Exam 70-680: Windows 7 Configuration with Lab Manual Set [Paperback]

These MOAC books are designed to give you the nuts and bolts and much more, and provide a step-by-step process on how to complete tasks and therefore are very worthwhile for newcomers. These books are not exam certification study guides designed to merely pass an exam and get certified but not possess real skills. These are excellent books in compilation with study guides which are directed mainly for exams.

I bought this set as it was the required text for a networking class I am taking at a community college. However the set up of the book and lab manual seems really good in that someone who is not enrolled in a class could read the text and do the labs at home in a simple and easy manner. I do not have the willpower to actually do that, but it seems like a great set for "teach yourself" learning and certification.

Buying Experience - The seller and shipping and delivery were great. I had no problems and my items arrived quickly and easily.

70-680 Text portion - (Read most of the chapters 1-6) The text is a little dry. You probably expect this, as it is a certification book, and a "text book" and a computer book, many of which lead to dry texts. However I found other "texts" to be less dry and easier reads. (Such as "Official Ubuntu Server Book" and the "Network+ Guide to Networks") The book includes many sections describing what a process looks like. For example there is a 7 page section on "Performing a Clean Install" which features 12 screenshots and perhaps a page of text. These walk-throughs are certainly helpful, but I feel that they would be more helpful in an appendix, a companion text, online or in the lab manual, when you are actually doing these steps. Because of these walkthroughs, for me, there is no continuity or flow to the chapters, which makes reading difficult.

70-680 Lab Manual portion - (Only gone through lab 5 so far.) So far I have used the lab manual more than the text. I have found it to be fairly thorough with only a couple errors/omissions so far. Before taking this class and buying this book I was already pretty familiar with windows 7 (as well as xp, and comfortable if not knowledgable in the command line.) So I have had no hiccups. There are a few times so far where we are navigating the command line, and my classmates have had trouble. There is not (that I have seen or looked for) a "command line primer" or anything like that. Also some of my classmates are not native Windows users, so things like navigating the explorer, network shares, creating folders and such are foreign to them. So it is not a "everything you need to know to do anything in windows" book. But it is pretty good. It could be more complete, but I understand that the pressure is on to release these texts in a hurry to get the info out there to start testing it.

Error - Lab 4.4 step 6 - syntax is wrong, but in response it spits out correct syntax usage, which is nearly identical to the command you just tried to run. (There is a "/d:" in the book that should just be "d:")

Omission - Lab 5.4, Virtual PC only issue - You need to alter the validation settings for your task sequence. When trying to deploy an image (Lab 5.6 step 4) to my virtualized windows 7 box, the CPU was listed at only 3 or 4 mhz, and this falied the validation check. What our class did was alter Validation settings in the "Validation" group and the "Pre-Install -> New Computer Only -> Validate" sections to set validation CPU mhz to "13". I can't tell you why, or that it is strictly necessary, but for sure our whole class had to alter that setting to get lab 5.6 to complete. (One of our guys googled the issue and found someone who used the value "13" from trial and error I believe)

I haven't completed this book yet as I'm using it in a Windows Client class. There have been various inconsistencies as well as other issues that an editor or a proofreader should have been able to catch. The Lab Manual is very poor, references directed to wrong tables for instance. Missing instructions or misplaced questions. Not getting paid to point out the specifics. They needed to get a guinea pig to use this thing before sending it out for print.
On a more positive note. There is of course good material in there as well, but it just seems that they rushed to get this out of the door. And for this I knocked off 2-stars.

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