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Rating: 
Summary: Core topics to average depth, needs better sample questions
Review: The book covers NT Server, Workstation, and Enterprise concepts. The included CD had Networking Essentials in PDF-format as an added bonus. The Workstation and Server sections contained much repeated material--even the same typos, in some cases. Sometimes the book dwelled on the details of particular actions: Selecting button x brings up window 1, which has y choices. Choice A does... I'd rather have a book present something on a more conceptual level. Sample test questions were marginal. The first few chapters included rationale with the correct answers--a big plus, but later chapters just had answers. Some appeared to come from Microsoft's certification roadmap, others were too easy to be from Microsoft. In some cases, two out of four answers could be ruled out immediately. I hope nobody testing for MCSE picks answers like: "Give the user the Administrator password and..." After reading the book, I don't feel comfortable taking the exams, so I'm looking for another book.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good book to learn the key concepts of NT4
Review: I used this book and also took instructor-led courses to prepare for the MCP exams. It helped me a lot in understanding the core concepts and the architecture of Windows NT4.0. Also the questions after each chapter were very similar to the real exams. However, there are two major weaknesees of this book. First, it covers very little on RAS Server which was heavily tested in the certification exams. You can learn RAS easily by just trying every installation options and by reading Windows NT Books Online anyway. The second weakness is that it contains too much duplicate information in itself.I agree with the other reviewer that this would be a very good book if you can get it for 20 bucks.
Rating:
Summary: Very good book to learn the key concepts of NT4
Review: On the road to becoming an MCSE this was the most expensive book I purchased - and the least useful. When I bought it, the MCSE training materials section of my local book store was pretty bare and this looked like the most comprehensive book. Luckily, there is now a much bigger selection now, so all you budding MCSE's can pick better books. So, why don't I like this book? Complaint #1) This book could be one third of the size (and price) and contain the same information. The first third of the book covers NT Workstation in detail, from the beginning of the installation to configuring everything. My complaint here is that it seems to be written for someone who has never even installed NT before. Well, if you haven't at least installed NT before, this book is not the ticket to passing the test - you WILL need some hands-on experience. Weeding out the non-MCSE level info would make this section half as long. Then the second third of the book is about NT Server, BUT - get this - everything covered in the NT Workstation section is repeated. There is only 30 pages of new information specifically about NT Server. Big waste! Finally, the last section (a little less than a third) has NT Server in the Enterprise info. Frankly, by the time I got to the NT Server in the Enterprise test, I had given up on this book. I did not use it as my study material. The parts that I have read had some good info along with some glaring factual errors. It looks like it covers about half of what you need to know for the Enterprise test. Here are my two other complaints (a little more briefly): Complaint #2) As mentioned above, there are factual errors throughout the book. I didn't highlight them in my book, so I can't give examples, but they are in there. Worst of all is the CD-ROM sample test - LOTS of the "correct" answers were wrong, and the ambiguousness of many of the questions made this sample test useless. Complaint #3) I have read lots of technical books, and no matter what the subject is, some are enjoyable to read and some put me to sleep. It is hard to quantify except that the sleep-inducing books tend to be more detailed, covering every option on every dialog box and lengthy, often unnecessary explanations of everything. This book is a definite sleeper! Enough said... My guess is that this book was just an attempt by NRP to get out the first, most comprehensive SEEMING, all-in-one MCSE study guide. Now there are several others, and one of the other ones MUST be better. But to make this criticism constructive, here is my suggestion to NRP - hack the first section down to half its size, keep only the 30 pages of new info in the second section and beef up the Enterprise part. Remove the long boring explanations, run it through a spell checker, have a couple of MCSEs read it and check out the facts, dump the useless CD and drop the price to $24.99. Jeremy
Rating: 
Summary: The BEST resource guide to prepair for my exam!
Review: This book along with the rest of New Riders MCSE Study Guides are the best resource available to prepare you for the Microsoft Exams. I have passed both the NT SERVER and NT WORKSTATION exams using this book. These books are very easy toread and provide an excellent question review section at the end of each chapter so you can test yourself to see if you understood the chapter or not. A MUST!
Rating:
Summary: Good preparation, easy to read.
Review: This book rambled and contained many factual errors. I would recommend this book to no one who was attempting to study for a Microsoft exam. Total waste of time and money. Buy the Sybex books instead.
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