Certification Prep – The 20 Minute Workout

The Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit for Microsoft Office 2007 (version 4.0) is available online via http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/solutionaccelerators/dd632446.aspx If you’re looking to go to Office 2010 once it releases then you’ll want to check out the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit for Microsoft Office 2010 (version 5.0 – BETA 1). You’ll need your Live ID in order to access the tool via the “ Download the MAP 5.0 Beta 1 for Office 2010 ” site as the BETA review program is now open but it is due to close in the next few days (mid-April). The Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit 5.0 is an agentless tool that streamlines the IT infrastructure planning process through network-wide automated discovery. This Solution Accelerator performs an inventory of your enterprise environment and provides usage information for servers in the Core CAL Suite, a data center infrastructure assessment survey, and a readiness assessment for the most wi...

The Microsoft Rapid Economic Justification guide, created by the Microsoft Business Value Group, takes you through the project assessment process in simple steps and includes tools, templates, and how-to information to help you make a compelling business case for an IT project. The guide simplifies the process of researching, preparing, and presenting your project analysis into manageable, easy-to-follow steps. You can create the necessary reports and presentations on your own or work with a Microsoft partner to complete the work for you. You can get the details on the Microsoft Rapid Economic Justification guide on the Microsoft website at http://www.microsoft.com/business/enterprise/value.mspx Additionally, the full 150 page Rapid Economic Justification Guide in PDF format is available for review as well. The Rapid Economic Justification Data Collection Worksheet is also available. Technorati Tags: Rapid Economic Justification guide , Office , Office 2010 , Microsoft ...

ExamForce is offering 7 free Microsoft, CompTIA and Cisco practice exams and their CramMaster test preparation engine. I have personally used them in the past and they are generally pretty good questions for study and review for the respective exams. The exams usually come to you in a small pool of about 50 for each topic, in the hopes that if you like your free preview that you might decide to buy the full package which will often includes 300+ questions. The current offer includes the following titles: 70-680 Windows 7 Configuring Practice Exam 640-802 Cisco CCNA Practice Exam 640-553 Cisco Security Practice Exam 220-701 CompTIA A+ Essentials Practice Exam 220-702 CompTIA A+ IT Technician N10-004 CompTIA Network+ SY0-201 CompTIA Security+ Download Your 7 Free Practice Exams Today at: http://www.examforce.com/customer/special25.php Just a quick note as well, I was not paid for any type of endorsement on this. I simply wanted to pass along the information regard...

I engaged in some email correspondence with the site owner of MCMCSE.com (Jason Sprague) regarding his free A+ Study Guides on their Study Center page. They currently have them listed as the 220-701 and 220-702 guides but upon further review I did notice that they were still the material from the 601 and 602 exams (which is still about 70% relevant to the 2009 exam release). I wanted to find out if he was going to have an update to this soon as I had students starting an A+ class and I wanted to offer them the links as additional study material. Jason explained to me that as of right now it was a work in progress to get the information updated but that it had to be put on the back burner for a bit. I am going to be preparing notes and updates for my class and I offered to assist with the content update. Over the next few weeks you can expect to see the content for 220-701 and 220-702 posted here and migrated into the guides that Jason offers as well. Technorati Tags: A...

Hi gang! Thanks for the emails asking what’s up with the site and what I’ve been up to. Sorry about the disappearance. I was pulled into a couple of escalating issues with respect to my day job and needed to focus additional time and attention that I might have otherwise directed toward the blog. That and I am still instructing at night. So with all of that I didn’t have the time to keep the blog on track. Having said all that, I have gotten the bulk of the issues addressed and I’ve taken a couple of weeks off from work and now I am going to get back on schedule. So you can expect to see regular posts from me again from three to five times a week again.

As offered on the Microsoft website, you can leverage these offered virtual labs and get exposure to the features in Windows 7, including the Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.5, AppLocker, BranchCache, BitLocker, Microsoft Application Virtualization (APP-V) and many others. The system requirements for the TechNet Virtual Labs have been outlined as: Windows Vista Windows XP Windows 2000 Windows Server 2003 Internet Explorer versions 5 or later is required I am running Windows 7 Ultimate Edition x64 and had no issues running the labs but these are the requirements as outlined on the System Requirements page. Additionally a screen resolution of 1024x768 or greater is recommended and the online labs are in US English and only support US English Language Keyboards. The FREE Windows 7 Virtual Labs are a MUST HAVE for anyone studying for the 70-680 MCTS Windows 7, Configuring exam. Technorati Tags: 70-680 , 70-680 Windows 7 , Windows 7 , MCITP , MCP , MCSE...

Brien M. Posey, MCSE, is a five-time recipient of Microsoft's Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for his work with Exchange Server, Windows Server, Internet Information Services (IIS), and File Systems and Storage. Brien has served as CIO for a nationwide chain of hospitals and was once responsible for the Department of Information Management at Fort Knox. As a freelance technical writer, Brien has written for Microsoft, TechTarget, CNET, ZDNet, MSD2D, Relevant Technologies and other technology companies. You can visit Brien's personal website at www.brienposey.com . He recently posted an article titled Crash course on Microsoft Outlook 2007 calendar sharing on the SearchExchange.com website. The walkthrough reviews the steps to share out an Outlook 2007 calendar, customize personal calendars, and to view multiple Outlook calendars in overlay mode all with accompanying screenshots. Technorati Tags: Microsoft , Outlook 2007 , Calendar , Sharing