Certification Prep – The 20 Minute Workout

A Free Lecture-based Educational Course on how the OSI model works Part of the www.LearnTCPIP.com Education Series Covering TCP/IP, TCP, DNS, Ethernet, OSI Model, Subnetting, IP Addressing and the Internet Check it out @ http://www.learntcpip.com/OSIModel/default.htm Technorati Tags: free , certification , training , general

A Free Lecture-based Educational Course on IP Addressing and Subnetting Part of the www.LearnTCPIP.com Education Series Covering TCP/IP, TCP, DNS, Ethernet, OSI Model, Subnetting, IP Addressing and the Internet Check it out @ http://www.learntosubnet.com/ Technorati Tags: free , certification , training , general

By Dan Woods Multi-core processors may slow many applications down, not speed them up. The widespread adoption of multi-core hardware is in many cases actually slowing down computing. A typical scenario: A company has a data-intensive software application and wants to make this software run as fast as possible. When its single-core machine reaches end of life, the company purchases multi-core hardware. To everyone's surprise, the application starts to run slower. For technical support staff, the first question to ask when someone calls with a performance problem is, Have you done a hardware upgrade? Often, when the application is switched back to single-core hardware, the problem disappears. How can this be? Don't more cores mean more computing power? Doesn't more computing power mean software that runs faster? The simple answer is no. Unless the software was written specifically for the multi-core paradigm, multi-core hardware may be a waste of money for increasing

By Ed Sperling One of the biggest questions hanging over the processor world for the past few years is what to do with all those cores. This isn't a matter anyone is taking lightly. It's one that carries huge ramifications, because without a compelling answer there's no reason for CIOs to collectively spend billions of dollars on new server hardware with more cores on each chip. The basic problem is that chipmakers can't develop processors the same way they did in the past. If they continue turning up the clock speed with a single core (which is how they got most of the performance increases in the past) they'll literally melt the chip. So they've added lots of cores that run no faster than a single core (and often much slower), using the sum of the performance on multiple cores to achieve increases in performance. Unfortunately, most software doesn't run on multiple cores, so much of that gain is wasted. It runs on one core, or at best two, if some pa

By Dan Woods " Why Apps Can't Run Faster " explained that just putting more and more cores in chips doesn't increase the processing speed of applications. This is because applications aren't typically designed to take advantage of more than eight cores. To be able to make the most of a multi-core processor, you can run lots of applications on one computer with lots of multi-core processors. Then the operating system balances the workload across all of the cores. But this is much less efficient than running applications that are multi-threaded that balance the work across cores inside the application. This is the art of parallel programming. Read the entire article - Waking Up Multi-Core Processors Technorati Tags: multicore , processor , application , CPU

By Ed Sperling The problem may not be evident at two, four or even eight multicore computer processors. But when an application is written to take advantage of eight cores and the next iteration of that processor has 20 cores, the vast majority of applications will continue to take advantage of only eight cores. Moreover, even if an application is rewritten to utilize all 20 cores, the performance gains will be lower than a decade ago when the clock speed was doubled on a single core processor. And that's a best-case scenario. A word processing application threaded for 20 cores will not run much faster than a version that uses one or two cores. Read the entire article - Why Apps Can't Run Faster Technorati Tags: multicore , processor , application , CPU

On the Windows Team Blog, Springboard technical contributor Jeremy Chapman posted a five part series Windows XP to Windows 7 - Guidance for IT pros. Each of the parts can be found via the links below directly from the blog: The "One-Pager" for Moving from Windows XP to Windows 7 (Overview) Migrating User Files and Settings from Windows XP to Windows 7 Application Management and Preparing for a Windows 7 Deployment Choosing and Image Strategy and Building Windows 7 System Images Automating the migration from Windows XP to Windows 7 End-to-End For those of you that are taking the 70-680 exam, these posts fit right in along the topics that are covered in the Installing, Upgrading, and Migrating to Windows 7 domain of skills being measured. Technorati Tags: 70-680 Windows 7 , Enterprise Administrator , Enterprise Desktop Support Technician 7 , MCITP , MCTS

There are a number of different ways that you can install and deploy Windows 7 as a single installation on a desktop or a laptop. This can be done as a “bare metal” installation where there is no current operating system installed. It could also be done as part of an in place upgrade to Windows 7 from Windows Vista. Additionally, it could be a custom / complete install from a legacy operating system such as Windows 2000 or Windows XP that does not allow for in place upgrades. Whichever install method you choose, your end result is going to be the same; getting Windows 7 onto the machine as the only operating system present. In my Exam 70-680 TS: Windows 7, Configuring - Perform a clean installation - Identifying hardware requirements (PART 1) post i had outlined what the hardware requirements were for a Windows 7 installation to be successful and to meet the recommended system requirements. One of your installation options is to perform an in place upgrade. In order to do

by Paul Thurrott It was the final unanswered question about Windows 7. But now, thanks to numerous reader reports, my own hands-on experience, and a briefing with the team at Microsoft responsible for this technology, I think we have some answers. Sadly, Microsoft is still making it difficult to clean install Windows 7 with Upgrade media, as it did with Windows Vista. But fear not, there is some good news. While you can't simply use Upgrade media to do a clean install of Windows 7 on a new or previously formatted PC, the workarounds this time are easier than ever. And that's what this article is all about: Revealing the secrets to clean-installing Windows 7 with Upgrade media. For all the details read Paul Thurrott’s article - Clean Install Windows 7 with Upgrade Media Technorati Tags: 70-680 , MCTS , Windows 7 , install , upgrade

By Woody Leonhard Topping the long list of readers' Windows 7 questions is whether you can use the upgrade disc to perform a full install of the new OS. You may be surprised to discover that in Windows 7 there's no difference between the "upgrade" and "full" DVDs and — just as with XP and Vista — the cheaper upgrade version can indeed be used to perform a full install. But that's just one of your many Windows 7 questions. From what's possible, to what's legal, to what-on-earth-were-they-thinking, here's the skinny on the ins and outs of Microsoft's best OS yet. There's no way to fit all your Win7 queries into a single column, so you can be sure I'll have many more Win7 FAQs in the weeks to come. Will a Win7 upgrade disc install the full OS? Read Woody Leonhard’s entire article - Fully install Windows 7 from the upgrade disc Technorati Tags: 70-680 , MCTS , Windows 7 , install , upgrade

As posted from the Microsoft website , the LEVEL 300 webcast will review the best practices for integrating Microsoft Volume Activation into your enterprise software deployment and management efforts. Benefit from lessons others have learned from dealing with the license activation of the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 operating systems in a variety of IT environments, including networked, isolated, roaming, branch office, development, and test. Language(s): English. Product(s): Windows 7. Audience(s):  IT Decision Maker,IT Generalist. Duration: 60 Minutes Start Date: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 10:00 AM Pacific Time / 1:00 PM Eastern Time Presenter: Kim Griffiths, Senior Product Manager, Microsoft Corporation You can register directly online for the session - Event ID: 1032428920 Technorati Tags: Microsoft , Free , LEVEL 300 , Deploying , Windows 7 , 70-680 , 70-685 , 70-686 , volume activation

As posted from the Microsoft website , Microsoft’s eBook Deploying Windows 7 Essential Guidance from the Windows 7 Resource Kit and TechNet Magazine combines selected chapters written by industry experts such as Mitch Tulloch, Tony Northrup, Jerry Honeycutt, Ed Wilson, and the Windows 7 Team. Additionally there are several Windows 7 articles from TechNet Magazine included in this PDF download as well. With topics including Deployment Platform, Planning Deployment, Testing Application Compatibility, and 8 Common Issues in Windows 7 Migrations these are some good review topics for those of you that are studying up for certification exams – most note worthy would be Exam 70-680: Configuring Microsoft Windows 7 Exam 70-685: Pro: Windows 7, Enterprise Desktop Support Technician Exam 70-686: Pro: Windows 7, Enterprise Desktop Administrator Technorati Tags: Microsoft , Free , eBook , Deploying , Windows 7 , 70-680 , 70-685 , 70-686

The Windows 7 Enterprise 90-day Trial that is being offered by Microsoft is for IT Professionals that are looking to “kick the tires” on the full release of the product. The download provides the opportunity for IT Pros to become more familiar with the key improvements over previous versions of the Windows operating system, and experience firsthand how Windows 7 can make your PC environment more productive, secure, and manageable. If you qualify under one of the following programs listed below, you may already have access to full release bits of Windows 7 and do not need to download the 90-day Trial. Partner Program MSDN Subscriber (Developer) TechNet Plus Subscriber Volume License/Software Assurance customer If you do not have access to any of these programs then this download may be the answer for you. Microsoft does not recommend that you install this if you are a not an IT Professional or not professionally managing corporate networks. Access the Windows 7 Enterprise 90-day Trial