Rating: 
Summary: Good enough for what it is.
Review: ... This book is just what I expected and wanted. A quick read to review what I know and expose what I don't. If you want depth, buy a different (much thicker and more expensive) book.
Rating:
Summary: Good enough for what it is.
Review: ... This book is just what I expected and wanted. A quick read to review what I know and expose what I don't. If you want depth, buy a different (much thicker and more expensive) book.
Rating: 
Summary: Maybe this is a little gem for the impatient ones
Review: I can't talk for newbies, but for the experienced professional in a hurry to brush up his/her technical skills, I have found this book to be a decent quick read. It's well written, is quite self-contained (contrary to other books, it does not rely on knowledge of something not actually covered in the exam) with no obvious loose thread and does not leave you in the dark about some of the subject matter.Not only it's not bad overall, but on top of this, it's cheaper than other 70-215 certification books. A quick read (time is money) and relatively inexpensive, this book has struck a good balance!
Rating: 
Summary: Mr. Meyers, I want my money back!
Review: I just completed this book. I have been a fan of concise and condensed study guides for quite a while. I always have experience with a product before I attempt an exam so I don't want to waste my time reading a 1000 page book over it. In the past I've used books from the Exam Cram series but I was looking for a change. Also, I've been annoyed by their over-abundance typos. I was happy to find the Passport series however, this was short lived. I didn't read the book specifically looking for errors but there were several that leapt out at me. I'm not writing this to point out every mistake, because I know that happens, just to let you know that I'm really disappointed with this book. In the discussion on RIS they mention it being used to install 2000 Professional as well as 2000 Server. I believe that to be incorrect. Based on all of the documentation I could find on microsoft.com as well as Mark Minasi's Mastering Windows 2000 Server, RIS can only be used for installing 2000 Professional. The book mentions MAKEBOOT.EXE in the book but I found nothing for MAKEBT32.EXE. Maybe I'm being a little picky but I think their relationship should be noted. Further on, they mention SPAP (Shiva Password Authentication Protocol) and refer to it as a plain text method of authentication. Again, not so. Although it is simple encryption, it is certainly not plain text. All in all I think I found around six mistakes along these lines. I am really, really disappointed. To the point I wish Amazon would provide a refund. I was trying to move away from Exam Cram books because of the typos but at least they were just that, I found this book to have blatantly wrong information. That's a shame. I really like the format of the book and I LOVED the humor (that is very welcome in technical reading). I really hope this book doesn't harm me too much come test day, that will really be a shame. I purchased the Passport book for exam 70-216 prior to completing this book. I really wish I would have waited. I am still undecided as to whether I'll use it or if it will stay dormant on my bookshelf as $... down the hole.
Rating:
Summary: Mr. Meyers, I want my money back!
Review: I just completed this book. I have been a fan of concise and condensed study guides for quite a while. I always have experience with a product before I attempt an exam so I don't want to waste my time reading a 1000 page book over it. In the past I've used books from the Exam Cram series but I was looking for a change. Also, I've been annoyed by their over-abundance typos. I was happy to find the Passport series however, this was short lived. I didn't read the book specifically looking for errors but there were several that leapt out at me. I'm not writing this to point out every mistake, because I know that happens, just to let you know that I'm really disappointed with this book. In the discussion on RIS they mention it being used to install 2000 Professional as well as 2000 Server. I believe that to be incorrect. Based on all of the documentation I could find on microsoft.com as well as Mark Minasi's Mastering Windows 2000 Server, RIS can only be used for installing 2000 Professional. The book mentions MAKEBOOT.EXE in the book but I found nothing for MAKEBT32.EXE. Maybe I'm being a little picky but I think their relationship should be noted. Further on, they mention SPAP (Shiva Password Authentication Protocol) and refer to it as a plain text method of authentication. Again, not so. Although it is simple encryption, it is certainly not plain text. All in all I think I found around six mistakes along these lines. I am really, really disappointed. To the point I wish Amazon would provide a refund. I was trying to move away from Exam Cram books because of the typos but at least they were just that, I found this book to have blatantly wrong information. That's a shame. I really like the format of the book and I LOVED the humor (that is very welcome in technical reading). I really hope this book doesn't harm me too much come test day, that will really be a shame. I purchased the Passport book for exam 70-216 prior to completing this book. I really wish I would have waited. I am still undecided as to whether I'll use it or if it will stay dormant on my bookshelf as $... down the hole.
Rating:
Summary: A good start
Review: I just finished the Mike Meyers MCSE suite and I have to say that I am impressed. Meyers style of writing make reading a very dull and dry subject somewhat bearable interspersed with moments of almost voicefull laughter. This is a must for anyone out there that needs to get an MCSE and dont mind some good ol' fashioned Microsoft bashing at the same time. The knowledge gained is pretty much the same as with any MCSE prep material but his test tips are golden.
Rating:
Summary: A good start
Review: I just finished the Mike Meyers MCSE suite and I have to say that I am impressed. Meyers style of writing make reading a very dull and dry subject somewhat bearable interspersed with moments of almost voicefull laughter. This is a must for anyone out there that needs to get an MCSE and dont mind some good ol' fashioned Microsoft bashing at the same time. The knowledge gained is pretty much the same as with any MCSE prep material but his test tips are golden.
Rating: 
Summary: Skip the CD
Review: I used a Mike Meyers book to pass Network+ and thought I couldn't go wrong. The book was a nice read especially compared to some of the other certification study books, but there was little time and a lot of beer wasted on the practice test on the accompanying CD. The questions were pretty straight forward and easy, no real challenge but beyond that there were some questions where the answer was obviously wrong not to mention the numerous typos that I could have made it through with. The test has a nice format. You can choose practice test or simulated exam without answers or explanation. I decided to try the practice test I was feeling real good, getting all the answers right. When I ran into something I wasn't sure about I looked at the explanation. At times the explanation was more confusing than the question itself and often gave no answer or would explain an answer that the test itself said was wrong. I quit halfway through the 60 question test figuring this was doing me more harm than good. Bottom line is that if you buy this book don't get it for the practice test.
Rating:
Summary: Skip the CD
Review: I used a Mike Meyers book to pass Network+ and thought I couldn't go wrong. The book was a nice read especially compared to some of the other certification study books, but there was little time and a lot of beer wasted on the practice test on the accompanying CD. The questions were pretty straight forward and easy, no real challenge but beyond that there were some questions where the answer was obviously wrong not to mention the numerous typos that I could have made it through with. The test has a nice format. You can choose practice test or simulated exam without answers or explanation. I decided to try the practice test I was feeling real good, getting all the answers right. When I ran into something I wasn't sure about I looked at the explanation. At times the explanation was more confusing than the question itself and often gave no answer or would explain an answer that the test itself said was wrong. I quit halfway through the 60 question test figuring this was doing me more harm than good. Bottom line is that if you buy this book don't get it for the practice test.
Rating:
Summary: This book is only for experts who want to pass the exam
Review: If you are a newbie or a medicore, do not buy this book. The book only summarizes topics which will be covering for the exam. For example, it explains Active Directory in ten pages. If you are an expert on Windows 2000, you don't really need this book. All you need to do is go to cramsession.com and download the pdf file for this exam. If you are not an expert, it will not be enough for your study and you end up to buy another book.
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