I won't mention every shortcoming of this book, because some other reviewers already covered them. (I agree 100% with what everyone said about the poor question selection/writing.), and I had no desire to finish this poor book and so only went as far as the chapters we used in class.

I consider myself a "power user", and I DO expect that with most computer texts, at least half the material will NOT be new. However, this book is just ultra dumbed-down. The vast majority of "exercises" are really just ad-naseum, click-by-click steps to using this GUI applet or that.

Also, most of the lessons just relate to the most basic stuff, like viewing your CPU usage and so forth -- just basic user stuff!

In fact, the only useful thing I recall gleaning from this book at all is how to create a custom management console...something that has since become a basic tool in getting Windows' configuration and security under MY control, not Microsoft's.

I would recommend photocopying any few useful how-tos out of this text and then tossing the book after the class is done (literally, or figuratively "tossing" it back on Amazon).

I got this book from my training center.
As the previous reviewer mentions, it seems that it is a draft instead of "An Enhanced Second Edition." You are going to find a LOT OF MISTAKES. It seems that the editorial forgot to assigned the right people to revise this book. If the authors (and editors) would dedicated a little more time and effort on it, this book could be an excellent one; and I said EXCELLENT. I like the activities included through the chapters and in the Lab Manual. I am in chapter 5, and I have found a lot of incongruencies (errors). You may get lost in some of the labs because the authors jump steps without telling you.
I haven't taken the exam, so I can't tell you if the objectives in this book are the ones set for the 70-270 exam, but if the book shows so much errors, it seems that it could be the case. So, I decided to get Sybex's MCSA/MCSE Windows Professional. I have read four chapters from Sybex's book and I can said this one is a very good book, but this is just for the exam preparation not for learning Windows XP Pro.

I would recommend you to get another book. Thompson Course Technology has good books, but this one is not the case.

Its not Amazon's fault that this book isn't really good. The information contained inside it is out of date, written during the time of XP's release.

The major drawback is this book does not contain the LabMentor Online Lab disk, which prevents me from completing most of the course work for me class.

This book is awful,asks questions in chapter reviews that are either not in the book or in another chapter. I wasted untold hours of my life in this book.I have strongly recomended that the school I attend stop using this worthless piece of trash.

Badly organized and practice questions are compatible with the material. One minute, the author is talking about one subject, then the next, the author changes the subject. Then later in the book the author will bring up a separate section aimed and explaining more of the first topic that was being discussed earlier in the book.

The questions on the end of the chapter are mostly based on interpretation of material rather than understanding. When you search the book for answers, you wont find the exact answer within the reading, you'll find material about the answer, then its up to you on how well you'll interpret it to come up with the right answer. The author also seems to contradict himself/herself, or purposely confuse you. When discussing SYSPREP, one minute the author says that its a system imaging program, and the next the author says that SYSPREP not and that SYSPREP requires third-party imaging programs.

It seems as if the author also wants you to do extra in-depth research on material, because some of the answers to the questions you don't get unless you experiment with it.

MS Windows' worst critics consider the OS to be a series series of poorly executed upgrades and patches to the original release. Whether or not it is the case with the software, it is particularly true of this book. Obviously starting life as an MSCSE manual for an earlier OS, the Guide reads like it has been undergoing a series of fragmentary, ad hoc rewrites in an effort to keep it relevant at the lowest possible cost to the publisher. There are many sections where the book gives in-depth coverage to outdated technologies and glosses over (or ignores) essential current topics. The writing is uninspired to say the least; it reads like an old IBM COBOL manual from the 70's. The writer is constantly falling into a maddeningly passive voice and ignoring many other rules of technical writing style. In spite of the copious errata files available for download from the publisher, there are still a disconcerting number of typos, errors and omissions. The book is clearly aimed at an audience intent on memorizing facts needed to pass an exam rather than helping the reader understand the OS. If you're a student and see this book on a syllabus, try to find another class. For the price, the Microsoft Press book is a far better value.

MS Windows' worst critics consider the OS to be a series series of poorly executed upgrades and patches to the original release. Whether or not it is the case with the software, it is particularly true of this book. Obviously starting life as an MSCSE manual for an earlier OS, the Guide reads like it has been undergoing a series of fragmentary, ad hoc rewrites in an effort to keep it relevant at the lowest possible cost to the publisher. There are many sections where the book gives in-depth coverage to outdated technologies and glosses over (or ignores) essential current topics. The writing is uninspired to say the least; it reads like an old IBM COBOL manual from the 70's. The writer is constantly falling into a maddeningly passive voice and ignoring many other rules of technical writing style. In spite of the copious errata files available for download from the publisher, there are still a disconcerting number of typos, errors and omissions. The book is clearly aimed at an audience intent on memorizing facts needed to pass an exam rather than helping the reader understand the OS. If you're a student and see this book on a syllabus, try to find another class. For the price, the Microsoft Press book is a far better value.

I also bought this book for a tech class. I got a lot of information about XP Pro from it. I found it easy to read despite it being a tech book. I especially liked the activities in each chapter. There must have been about 7 activities in each chapter, some had more and others maybe 6 activies. It gave me a chance to try out what I was learning. I found the review questions, the vocabulary lists, and the summaries at the end of each chapter useful in helping me retain the information I learned. I give it a 4 star because I had to tape the book binding and a few pages that became loose.

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

I bought this book for class at my technical college. Although mine was a second edition it read like an unrevised draft, edited only for grammatical errors. The inside cover even lists objectives for the Server 2003 exam, not the XP pro. exam. I took the 70-270 exam yesterday and earned a 610. About 30% of the questions pertained to information that this book either never mentions or does not cover adequately. Questions asked at the end of the chapters are frequently worded poorly or can't be answered using the book. Don't waste any more time looking at this book or this review, go back and choose something that has positive reviews. I went to the bookstore and browsed their XP pro. books after the exam. The difference was night and day!