MCSE Windows XP Professional Study Guide (Exam 70-270) [With CDROM]

A well written book, not over written in technical jargon to lose the novice and not boring for the more advanced reader. A CD come with the boof filled with electronic test and additional resources. Detailed and Specific a useful tool for a person reviewing for the exam.

i am a cisco certified, and graduated and working in data communication field. for certification exam, i mainly use sybex products and sometime cisco press, this is the first time i tried products from osbone and i foud out that not just sybex can produce good products in certification realm.firstly, i have read this book cover to cover, but i haven't taken the exam yet, so i can't really credit this book as how well it serves its objective of preparing for Win XP (70-270) exam. i have 2 winxp 70-270 books, one from microsoff press and MCSA Box Set from osbone. i can tell u that this book is a lot far better than microsoft press product (i am very disappointed and will never buy a book from micosoft press again...really), but not sure if compare to sybex products.stuffs in this book:PRO: (5 stars)- book was well written, easy to read and very fun, the chapter's review question may seem to b too easy, but i think the purpose of it is to make sure u understand the important topics in that chapter b4 u move on and b able to apply it later. the real hard and tricky questions will b in the cd-rom and it is the questions that we should focus on (that's for exam), not the chapter review questions (that's for explaining concepts). - the accompany cd-rom is damn cool, i love it- especially the video scripts which show u how to perform most of the excercises in the book. it proved to b very useful for me in duing chapter's review bcoz i don't need to reread every steps in each excercise again, just sit and watch again and again which save a lot of time and also easier to remeber.- the test engine is also very nice, very varity, u can du open and close book quiz, or exam sim, this is 100 times better than kid stuffs from microsoft press. but still, i am not sure if the content of the test engine really close to the real exam bcoz i haven't sit for the exam yet.- the win xp sim is also nice, i think it won't really match exactly to simulation questions in the real exam, but at least i learn that the way to config or du some setting in the sim is not the same as duing it in the real OS, there are different roles, and the roles of duing it are provided here, and i am sure i won't du some stupid mistakes in the real exam such as "why can't i click this twice".CON:(-1 star)- after reading this book cover to cover,yes most of concepts are well presented, but still it is not deep enuf (at least for me as a network admin), and still leaves a lot of questions bhide, this may lead to not serving its objective well as exam preparation (just may)as i mentioned ealier, i haven't sit for the exam yet, so i can't tell u guys if this book serve its objective of win xp 70-270 exam well means how good it will help u pass the exam.i reviewed it as one of reader who finished reading it cover to cover and i like the book especialy the cd-rom.i will come to give another review after i have a chance to sit for the exam.thanks to other reviewers, especially the one who passed and

Recently I was asked to help a company convert several users from Windows 95 and 98 to Windows XP. The technicians who were going to provide support had little or no experience with XP. The company had used this series of books for 95, 98, NT Workstation and 2000 Professional so naturally they chose it for XP. Over the two weeks of using this book I found that as an instructor this book is a great manual for the classroom, providing the students with over 80 exercises as well as self tests and lab questions. In short this book made teaching the class easier for me and better for the students. Covering every test objective with topics ranging from installation, configuration and setup to hardware, networking and troubleshooting to desktop configuration, printing and faxing you have a very complete reference manual to work with. I liked the fact that the examples were more than just data they seemed to be examples from real world situations. The cd include has MasterSim include with another 40 plus hands on simulations for the students and PracticeSim with exam that not only test the student but also assess the progress. Overall a very good study tool as well as a reference manual.