer Books: Desktop Publish    4. Computers    5. Computers - Certification    6. Desktop Publishing    7. Desktop Publishing - General    8. Programming Languages - Visual BASIC    9. Basic, Visual Basic & QBasic    10. Computers / Programming / General    11. Software engineering   

Reviews (16)

Great as a Refresher
This is an excellent reference if you want to quickly brush up the topics for the exam. If you do not have hands-on experience in ASP.NET, I would suggest the Training Guide by the same author. I used the training guide initially and then used this as a quick refresher. The practice exams were excellent. They had a few questions on ADO.NET, XML and Security which were not covered in either book. I used MSDN/www.codeclinic.com (esp. for ADO.NET, Security and XML) as a supplement. Transcender was very helpful too. Overall a great CRAM book for 70-315.

Exactly what you need, not an iota more
This book provides excellent preparation for 70-315.It's a very fast read because it only covers exactly what you need to pass the exam.
Not so hot, badly worded questions
This book tries to be an "exam cram" but ends up being a badly abridged version of the massive Training Guide (ISBN 0789728222).There are page-consuming examples that don't add much, and yet key facts are missing.These facts do surface in the Exam Prep Questions, which at least informs the reader that they need to go research that topic, but those points should appear in the text.Questions are often badly worded; their intent is only explained by reading the answers.
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Subjects:  1. Business Software - General    2. Certification    3. Certification Guides - General    4. Computer Books And Software    5. Computer Networks    6. Computers    7. Computers - Certification    8. Desktop Publishing    9. Electronic data processing per    10. Electronic data processing personnel    11. Examinations    12. Internet - Web Site Design    13. Internet - World Wide Web    14. Microsoft software    15. Programming Languages - C#    16. Study guides    17. Web site development    18. C & Visual C    19. Computers / Technical Skills    20. Microsoft Windows   

Reviews (12)

Great book to get you started, need the blue beast still...
Ok,
Good study guide!
I am a current MCSE NT 4.0 going for my MCSE 2003 with 10 years experience.
this product is awesome,but ull need extra help to get cert.
this product is awesome,but ull need extra help to get cert.
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Subjects:  1. Certification    2. Certification Guides - General    3. Certification Guides - MCSE    4. Computer Books: General    5. Computer networks    6. Computers    7. Computers - Operating Systems    8. Electronic data processing per    9. Electronic data processing personnel    10. Examinations    11. General    12. Microcomputer Operating Environments    13. Microsoft software    14. Operating Systems - Windows    15. Operating Systems - Windows XP    16. Study guides    17. Computers / Technical Skills    18. Microsoft Windows   

Subjects:  1. Certification    2. Certification Guides - MCSE    3. Computer Books: General    4. Computers    5. Computers - Data Base Management    6. Database Management - General    7. Electronic data processing per    8. Electronic data processing personnel    9. Examinations    10. Microsoft software    11. Study guides   

Reviews (4)

A Reference Book for Your Library!
This was my first attempt setting up an NT server.This book read like a"GOOD" reference manual.There are a few typos, however, theyare not such that your comprehension is hindered! This is the book!
I have never set up a network before and did not know where to start. I hit the internet and everybook store i could, and thank god i found this book. I now have 16 users with 2 remote users on my network. The networkhas been running perfectly for 7 months and I did it over the weekend. Icant begin to thank susan plumley for this book!

Clearly written for the novice
This book is clearly for the beginner.While the information is mostly accurate, and assembled in a reasonable manner, anyone who has done at least one NT install will find this book of little practical help. The main points covered here are CHECK THE HCL, make sure your hardware is compatible.The author does a pretty good job of explaining groups and domains, but don't expect to find any undocumented tricks here.I really thought there would be some discussion about system documentation....as the title suggests, but there is none to be found.If you're new to NT, or thinking about employing it in your organization, this is probably as good a starter book as you'll find, but don't think it's the only reference you'll need. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Client/server computing    2. Computer Bks - Communications / Networking    3. Computer Books: General    4. Computer networks    5. Computers    6. Computers - Communications / Networking    7. Local Area Networks (Lan)    8. Microcomputer Operating Environments    9. Microsoft Windows NT    10. Networking - Local Area Networks (LANs)    11. Operating Systems - NT    12. Operating Systems - Windows    13. Operating systems (Computers)    14. Internet    15. Microsoft Windows   

Reviews (1)

Comprehensive, well written, and accurate
I was certified on NT, but never got my W2k certification. So, it had been a while since I sat for an MS exam. I was obviouly aware that both the exams and the OS are very different from the NT days, so when I began my studies I was really looking to use the most thorough books I could find. I'm also studying on a tight budget (who isn't these days?), so I also wanted to be sure that I could get just one book for each exam, instead of having to buy several to fill in the gaps. I spent a lof of time looking through all of the available books at a local book store before actually buying from Amazon. It didn't teke me long to realize just how much better this book is from the competition. There's just no comparison between the depth of coverage in this book vs. the others. The DVD is also really helpful as well. I found the best way was to read a chapter, try the practice questions, and then watch that chatper on DVD. I was completely confident going into the exam that I would pass based on my work experience and my preparation with this book, and I did. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - General    2. Certification Guides - MCSE    3. Computer Books And Software    4. Computers    5. Computers - Communications / Networking    6. Microcomputer Networks    7. Microcomputer Operating Environments    8. Networking - General    9. Operating Systems - Windows    10. Computers / Certification Guides / MSCE    11. Computers / Communications / Networking    12. Computers/Networking - General    13. Networking packages    14. Certification    15. Client-Server Computing    16. Microsoft Windows server    17. Electronic data processing personnel    18. Examinations    19. Study guides    20. Study Aids    21. Tests