Certification Prep – The 20 Minute Workout

Over on the Petri IT Knowledgebase website I have a new article up titled Configuring Taskbar Alerts & Maintenance Functions in Windows 7 Action Center In this article I introduce the Windows 7 Action Center, how to directly access it from the Control Panel as well as to review some of the settings and options available to you through the Security and Maintenance functions This is another one of those Windows 7 articles that fits well within the body of knowledge for the exam. As always, I am always looking forward to any feedback you have on this or any of the articles I have written so feel free to offer your input. Additionally, I would welcome any suggestions topics of interest that you would like to see and based on free time and column space I’ll do what I can to deliver them to you.

Edited content from the FAQ that was originally published at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/ff384134.aspx Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 is an update for enterprises and IT Professionals that includes virtualization enhancements and previous improvements delivered via Windows Update. Windows 7 Service Pack 1 is an update that helps keep your PCs supported, provides ongoing improvement to the operating system, by including previous updates delivered over Windows Update as well as continuing incremental updates to the Windows 7 platform based on customer and partner feedback, and is easy for organization to deploy a single set of updates. The system requirements for the Service Pack 1 beta are that you need to be running the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) version of Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 (build 7600). The beta of SP1 can install on RTM evaluation versions of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. The final release version of Service Pack 1 is expected to b

by Kimberly Pittmon Certifying your skills affords tangible career advancement benefits. Possible merits include boosting your salary, illuminating your résumé and advancing your job. In today's sputtering job climate, attaining--or maintaining--a certification can give you a razor-sharp edge. Here is how a certification can jumpstart or augment your career: 1. Provides you leverage. Employers expect employees to contribute quickly, accurately and measurably. A certification says, "Yes, I can do that." 2. Illustrates your tenacity. If anything is worth having, it's worth the toil. Employers seek people who will produce more with fewer resources. 3. Boosts your confidence. In the workplace, it's all about solving problems. And confidence--to deliver--is the engine that drives practical solutions. 4. Illuminates your résumé. Hiring managers give résumés a cursory glance. A certification makes them apt to read your résumé and summon an interview. 5.

There is a seven part series developed by Jay Paloma posted over on You Tube and I have leveraged the embed code to post the videos below for your study of the 70-680 and 70-685 Windows 7 exams. This video series explains how to deploy Windows 7 from Windows XP using WAIK – the Windows Automated Installation Kit and MDT 2010 – the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 Windows 7 Deployment Series Part 1 - Generate WinPE Boot CD - by Jay Paloma This video is Part 1 on a series on Windows 7 Deployment. This explains how to generate the WinPE Boot CD in Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK)   Windows 7 Deployment Part 2 - Use WAIK to Acquire WIM Image - by Jay Paloma This is Part 2 of the Windows 7 Deployment Series. Let's now take a look at how to use WAIK to acquire an image of a Windows 7 machine and store it in the Windows Imaging Format or WIM. For this we will need the WinPE boot CD that we created in part 1   Windows 7 Deployment Part 3 - Using WAIK to A

Late last year I had posted an article over on http://www.petri.co.il/ that reviews some subtle changes to Windows 7 Desktop that you should be aware of. While the changes from Vista to Windows 7 are subtle they are a radical departure for those users that are more familiar with Windows XP. The full article is titled Getting Started with the Windows 7 Desktop and it takes a brief look the Windows 7 Desktop and the changes in the basic functions of it and how you can perform some customizations for personalization and ease of use. There is some additional focus of the article regarding the Notification Area that is on the right side of the taskbar by default near the time and date information. This part of the Taskbar contains icons for installed program that can provide status for things such as the existence (or lack) of network connectivity, volume control, action center notifications and so forth. For the 70-680 exam it is good to just understand some of these changes – agai

This post was originally written by Gabriel Villa on his blog http://extofer.blogspot.com/ It’s about that time to focus on a few things, one being Microsoft Certification. I passed the 70-433 Database Developer certification last year. My intention is to become a Microsoft Certified IT Pro Database Developer and DBA. Microsoft has three Technology Specialist (MCTS) certification and three IT Professional certifications for SQL Server 2008. The MCTS include Implementation and Maintenance (70-432), Database Development (70-433) and Business Intelligence Development and Maintenance (70-448). Each of these are the prerequisite to the IT Professional certifications (MCITP). For instance if you take 70-432 and 70-450, Designing, Optimizing and Maintaining a Database Server Infrastructure using Microsoft SQL Server 2008, you obtained MCITP Database Administrator. Exam 70-433 along with 70-451, Designing Database Solutions and Data Access Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008, makes you an

Late last year I had posted an article over on http://www.petri.co.il/ that reviews some of the changes in the Windows Start Menu. While the changes from Vista to Windows 7 are subtle they are a radical departure for those users that are more familiar with Windows XP. The full article is titled Getting Familiar with the Windows 7 Start Menu and also goes over some simple steps for customizing the Start Menu as well as reviews what is new with the Recently Opened Programs area that is available on the Windows 7. For the 70-680 exam it is good to just understand some of these changes – again most specifically from XP to Windows 7 – as well as comprehending how to make some of these customizations to the configurable settings from the GUI.

The Beta for Next Version of Microsoft Security Essentials is now available according to a post over on the Blogging Windows blog. New features in the beta of Microsoft Security Essentials include: Windows Firewall integration – During setup, Microsoft Security Essentials will now ask if you would like to turn the Windows Firewall on or off. Enhanced protection for web-based threats – Microsoft Security Essentials now integrates with Internet Explorer to provide protection against web-based threats. New protection engine – The updated anti-malware engine offers enhanced detection and cleanup capabilities with better performance. Network inspection system – Protection against network-based exploits is now built in to Microsoft Security Essentials. To download the beta of Microsoft Security Essentials you will need to visit the Microsoft Connect page to register for the beta . Once completed – you will find the instructions for downloading and installing the bet

In an effort to get new posts up on a more regular basis I have been reaching out as part of an open invitation to all technical bloggers that I have contact with to work with them regarding sharing their work on Certification Prep – The 20 Minute Workout. Obviously with a free site that’s a little hard to do; if people are going to commit their time they are going to want compensation. Since the site doesn’t generate any money right now (I may be re-launching some ads again in the fall) all I have to offer folks is credit for their work and a platform to showcase it. There are always a passionate few, like myself, that will do it anyway as you never know what the “free work” will provide for you down the road. (You’d be surprised where some of my prior “free” work has led me). While I have been emailing a few different folks, as of this morning I do have one commitment from my out reach. Kimberly Pittmon has offered to try to commit to one post a week. Her short bio: Kimberly

CompTIA (Computing Technology Industry Association) is the Information Technology industry’s largest developer of vendor-neutral IT certification exams. I have an article up on the Toolbox for IT website titled CompTIA Network+ Certification N10-004 Exam which reviews the history of the exam as well as the current prerequisites and requirements for the current iteration of the exam - N10-004. I additional review some of the upcoming changes that are due for the CompTIA family of certifications as of January 1, 2011. As always, I’m interested in your feedback so feel free to drop me a note and let me know your thoughts.

So this posing is going to be more for the people in central Connecticut so my apologies for the people far and wide that read my blog as this is really not going to be relevant for you. I had a discussion today with Ryan over at Wallingford Computer Center regarding some training classes they are looking to offer at their center. They have a Beginners Hardware class scheduled to run on Monday August 23rd. I discussed the idea of my running an introduction to Windows 7 class on a weekday night from 5:30 to 9:30 as well as a separate introduction to Office 2010 along the same lines - on a weekday night from 5:30 to 9:30 – in the September / October timeframe. The classes would be $109.00 each and include the textbook. In the situation where someone wished to take both classes they could do so for the combined discount cost of $196.00. I wanted to put this out for feedback – tell me what you think. Would you be interested in intro classes such as this? Drop me a note and l

I originally wrote this back in 2003 and it has been posted ever since over at MCMCSE.COM . Below is the original write up as it is seen there. I am thinking of making an update to it (or maybe a “Part II”) but in the mean time here it is in its entirety. Taking computers from a hobby, to a job, to a career has been an interesting journey for the relatively short period I have been doing it and not a day goes by where I don’t learn something new. Given the speed of change within the industry, I doubt that will ever change either and I’m glad. I bought myself my first computer in May of 1995 at the suggestion of two friends. Mike was a full time computer professional and Dave was an avid gamer who I worked with at the power plant, but both suggested I would love it. I was wishy-washy about laying out nearly $3000.00 for a brand new computer system and didn’t purchase one “intentionally.” Had I really been smart about it, I would have waited for Mike to go with me to get one, s

There is a story on the Forbes.com website written by Jessica Mintz that outlines a report from IDC Market Research which shows that regardless of the situations around the globe with shaky economies that they are improving, albeit very slowly. The report shows that the global PC market grew 22.4% in the second quarter of 2010 which was in-line with projections and that on a worldwide basis, Desktop PC shipments exceeded expectations. This showed that despite the fact that some sectors are stalled or just restarting their growth that businesses are moving ahead with PC replacements in anticipation of some level of slow and steady improvement. The report additionally noted that Portable PC sales trailed the original projections slightly. From the report, the regional look for the United States market showed a slight up-tick in sequential growth as well as a double-digit jump of 12.6% from the previous year, confirming that the market continued to recover. Projections for a stronge

With respect to my prior post regarding the pulling of the 83 series of exams but finding some conflicting information, I was able to get in touch with Tjeerd Veninga at Microsoft who is the SR MARKETING MANAGER MCT and he forwarded me the following:   Delivery of 83-640 was suspended in June; we currently don’t have any Howler versions in market (83 is the channel code for our lab based exams). Because this exam earns the same certification as 70-640, candidates who search for 83-640 are directed to the 70-640 information. The blog post that you found was an old one that predates our announcement to suspend delivery of this exam. The blog with the details on the suspension can be found here: http://borntolearn.mslearn.net/btl/b/weblog/archive/2010/06/01/we-re-taking-action-based-on-your-feedback.aspx We hope to have more news later as we do continue to believe the performance based tests are a great way to test skills.   And so there you have it!

Microsoft has released article 976932 which reviews the details and additional information regarding Service Pack 1 Beta for Windows 7 and for Windows Server 2008 R2. For professional and enterprise consumers that are interested in downloading the beta it can be downloaded from the Microsoft Technet website . End users are not encouraged to use the beta installation. Microsoft has indicated “This early release of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Beta is not available for home users. The SP1 Beta does not provide new end-user features, and installation is not supported by Microsoft.” You must be running the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) version of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 in order to download and install the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Beta. Professional and enterprise customers can learn more about piloting, deploying and managing Windows 7 by visiting the Springboard Series on TechNet . There is a technical overview whitepaper of the Wind

Originally released in 2008 the 83 dash series of exams was introduced by Microsoft to replace the standard format of exams that had been delivered by the 70 dash series. The 70 dash series of exams, like 70-680 for Windows 7, Configuring, are set up as multiple choice, hot area, sort and order type questions in a standardized format. Very little has changed in these exams over the past 12 or so years. (My first Microsoft exam was 70-064 Implementing and Supporting Windows 95). The 83 series was supposed to be a change up in the test delivery by offering the examinee part of the exam as lab based. There are still some traditional 70 dash based questions but a good portion of the exam format is lab based. At some point the exams were on hold, as you can note as evident from http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/exam.aspx?ID=83-640&locale=en-us where they push you back to the 70-640 exam Having said that, there are posts on the Born to Learn blog http://borntolearn.msle

Even though you may be strapped for time, ongoing training can greatly impact your professional development. I wholeheartedly agree with this; as a matter of fact, my entire career in information technology is rooted on this premise. Changes in technology and the IT industry happen quickly, so you must keep up to date with new trends and developments as they emerge if you hope to remain at the forefront of the field. Pursuing training on an ongoing basis also can help your job security Please read the entire article The Case for Ongoing Training as posted on the Certification Magazine website