I ordered this product, and the product key for Windows XP did not work. Amazon.com proceeded to tell me that they needed to ship me an entirely new shipment, rather than send me a valid product key. I recieved the new package, send the defective one back, and tried to install XP Professional. Upon installing the second time, the product hung at the license agreement. Do not buy this book. The only reson I bought the book was for the trial XP software, but I would like to have been sent a working copy!

It goes in better depth with hands on labs to work with while you learn or fine tune for the test.

The book is very well written and provides almost full coverage of the exams objectives.
The practice tests on the cd are mostly actual exam questions.
I passed the exam with 968 using this book as a primary study source.

This book is worth the price simply for the practice test software. I didn't use the text too much, just when I wanted to look specific items up. I passed this 70-270 exam about an hour ago with a score of 763, and I know I couldn't have done it without this practice software. It contains about 400 questions with explanations. I used this as a companion to an instructor-led training, which really fell short of what you need to pass the exam. I'm a newbie to IT, just recently obtaining by A+ and Network+ as well. So, if I can do it, anyone can...

My advice for exam prep: Take as many practice tests as possible, read and understand the explanations, and practice on your own system=pass

I have just finished this book and am very, very angry. Compare the questions on the CD that come with the book to the material studied and you will find there is no way that it even comes close to preparing you for the test. It has necessary stuff in it... don't get me wrong, it's just far to little information. Most of the questions you have on the test have to do with working in a domain environment as a helpdesk administrtor. However, there is NOTHING concerning any of this in the book! This is an outrage and a downright LIE that this is enough to pass the test! What a bald faced LIE! You MIGHT be able to pass if you get on Technet and study the Windows XP Professional Resource kit... but I don't know, I'll guess I'll just have to be reading it for the next 3 months to find out! Get it right Microsoft, and stop LYING to people telling them that this book is enough to pass the test, it isn't!

This kit is ideal for anyone wanting answers to their certification questions. Great detail, the only thing that could improve is if they took the exam for you.

Typical of the Microsoft Press books, the XP book covers most of what you need to know to be successful passing the 70-270 certification exam. You can't just read it, but should plan on performing all the exercises and make sure you understand what you are doing. If you want to know everything you'll need, then utilize the references identified in the second section. Windows XP is by no means dead as the corporate demand for Vista just isn't there. Anyone working in IT support should know all about Windows XP. Good Luck

The book is in very good condition and I received it much faster than expected.

I used this book as my primary study source to successfully pass the Microsoft 70-270 exam. While the book is thorough in some areas, it lacks in others, such as IIS, which is needed for the exam.

If you don't have experience with Windows XP in a domain environment, I suggest an additional source to use with this one. Microsoft exams are tough. The questions are tricky and lengthy. I would recommend everyone join one of the excellent certification forums online as an additional resource.

With that said, the book contains few mistakes. And the Measure Up practice tests that come with the book are very helpful.

Well, this book is very interesting and in great detail. 100% good for those who want to pass the M70-270 exam

Again, Microsoft Press come through with a complete study guide to prepare you for your MCSA/MCSE certification exams. Good reference to prepare with!

Good book, what can be expected from Microsoft. Clear explanations and good practice labs and questions.

For the amount of reading this book has, and the structure of it this is an easy pass...

Would recommend it anytime...

Thoroughly detailed, very easy to follow. Nearly first 1000 pages are dedicated to study guide and rest is readiness review to check your knowledge. You can't go wrong with this thick MS press book. A must have for everyone pursuing MCP 70-270 exam.

this book was supposed to be the definitive exam guide.after reading it cover to cover i am a dissapointed.
1. there are a few factual(trivial but still...) errors.
2. the book progression is flawed, the first chapter(xp instalatn) for example refer constantly to concepts and procedures not yet learned and assume that you already now them. these concepts, terms and procedres are explained further on other chapters, but in my opinion it would have been better to start with basics and progress deeper.
3. at places the information is LESS then what is required in the exam.

over all though its a detailed book , but one that should have been better proof read and better planned

If you want to learn about installing, configuring and administering XP Professional on a network, I think this is a very good book to have. This book prepares you to take exam 70-270. It covers the material very thoroughly with twenty chapters devoted to theory and seven chapters devoted to practicing for the exam. Actually, the last seven chapters were very helpful in learning the subject. These chapters present questions covering all objectives of the exam with an explanation of both the correct and the incorrect answers. You need to be aware that the questions don't simply cover material presented in the first twenty chapters. Quite to the contrary, they present new information that adds to your knowledge base. The questions were of high caliber being verbose and somewhat difficult. This is what you want to prepare for the exam.



As a bonus the enclosed CD offers hundreds more questions using the MeaurseUp testing engine. I found the questions to be very good. They were difficult and required a bit of thought to answer. They also include good explanations for both the correct and incorrect answers - very helpful for learning. But, I must say that several of the questions were wrong - only a few, and there were way too many typographical errors. I really think that MeaurseUp (the company producing the question engine) needs to vet their products better.



Overall, I found the book and CD combo to be a great value.



As a side note, XP Professional will remain relevant for some time to come. It is true that at this time Vista has been out for five months now, but many businesses will not upgrade immediately and many will just clone XP to their new machines. So you still need to know XP perhaps while learning the new OS on the block.



You want to study other resources in preparation for this or any exam. I found that answering questions and noting the explanations for the answers is a very good way to master the subject. I researched many Web sites that offer practice exams for a price. It appears that the two I would recommend are also the two that Microsoft recommends, that is, MeasureUp which you get for free on the CD, and SelfTest.

If you want to learn about installing, configuring and administering XP Professional on a network, I think this is a very good book to have. This book prepares you to take exam 70-270. It covers the material very thoroughly with twenty chapters devoted to theory and seven chapters devoted to practicing for the exam. Actually, the last seven chapters were very helpful in learning the subject. These chapters present questions covering all objectives of the exam with an explanation of both the correct and the incorrect answers. You need to be aware that the questions don't simply cover material presented in the first twenty chapters. Quite to the contrary, they present new information that adds to your knowledge base. The questions were of high caliber being verbose and somewhat difficult. This is what you want to prepare for the exam.

As a bonus the enclosed CD offers hundreds more questions using the MeaurseUp testing engine. I found the questions to be very good. They were difficult and required a bit of thought to answer. They also include good explanations for both the correct and incorrect answers - very helpful for learning. But, I must say that several of the questions were wrong - only a few, and there were way too many typographical errors. I really think that MeaurseUp (the company producing the question engine) needs to vet their products better.

Overall, I found the book and CD combo to be a great value.

As a side note, XP Professional will remain relevant for some time to come. It is true that at this time Vista has been out for five months now, but many businesses will not upgrade immediately and many will just clone XP to their new machines. So you still need to know XP perhaps while learning the new OS on the block.

You want to study other resources in preparation for this or any exam. I found that answering questions and noting the explanations for the answers is a very good way to master the subject. I researched many Web sites that offer practice exams for a price. It appears that the two I would recommend are also the two that Microsoft recommends, that is, MeasureUp which you get for free on the CD, and SelfTest.

This text comes with a short term copy of Windows XP to help you configure the software.

I did pass my exam but needed more than just this book that it's why I'm giving this book 3 stars, but still a great buy.

Good book to just "pass" the exam. If you're really into learning the right way of doing things this book blows. This book is filled with information that is not correct and really will make you more confused when you try it out. Remeber that "best practices" help you pass the exam, but they do not teach you anything for the real world. I would go with the Sybex 270 personally. Much better.

First off, do not listen to the reviews that post bad about this book. YES, you will fail the test if you just go off this book and have 0 experience with Microsoft Windows XP (as an admin) and other M$ technologies.

This book is supposed to be a supplement to an Admin's knowledge to pass the test, not your average Joe that does something else for a living and fixes PC's in their spare time.

However, that being said, if you want to pass this test and have little experience, do all the hands-on labs in this book and get exam-cram. This will help you (hopefully) pass the test.

This book is well written, however very DRY....good book to sleep to...but it's supposed to be this way, I want information, not a happy novel.

All exam topics are covered in here (except for a Bluetooth question I had) but I am not sure if that was a scored question or just a question M$ throws in. Anyway, good enough to pass the test if you are a desktop admin or Network admin! Good Luck!

I bought this book in early February. It was my sole study guide for the 70-270 exam which I passed very comfortable on April 2nd.

The book comes in at almost 1100 pages. Just over 900 are devoted to the various topics that make up the 70-270 exam with the remaining 200+ acting as a quick reference exam preparatory guide. Like many Microsoft press books this study guide is way too bloated. The book could quite comfortable have been condensed by half while still encompassing all the
relevant exam topics. Therefore should any Microsoft folks be reading, size does matter particularly when dealing with exam preparatory guides. Nevertheless I found the quality of the material to be very good although there were areas ( detailed below ) that were lacking and could have done with a little more explanation or at the least a link pointing the reader in the right direction.

So let's begin with the good.

The core topics of Windows XP Installation / upgrading, hardware devices and drivers ( basically everything that can and will go wrong ), the desktop environment,user accounts, hardware profiles, NTFS permissions / shared folders, printers, performance optimization and security configuration were I felt very well explained. Those new to the world of IT will appreciate the dept the authors have went too in their coverage. The IT professionals will find the explanations very drawn out; there is nothing new or exciting revealed that you possibly have not already come across in your everyday use of XP Professional. Suffice to say these chapters will be a good point of reference.

and now the bad

Topics such as EFS ( encrypted file system ), offline files, Internet Explorer settings and how could I possibly forget Supporting TCP/IP were; well lets just say no cookies for the authors from me. These are all sections ( or lessons to quote Microsoft press jargon ) of larger chapters but none the less questions do appear on the exam. Those new to IT will find the EFS material truly cryptic ! ( no pun intended ), TCP/IP subnetting will make no sense and the configuration of Internet Explorer consists of 11 pages of screenshots and alas these pictures do not tell a thousand words folks. Supplemental material will need to be gleamed from the Internet. No way around it.

and finally the downright ugly
has to be the 200+ pages devoted to exam preparation. Nasty nasty stuff.

To summarize if you are hoping to do the 70-270 exam I would recommend this book. It is not perfect but it is very very good and in my opinion money well spent. The IT professionals will use it merely as a reference book for the exam and never again. Those new to IT will obtain a good grounding in XP but will need supplemental material to ace the exam and shine like a star among their peers. Best of luck.

I bought this book in early February. It was my sole study guide for the 70-270 exam which I passed very comfortable on April 2nd.

The book comes in at almost 1100 pages. Just over 900 are devoted to the various topics that make up the 70-270 exam with the remaining 200+ acting as a quick reference exam preparatory guide. Like many Microsoft press books this study guide is way too bloated. The book could quite comfortable have been condensed by half while still encompassing all the
relevant exam topics. Therefore should any Microsoft folks be reading, size does matter particularly when dealing with exam preparatory guides. Nevertheless I found the quality of the material to be very good although there were areas ( detailed below ) that were lacking and could have done with a little more explanation or at the least a link pointing the reader in the right direction.

So let's begin with the good.

The core topics of Windows XP Installation / upgrading, hardware devices and drivers ( basically everything that can and will go wrong ), the desktop environment,user accounts, hardware profiles, NTFS permissions / shared folders, printers, performance optimization and security configuration were I felt very well explained. Those new to the world of IT will appreciate the dept the authors have went too in their coverage. The IT professionals will find the explanations very drawn out; there is nothing new or exciting revealed that you possibly have not already come across in your everyday use of XP Professional. Suffice to say these chapters will be a good point of reference.

and now the bad

Topics such as EFS ( encrypted file system ), offline files, Internet Explorer settings and how could I possibly forget Supporting TCP/IP were; well lets just say no cookies for the authors from me. These are all sections ( or lessons to quote Microsoft press jargon ) of larger chapters but none the less questions do appear on the exam. Those new to IT will find the EFS material truly cryptic ! ( no pun intended ), TCP/IP subnetting will make no sense and the configuration of Internet Explorer consists of 11 pages of screenshots and alas these pictures do not tell a thousand words folks. Supplemental material will need to be gleamed from the Internet. No way around it.

and finally the downright ugly
has to be the 200+ pages devoted to exam preparation. Nasty nasty stuff.

To summarize if you are hoping to do the 70-270 exam I would recommend this book. It is not perfect but it is very very good and in my opinion money well spent. The IT professionals will use it merely as a reference book for the exam and never again. Those new to IT will obtain a good grounding in XP but will need supplemental material to ace the exam and shine like a star among their peers. Best of luck.

I took the XP course at a community college and bought the official MS curriculum. Suddenly, I felt totally ripped off having purchased this self-paced traing course for the 70-270 exam. It's really a lousy book.

This is a very attractive book. It is thick, shiny, and appears to be quite sturdy. Many people have come to my home and glance over at the large, blue book and I can sense the envy; not just for that pretty book, but to have the knowledge that they presume I have as they prematurely conclude I have actually read it.

Sure, I'm gonna read it. I just need time. Just need to conquer this anxiety. Any day now. Soon.

This book is the Microsoft answer to everything you need to know for their 70-270 exam, but it doesn't quite hit that mark. It covers a lot of material on XP Professional but lacks some information you will need to know. You can pass the test just using this "training kit" but you would miss some questions that are not covered adequately.

The book is organized well and has good examples, questions, and self-test on CD. The CD has a lot of other material that comes in handy. The trouble is that the book is so verbose it is like trying to eat an elephant! The reading is boring, typical Microsoft tech talk/technical manual stuff. If written better, the book could be half its size. I ended up using it for a reference book and relying on two other books (Sybex and Mike Meyer Passport) from which to learn. It is now sitting on my shelf and comes in handy for a reference book.

Fortunately, I passed the 70-270 the first try with a healthy margin. I could have done it without the Microsoft XP Professional Training Kit by just using the other books. I recommend it if you need a good reference in your office but this is not the best book to use as your sole source for the 70-270 exam.

I am rating this book base off the relevance of the exam. This book is not tailored for the exam. It is more tailored for people who really don't have understanding of XP at all. Trust me, I took the test base solely on content of this book, and I was lost when I was taking the test. A-lot, again A-lot of information was not covered. If you don't believe me, read this book, then try picking up an up to date 270 Exam Cram book, and you will instantly see miss information that was not covered in this book.

You have been warn.

This book comes with a free practice test, ebook, and WINXP SP2 trial.

After reading other reviews I noticed this book comes with a 400+ question practice exam by measure-up. The practice questions make this book a great value. If purchased separately the measure-up practice questions alone cost $99. The amazing part about that is that you pay $0 for it since it is free with this book and is useful for determining your readiness for the test.

The second great feature is the included ebook. The disk includes the whole book from cover to cover in PDF format. This is very useful if you are up late studying and spill coffee on it.

Another great feature is the trial copy of WINXP SP2 so you can do the practice labs yourself (assuming you have a spare PC).

To top if off Amazon sold me this book for $20 cheaper than my local bookstore.

I recently passed the the 70-270 exam. I read the Exam Cram 2 book and when I needed a little more information I figured that I would find it in the Microsoft Windows XP Pro Self-Paced Training Kit. However, the Self-Paced Training Kit was not very helpful. When I needed more information on RAS and the protocols associated with RAS, I went looking in this book and found very little helpful information. All the information is basic and lacked details. Windows XP Pro has numerous features that most people don't use on a daily basis, and this exam covers those numerous features. Extensible Authentication Protocol and Windows Management Instrumentation aren't even listed in the index, and you had better know what those are if you are taking the test. The book fails to give enough information on VPNs, RAS, WMI, IIS, adding computers to a domain and Security Templates. It probably is lacking in more areas but I eventually lost faith in the book. It does have a lot of information on the basics of XP, but the exam covers situations and components that as a desktop technician you don't use very often if ever.

Also, the book doesn't have questions that are in the style of the exam which is very important when preparing for the exam.

Helpful advice for passing the exam: The Exam Cram 2 book was very helpful. The Exam Cram 2 Practice Questions book was not as helpful. Get Transcenders practice questions if you can and check web sites that have practice questions. Use the Microsoft Knowledge Base and TechNet documents to help find the details that you need.

The best things going for this book are the evaluation copy of XP and the exam voucher.

Good luck with your studies.

The layout of the book is excellent. It is layed out in order of the domains covered by the 70-270 examination. The pithy questions at the end of each instructional session, checking for your understanding of that session, is valuable; because, they require you to express the answers in your own words, promoting a good understanding. The question bank and practice examinations included on the CD-ROM, are very similar to MS's 70-270 Examination; you feel right at home when taking the real thing. The actual examination questions are quite verbose. These practice questions are too! Very informative book. It is a great reference book as well as study guide. Highly recommended!

While the content that is covered in the book is covered in very good detail there are gaps between what is tested on (based on the Measure Up practice tests on the compainion CD) and what is covered in the book. This book does not adequately cover IIS (no mentions of virtual directories for example), does not cover CHAP, MS-CHAP, EAP security. Very important details on how to use Sysprep need to be added (How to add additional drivers to sysprep images, building a single image for use on varied hardware).

I have had to purchase addition books, and have spent considerably more time that I believe should have been needed because of this. These omissions should be corrected, I expect better of MS Press.

All that said this book is an excellent resource for the material that is covered. I would reccomend that anyone who is preparing for this exam use this book. Do *NOT* expect to be fully prepared to take the test when you have finished reading it.

This book is excellent. While I am pretty well versed in XP, this book is filling in the blanks nicely. The accompanying CD has a PDF of the book and some excellent multimedia presentation files on various subjects.

This book is a must for a guaranteed pass the first time on the exam.

This book really does cover the most important topics in substantial detail. It's well worth the money in terms of enabling one to prepare for the exam. Just the same, it can put me to sleep like almost no other book - not because the technology is not interesting - but because it reads too much like a technical document with paragraph upon paragraph of hyper-specific, redundant detail such as: review the following questions, if you have difficulty answering them, go back and review this material until you feel comfortable with it, blah blah blah, zzz. This kind of content gets repeated in every section verbatim. Yuck! Just cut out the fat, and we would have at least a good three hundred pages less of fluff. Otherwise, well worth the money.

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

This book was my primary reference to pass this exam.

I have used XP Pro since 2002 and am fairly familiar with it. I picked up this book based on a number of reviews I read here. I agree with one reviewer who mentioned IIS was barely mentioned, he is correct on that score. WebDAV was never mentioned either.

The MeasureUP test prep software was pretty good. I found a good percentage of the questions from the software on the exam.

Good luck on the exam!

Moose

I went through the Microsoft class 2272 and read this book before taking the XP exam . The book does a great job covering topics which are not adequately discussed in the class (RIS, RIPrep, Sysprep, Overview of Active Directory and server side issues which MUST be considered when troubleshooting XP issues among others). I passed with a nice margin and the book continues to be a great reference tool. The CD included with the book is great as well, it contained two additional MS Press books (Ency. of Networking, and Ency. of Security, plus a Measure Up test). The Measure Up test is worth the price alone since it presents questions in a format which is VERY close to the actual MS test. Some typos throughout but overall very good.

This book had everything I needed to make the cert! A few years of using the OS along with this book was all the prep I had to successfully make the grade!

Start here and read this book first if you are planning on taking the 70-270 exam. The book is very simple to read. I give it 4 stars because it lacks in some areas, but overall it's a great starter book. The Measureup cd provided with the book is WELL worth the purchase of this book if buying it for nothing other than a practice test. If you would like further reading material after this book, i suggest the MCSE Fast Pass as recommended by the reviewer "Jedi". Those 2 books, the Measureup cd and study time are all you need to pass the 70-270 exam. Good luck!

I did the tests backwards, did 70-271/70-272 first because I wanted the MCDST cert, now I'm working on MCSE and this is one of the electives. DO study more than this book, if you have friends in your networked community ask to learn from them; use MeasureUp and anything else Microsoft officially sanctions. Personally I learned a lot of back end things in this book, I've worked in this field for about 6 yrs now and this helped explain some of the "why's" as to how things work. Work the practice exams, even use Sybex if you can. Overall not bad, if you have experience in the field it'll be ok fo ryou.

this book is very dry. the book merely guides you to do alot of steps. it does not explain the specifications.

don't believe me? read the book and try to take the measure up exam and see how you do. i learned more from the exam questions than the dry book

The 70-270 XP exam requires in depth preparation to pass this exam. It is a 58 question exam, with only 50 being scored.

Having recently took this exam and using this book, you can safely assume I am qualified in reviewing this book.

Firstly, for a book this size, you would want it to contain all areas of the exam. Sadly, it doesn't, and the student is left graping for external sources simply because the book doesn't even touch on them. IIS and vPN material is so scarce, I had to go through the book a few times to see if really was in the book. It wasn't. There may have been a time when this book was all you need, but the exam has been updated so much and changed that is more difficult than its initial release.

Secondly, the book reads like a technical manual at times, as though the help files from XP have been trimmed out and put into the book. Hence, the writing still is not very effective for those who need real life scenarios (which are exactly in the exam) instead of dry step by step instructions.

Where the book does have strong points is that it's errata page has only a few minor errors, so what it says, it says right.
Also, the included practice exams are a VERY BIG help if you are studying for this exam. Created by Measure Up, if you were to buy a Measure Up product directly from them, it would be very expensive. You should then consider buying this book simply because the included exams and questions will help you ALOT more than the book itself to pass the exam.

I recommend the XP Professional FAST PASS in addition to this book for it cover areas where this book falls short, and also the Fast Pass book explains things much easier on the mind than this book, and has great tables and charts for tricky areas.

Finally, I recommend you get hold of another practice exam provider. It is always a good idea to use a different provider than the one your book came with. Why? Because the objective questions will not be worded specifically to the content of the book (meaning that another provider will test you on exam objectives, not on whether you remember what's in the book or not) and also the wording of the questions will be different, so you will extra prepared should anything hit you that aren't familiar with.

I used:
This book
Measure Up practice exams (that came with this book)
XP Pro Fast Pass (Sybex)
Self Test Software practice exams

and passed with much room for error.

My final advice to all of you wanting to take this test is this: Please do not rely on a single source for the Microsoft exams. They are nothing like CompTIA exams or other exams on which you can do this.

Cheers,

O.K
ALOT OF SAME MATERAIL REPEATED OVER AND OVER
GOOD FOR A BEGINNER

Though not a professional I already know quite a bit about the operating system. This book is very informative and easy to read. The writers have provided tips and hints along the way that really make learning the subject a breeze.

In my opinion, there are very few books that are an all in one for Micro$oft exams. I read and understood this book, then I got a Sybex book and skimmed it while doing it's practice exams. This led to an 810 passing score.

At any rate, this book is a great tool for the 70-270.

Hello
think you for sending me this book,I received you ,it is ok,
I wish to gain this exam.
think you

Though alot of information to digest, this will give you a good foundation for your Microsoft certification.

This is definitely a better book compared to the Microsoft Unitek Book 2272c book which I received while attending a class there. I leart a lot from the book, the authors provide detailed explanations and gave practical troubleshooting guidelines. The only thing is that the ebook was in pdf format which do not allow you to print. I spent most of my commute time in the bay area studying for the exam, so it would be nice to print some chapters for reading instead of carrying the book or a laptop.

Buy the book. I don't care if you just want to learn more in depth nitty gritty information about Windows XP - this book is the #1 most informative, well rounded way to get a very solid understanding of Windows XP. It started at the very basics - installing Windows. It moved through maintenance, domain interaction, group and local policy, and ran the whole gammot of information. This book is a must have for MCP 'wanna-be's' or end users wanting to understand Windows XP Pro better!

I bought this book a week before the start of my new job. Although I use Win XP at home, I have never had to support it in since my experience has been supporting Win 2000, Win NT etc. I am into the third chapter and so far it's been good. My first day at the job a user had a login problem where she would get a Security Log error. I looked up the error in the book and found appropriate information. The book showed me step by step on how to correct the problem on the client's PC. I am giving the book 4 stars because of this. However, when it comes time for me to take a certification test and I do pass it, I'll reconsider and give the book a 5 star rating. Continued success to everyone.

Although I haven't made it all the way through this book yet, I would like to say that it's taught me a lot. I've been using Computers and MS Windows since the days of DOS. Just goes to show even though you use an operating system daily there are still many things you can learn about it. I believe that when I finish the book and start the practice exams included I will be ready for the 70-270 exam. With the excellent content, e-books, Windows XP Pro Service Pack 2 120-Day Eval, 15% off Exam voucher, and practice tests this book is a GREAT buy! I would definitely recommend it.