It's got everything you need to know, although a testking wouldn't hurt to get too...

I would recommend this book to anybody that is about to take 70-270. I would say a word of caution though about this book. It is truly intended to be a suppliment to actual training from either a interactive self-paced class like Test Out or Prep Logic. If you try to pass the 70-270 with this book alone you may run in to difficulty. Also, I would recommend exam insurance from Microsoft if your testing center allows it.

This book provides a real good start with less than 500 pages. But you will never pass the test just from the material in this book. Taking the advice of others before me, I obtained all the info I needed from this book, plus the Windows XP resource kit (available free online or in paperback) and "Changes to Functionality in Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2" (Also an online microsoft resource).

This book helped me to pass the 70-270 test. It had some information that I did not see anywhere else. I have used cram exam books before and I love the series. I would recommend this book and others for anybody studying to pass any tests. Awesome book!

great certification tool!!!
but u will need also transcenders for exam preparation. contact me on my gmail account (certstuff). i will send u a list of transcenders i can sell u, 10$ each one. thnks

Overall, I find this particular book useful in combing through a lot of intricate details of the Windows XP operating system. Though given that, I don't think this resource alone will help you adequately prepare for the exam, which is something the authors themselves note. This book I feel tries to strike a middle ground, but fails in a few regards:

(1) As many topics like IPP printing is inadequately covered, readers will not be able to install and configure, IPP for example, with the scant coverage.

(2) There is over emphasis on tools like that are not apart of Windows XP, like USMT and RIS. I have never come across such questions in the exam.

(3) Material is not aligned with the actual Microsoft study material, and as such important topics are inadequately covered, omitted, or over covered.

The bottom line is that you might be spending more energy studying unnecessary material, while at the same time, not studying key concepts and topics needed to pass the exam. One definitely needs additional material to study and pass the exam, but still despite my grief this book did actually help me, and rigorous relentless study combined with actually tinkering with Windows XP on material related to the book, did help me pass the exam. I am now a Microsoft Certified Professional.

I've been in the IT industry doing mostly web design, so I'm not too familiar with the server/networking side of things.. anyhow this book assumes you know what you're doing... example .. first thing I got stuck on was using the Remote Installation Services..spent three whole days and finally gave up.. once you get stuck you're pretty much screwed if you don't have anyone there to help you. I'm going to have to go out and get another book... something more detailed.

Having passed my MCSE NT 4 exams using the Exam Cram guides, I knew that getting my 2003 MCSE would be no different. This is the first exam I have taken for my 2003 MCSE and I'm glad I picked up this book. It totally prepared me for the exam with the exception of an exam simualtion. I would say, however, that this book gave me 80-90% of what I needed to pass the exam. To sum it up, I will be going to the bookstore tomorrow to buy more Exam Cram books to finish out my quest to get my 2003 MCSE.

This book is an excellent prep for the 70-270 exam. The only reason I am giving it 4 and not 5 stars is because I found a typo in their book (wich they are correcting after I brought it to their attention). This book explains alot of core details you will need in order to pass this exam. I didnt just pass the exam but I passed with flying colors. But if your new to the certification exams, I strongly recommend also using Transcenders after you read a book.

This book is an excellent prep for the 70-270 exam. The only reason I am giving it 4 and not 5 stars is because I found a typo in their book (wich they are correcting after I brought it to their attention). This book explains alot of core details you will need in order to pass this exam. I didnt just pass the exam but I passed with flying colors. But if your new to the certification exams, I strongly recommend also using Transcenders after you read a book.

The book is layed out rather well and several of the topics that are on the test are covered in this book. However, I'm not sure if a newbie can pick up this book and pass the 70-270 test. I passed no problem but I've been using XP/Windows for a long time -and- this was the last of my MCSE 2003 tests so I had lots of information crammed in my head from the previous 6 months of studying Active Directory and Server stuff.

Ben

This book was excellent as sort of a last week read quick and pick up the things that you forgot sort of thing. This book by no means covers every detail that you will need to know. I purchased this in a combo pack with the extra prep-logic questions which I found to be great. I think the key to any of these Microsoft Tests is a little bit of studying and of course some hands on work with their products. Passed with an 873.

I passed my 70-270 exam today with a score of 907. The exam was difficult and brutal. Yet, I'm confident anyone can pass the exam if they study the right material intensely. Is the Exam Cram book the right material? All I can say for this book is that it's a good place to start. It will give you a good overview of the topics you need to master, but don't expect to pass using only this book! You'll need to dig much deeper and supplement your studying with other books, online references, and "Help and Support" library that comes with XP. While generally well written, the book falls short in some areas like networks. I suggest also buying Exam Cram Network+ as well as books on Server 2003. These will help give you the big domain picture that you really won't get with just the 70-270 book alone. When you start dreaming about Group Policy then you know you're close to being readying for the exam. As for the CD that comes with this book, my advice is to rip it out and throw it away. It's simply an advertisement for a practice test service and not a very good one at that.

I used this book as my study guide plus some online practice test and passed my WinXP exam.

This is a pretty good book if you already hv some working experience with WinXP.

Good Luck!

Overall, this book is pretty damn good, and I learned a lot more about Windows XP than I knew before preparing for the exam, but the book could use some improvement.
1. The book covers many topics, but leaves some details out in specific cases. Some of these details were on the exam, and I only got them right because I had experience with them. One of the questions on the exam, (wasn't coverered in the book), but I had read an article in Windows & .NET magazine, and implemented it at our site.
2. The Prep-logic practice exam that came on the CD kind of sucked. It asked three questions about running a telnet server on your Windows XP machine??? I was kind of freaking out since I waited until the last minute to take the practice test. So like an idiot, I went online and purchased the full thing from Prep-Logic website. After taking another practice test, I felt a lot better, but I would doubt that any official MS exam has anything on it about running a telnet server. Also on the REAL exam, the questions are much more complicated than the Prep-Logic ones.
3. The book and the Prep-Logic Exam seem to conflict on a couple of ideas. Everyone seems to have their own theory of the correct page file size. I was always taught that Inital Size = 1.5 x Physical RAM and Maximum Size = 3 x Physical RAM. The book claims that the initial and the max should be the same. The prep-logic exam doesn't really say, but it did say that the max should never be over 2.5 x. I found a page on Microsoft that also claims the correct is what I was originally taught. Who knows???

The good news is I passed the test and with some room to spare, and I probably wouldn't have been able to without this book, hands-on-experience, and some extra exams. Although, next time I won't be purchasing Prep-Logic.

This book covers a lot of what you need to know to pass the exam, the reason I purchased this book was because I have purchased several exam cram 2 books recently and have enjoyed the wealth of advanced material found within those books and ive been using windows XP for a long time and didn't feel the need for a basic book. And typically exam cram books go into granular detail about some advanced topics and the reading is pretty much enjoyable.

Sadly that is not the case with this book =\, this book is basically a dry read. Id guess half the book is just showing directions on how to open something up ( in insane step by step detail!!! ), and at the same time the book seems to cover all you need to know about TCP/IP in 2 full pages!

Basically the exam wants you to know a lot about GPO / Active Directory / Shares / networking and so on which isn't given too much detail in this book. Luckily im going for my MCSE and have some windows 2003 server books ( MS press self training series ) to review some AD concepts. As im already network+ a+ ccna etc certified I could make do with this book easily.

However if you are using this as your only book and this will be your first exam and you haven't taken a formal networking class or windows server class I would highly recommend getting an book on active directory and GPO ( any of the msce titles should suffice ) and for networking the exam cram network+ is an amazingly good read! And will help you breeze through the exam.

But if you have taken windows server courses and networking classes at a college or self study then by all means just buy this book read it once take the practice tests in the back of the book ( and on CD ) and you will easily pass the test ( I studied for all of 1 week ).

I read through this book twice, installed the Preplogic Preview Edition CD and studied it until I got all the answers right. I passed the first time in an hour! This book along with the CD is literally all you need to pass the 70-270 Exam. I'm telling you, this is EXACTLY what you need to pass the exam the FIRST time. Props to Exam Cram 2 for producing such an awesome product.

I thoughts XP is just a simple platform, after I read this book, I get to know lots of hiden and interesting stuff of XP, of course, with the book I pass the exam easily

This book does a great job preparing you for the 70-270 exam. It covers all objectives and does so in extensive detail. The writing is concise and easy to understand.

If I had to pick a flaw, I would say there aren't enough practice questions. Get some extra practice exams from somewhere else and you can't fail.

This is my first time using Exam Cram to study for a certification, and I am so glad it was recommmended to me. It really breaks everything down into terms anyone could understand and learn. The book has really made me feel more comfortable about taking this exam, and I plan to use Exam Cram again in the future.

Okay, I'll admit it, I bought this book mostly 'cause I wanted to maybe brush up here and there just to make sure I got a decent score on the test.

I really thought I was the man where WinXP was concerned. I do registry tweaking how-tos for a PC site, I've done troubleshooting and repair for MS products since the 80s. I've gone well past the realms of the new user...

I picked up this book, and after getting through the standard stuff about what to expect from the test, the book then got deep into the kind of things you can expect as a network administrator. Stuff I haven't really had to deal with since the company I worked for went under (back in the days when Win NT servers and 98 terminals were all the rage).

Trust me, if you haven't had to spend a lot of time SERIOUSLY networking WindowsXP, get this book. It probably saved me over 100 bucks for the retest as it is.

Oh, and by "Seriously Networking" Windows XP, I don't mean a home network with a DSL setup, or maybe a small office with a 5-port Router. I mean stuff like what authentication should be used on a VPN running L2TP/IPSEC.

It'll be a few before I head down to take the test. I've had pretty good luck with Exam Cram's books for my last couple certifications. I also recently added another Exam Cram book for my Server+ studies, and it's already covered a lot of ground my more expensive MS-press guide did not.

As for the benefits of this test, an O/S certification is almost a requirement these days. My Comptia certifications alone wouldn't have gotten me hired at my last job, if it hadn't been for my previous experience, I'd have been up the proverbial creek. Also, Microsoft lets you "in" as a MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional), and you get access to more Windows Info. In this day and age, the more knowledge you have, the better off you are.

This is my first Exam Cram book. It's packed with useful information, so much so that I read it twice. It's not only valuable for the taking the exam, I think it'll serve as a useful reference tool as well.

The book starts out with some very useful info about the certification exam. The practice questions throughout the book are great for checking comprehension before moving on to the next section. And the sample test and CD work well for exam preparation. The only challenge is absorbing everything in the book.

I haven't read any other exam preparation books on XP Pro to compare this to. I don't see any reason to.

The clarity of the writing and explanations is masterful. This book is a classic. Finally, all the newest Microsoft features explained coherently. (And all the not-so-new ones explained, too).

This is the book that makes you say: "Oh, now I get it !"

Well let me tell you something, I used Smart Certify as a primary source of my study... and fail twice :( In other words, their course was a waste of time for this particular exam, there were errors in the material, there was no sample tests, I got fed up with trying to find "free" exam preps tests, so when I fail the second time, I was both angry and glad. Why glad, because I got a refund from Smart Certify, but since this was my first Microsoft exam, I really wanted to pass, so I purchased some XP books, and this one is the best I think. Use it as a source of learning, not as a cram... if you want to get a knowledge this is a source for you (but the same knowledge which will get you to pass the exam), if you are just interested in passing the exam, try something else... with the book I think you need to practice and play around with XP a lot, but I think this is the way to go... Good luck to all

I would recommend this as a 3rd or 4th source but not as an only source for 70-270 exam preparation...

CD was substandard...first of all, PrepLogic was only demo version without any provisions to discount the full version upgrade and the book pdf is a very poor image copy without any index so it is semi-useless. For me eBooks have become my main way of using reference material and this one is very poorly done to the extent of forcing me to the hard copy.

Here's the real test...after close examination, would I still buy this book? NO I would not but if you prefer to read hardcopy, maybe it's for you.

Exam Cram is the best certification book at any price - period. The text was accurate and thorough and the PrepLogic CD in the back of the book made sure I was ready to pass the exam.

Lays out a clear roadmap for test preparation providing helpfull tips, real world examples and many external tools and informational sources. Self assessment section spells out the ideal baseline of knowledge and strategies to achieve this and successfully pass the 70-270.

I was amazed how detailed this was for just being an exam cram. Gave detailed information, but not enough to confuse the issues.

I have used it to trouble shoot alot of areas in Windows XP, as well as work towards certification.

Good organization makes it easy to find information quickly. Practice questions in each section help to reinforce crucial points, and sample test gives the reader an idea of what to expect at the exam. Conversational style makes this a more enjoyable read than other instructional guides.

Dan Balter and Derek Melber have done a tremendous job researching and writing this book. It is an effective MCSE prep tool and has solid, real world tidbits an tricks to set it apart from the typical "just pass the test" books out there.

Que has done us all a service by continuing the EXAM CRAM line and maintaining and improving the quality of the product -- the inclusion of the new "PREP LOGIC" CD-ROM is a big plus!

Anyone who has ever been impressed by an Exam Cram book before will be doubly impressed by WINDOWS XP... Anyone who has prepared for MCSEs without one will find a welcome and critical addition to their preparation process.

Great style of writing makes it easy to move along through each chapter. Lots of summaries and tips for a concise overview of material. Should be a big help to anyone taking the exam.

Good book to help prepare you for the 70-270 exam. Nice intro section on self-assessment and test taking stategies. Good summary sections, however I would prefer shorter sections will more review questions. Get the book, read it, pass the exam.