The creator of A+ Certification is a non-profit organization called CompTIA. It basically turns one, competent enough to work as a computer technician. CompTIA A+ certification is independent of operating system. One must have the relevant knowledge in various areas of Microsoft Windows and IBM style of personal computer. This course enables one to take apart a computer, identify its parts, assemble the computer effectively and practice it on different operating systems. This certification consists of two exams to be passed: A+ essential (220-701) and one elective (220-702).
The A+ essentials exam consists of 8 domains each having different weight age. One for the elective exam student has an option to choose any one out of three. The 3 elective exams are IT technician (220-602), Remote support Technician (220-603) or Depot Technician(220-604).A+ essential exam tests whether one is having necessary competencies of an IT level professional with minimum 500 hours working experience in lab or in field or 6 months or less experience in computer science and tests one for fundamentals of computer technology, networking and security and communication skills as well as professionalism which is a must for all entry level IT professionals.
Elective exam is an extension of knowledge and skills tested in CompTIA A+ essentials with focus on hands-on experience about trouble shooting and tools that are used to resolve problems. Till 2003 the pass rate of A+ certification was mere 2-3% but after it was updated in the year 2006 the CompTIA A+ exam has been redesigned to have 30% pass rate. Those who have been certified under by CompTIA A+ certification need to update their skills. So either they go for CompTIA A+ 2009 edition or update their currency by taking the CompTIA A+ Bridge exam (one exam). The best way to prepare for this certification is getting hands-on experience of assembling and dissembling of computer hardware and understanding and identifying hardware inside a computer. Also one thing you should keep in mind is that CompTIA A+ certification is ISO 17024 accredited and must be reviewed and updated every 3 years to maintain its accreditation.
CompTIA A+ certification validates the latest skills needed by today's computer support professionals. It is an international, vendor-neutral certification recognized by major hardware and software vendors, distributors
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Apple iOS 4
Apple’s fourth generation mobile operating system, renamed just before launch from iPhone OS 4 to iOS 4, is the standard by which all other mobile systems must be judged. And it’s a high bar: The iOS has matured from an amazing but deeply flawed platform to one that is both easy to use and achingly powerful. It’s so good, in fact, that’s it’s taken the rest of the mobile device industry years to catch up. (Only Google’s Android seems to have surpassed iOS in any meaningful way so far.)
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With iOS 4, Apple of course hopes to extend its lead and raise the bar yet again. Not to pull a Walt Mossberg here, but I’ve been using near-final versions of iOS for several weeks now on various Apple devices, including an iPhone 3GS (before it was stolen), an iPhone 3G, and a 3rd generation iPod touch. And while I’m still looking forward to getting an iPhone 4 as soon as possible, and to the eventual iOS 4 version for the iPad, it’s already clear that Apple has a hit on its hands.
That said, if iOS falls short in any one area, it’s the in-out-in-out usage model that’s dictated by the system’s heavy emphasis on discrete apps. Apple has somewhat mitigated the navigational issues caused by this limited system by adding multitasking support as described below. But this is one area–perhaps the only area–where Microsoft’s upcoming Windows Phone 7 system has the edge. For now, however, smart phone and device users are comfortable with the app-based usage model, and iOS 4 likely represents the high water market for such systems. Certainly, years of experience have given Apple an advantage with honing and fine-tuning how the user interface looks and works.
Multitasking
Apple was justifiably lambasted for introducing an otherwise innovative smart phone OS without multitasking in 2007 and then upgrading it over three years but not adding this obviously necessary feature. Now, finally, they’ve done so, and I have to say, it was worth the wait, with one major caveat. It doesn’t work with almost any of the 225,000 apps that are currently available for the iPhone and iPod touch. And yes, they will all need to be updated before they are compatible with iOS 4 multitasking. Every single one of them. (Built-in iOS 4 apps multitask just fine, of course.)
This is hugely important, and I’m a bit surprised Apple wasn’t more upfront about this major limitation. If you’re playing a game and switch to another app, and then back to the game, it starts over, losing your place. If you’re playing music via Pandora and try to switch apps, Pandora stops playing music. And so on. My guess is that app makers are going to race to add explicit support for multitasking and other iOS features quickly. But that means we’re all going to face massive, time-consuming app upgrades as well. (And if you use an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad today, you know exactly what I mean.) It’s going to be a busy couple of months, at least.
Complaints aside, as Apple has explained again and again, multitasking on a mobile device is easy if you’re not concerned about performance and battery life. But getting it right–supplying a good app switching experience while conserving both performance and battery life–is the Holy Grail. Both Windows Mobile and Android offer multitasking, for example, but both also suffer from some unfriendly issues around memory overuse as apps pile up in the background. (In both cases, the system is supposed to seamlessly shut down the oldest running app, but this doesn’t always work.)
Apple’s approach to multitasking is similar to what Microsoft plans to offer in Windows Phone 7, but is more complete in that it offers an actual app switching UI, one that will make plenty of sense to current iPhone and iPod touch users. Here’s how it works. When you’re using an app, just hit the Home button to return to the home screen. Then launch another app. Instead of quitting, the first app goes into suspended animation and waits to be relaunched. To access the app switching UI, double-tap the Home button. This brings up the new multitasking interface, where an icon for each running app sits in the bottom of the screen. This list can extend over several screens, so you can scroll left and right. And whatever was running–an app, the home screen–visually slides up above this list. To exit the multitasking interface, just tap anywhere in the app UI, or tap the Home button.
Apple iOS 4
When you double-click on the Home button, a list of running apps appears on the bottom of the device. (Well, on the right in this shot, since it’s in landscape mode for game play.)
If you choose another app in the list, it will pick up where it left off (assuming it’s compatible with multitasking; otherwise, it restarts). This UI works amazingly well, and the suddenly canonical example of when you’d use it the most often–you click on a web link in Mail, browse it in Safari, and then wish to return to Mail–illustrates this most obviously. Pre-multitasking, this series of steps could be dogged by many additional taps and swipes, depending on which screen your Mail and Safari icons were found. In iOS 4, it’s a simple process: Read an email. Click a link. Read that page in Safari. Then, double-tap Home. In the apps list at the bottom, tap Mail. You’re back.
Multitasking offers other unique capabilities. For audio apps–iPod now, but Pandora and others at launch and beyond–playback can now continue in the background. The iPod app offered this in all previous iOS releases, of course. But there’s a new pop-up player control, since the old shortcut–double-tapping the Home button–is usurped by multitasking. So this control is located to the leftmost part of the multitasking interface. As you slide all the way over, you’ll see these controls, along with two new icons. The first, on the left, is an orientation lock, a software version of the screen rotation lock on the iPad, and can be locked (or unlocked) when the iPhone/iPod is in either orientation. The second is an iPod icon, so you can jump right into the built-in media player.
Amazon Kindle 3
Amazon’s Kindle has always been the best eBook reader on the market, and with the latest version, the Kindle 3, the gap has widened to ludicrous proportions. There are two factors to this success. First, the Kindle simply offers the best eBook experience anywhere, with none of the horrific onscreen reflection, bulky heft, or lack of available titles that dogs Apple’s lackluster iPad. And second, thanks to heightened competition in the eBook market, the Kindle is now reasonably priced, erasing my only serious complaint about previous versions. No software or consumer electronics product is perfect of course. But the Kindle 3 comes awfully close.
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[ Read my review of the Kindle 2. ]
I ordered my first Kindle the day the original model was announced, and I jumped on board with the Kindle 2 immediately as well. But I’ve never been so overwhelmingly positive about the superiority of this product as I am with this latest version. The Kindle 3 is the culmination of years of software improvements, some steady if minor updates to the e-ink screen, some impressive (and Apple-esque) hardware design improvements, and an ever-growing library of content that is available not just on Amazon’s devices, but also on PCs, Macs, iPhones, iPod touches, iPads, and even Android smart phones.
Amazon Kindle 3
Three generations of Kindle eBook readers.
The improvements in the Kindle 3 are truly impressive. The device now ships in two models, a correctly priced (at $140) Wi-Fi version that comes in a gorgeous new graphite enclosure, and a higher-end $190 version, in graphite or white, that adds free 3G wireless connectivity with (non-free) global wireless coverage. I purchased one of each: A Wi-Fi model for my wife and a 3G version for myself. (There’s also a much larger Kindle DX, aimed at the education market, that sells for $380.)
Compared to the previous generation Kindle, the Kindle 3 is smaller, lighter, and more attractive, but it retains the exact same screen size. That screen, however, is much improved, with dramatically better readability thanks to 50 percent better contrast. The flash/pause effect that occurs when the screen redraws is less annoying too. This screen leaves competing eBook readers, and Apple’s reflection-happy iPad, in the dust. There is no comparison, especially in direct sunlight, where the iPad is reduced to a $650 mirror. (For those concerned about the Kindle’s lack of backlighting, Amazon sells a cover with an integrated reading light.)
Also, Amazon last year improved the presentation of periodicals, and with the Kindle 3 you also get nice new crisp fonts, making my daily reading of the New York Times all the more enjoyable.
Amazon Kindle 3
The Kindle 3′s contrast superiority is obvious.
The form factor changes are equally impressive. The new Kindle is so small and elegant looking, you can’t believe there isn’t an Apple logo on it. It makes even the previous generation Kindle, which was a huge improvement in its own right a year ago, look stodgy by comparison.
According to Amazon, the Kindle 3 is over 20 percent smaller than its predecessor. And its 17 percent lighter, at just 8.5 ounces. Put another way, the Kindle 3 weighs exactly one-third as much as an iPad. It is thus far easier to hold, and can actually be held and used with one hand. You’d ruin your wrist and your sanity trying that with Apple’s device.
Another area in which the Kindle makes the iPad look silly is battery life. Apple claims 9 to 10 hours of battery life for the iPad, whereas Amazon says the Kindle battery life is up to one month long, assuming wireless is off, or three weeks with the wireless on. I’ve only had the new version for several days, but I’ve yet to charge it, and the previous version routinely went longer than a week with the wireless on. Again, no contest.
Amazon Kindle 3
Another Kindle 3/Kindle 2 size comparison.
There are other improvements, both to the hardware and software. The storage allotment goes from 2GB to 4GB, though I have never even come close to filling up the Kindle 2, and I buy books regularly. Wi-Fi connectivity means faster book downloading, though this was never an issue with the 3G-based previous model. The PDF reader has been enhanced (as it was previously on the Kindle DX), though I believe Amazon’s bigger device would offer a better experience for PDF files.
You want books? Amazon has almost 700,000 books, including almost all of the 100 NYT best sellers. It’s compatible with almost 2 million free, out of print titles, too. And most Kindle paid titles–about 550,000 worth–cost just $9.99 or less, undercutting Apple’s $15 average. Meanwhile, Apple offers a much tinier library for iPad users through its iBooks store, with just thousands of titles. (iBooks does offer a much better PDF reading experience, however, assuming you can get past the screen’s reflective behavior.)
From a form factor perspective, I find the new graphite shell to be much nicer looking (and easier on the eyes) than the old Apple-like white exterior. There’s also less “stuff” around the screen, thanks to the smaller new form factor. The back and forward buttons are smaller and quieter–for those who like to read in bed but don’t want to bother their spouse–and the keyboard and navigational controls have been reworked a bit. Now, instead of the weird little joystick from the Kindle 2, there’s a simple and intuitive four-way control button. Perfect.
As with the previous Kindles, Amazon supports the Kindle 3 with various cases and other accessories. I purchased a leather case for both of our new Kindle 3′s, which make them look like classy old books while providing the necessary protection.
Amazon Kindle 3
Kindle 3 with leather case.
The only logical complaint about the Kindle 3 is that it doesn’t feature a color screen. Fair enough. But few of the books I read would ever take advantage of such a thing, and I prefer readability over color, as should any regular reader. This is an eBook reader designed for readers, not for trendy technology lovers. (Though it should scratch that itch as well.)
I can’t recommend the Kindle 3 enough. I had originally planned to move my wife from the original Kindle to the Kindle 2 as I moved forward to the new model. But the Kindle 3 was so much better than its predecessors that I simply ordered one for her as well. It’s that good.
Highly recommended.
MCTS Online Training, MCITP Online Training MCITP Online.com » Blog Archive » Droid Attack Spells Doom for iPhone
Last year, while I was on a business trip, my wife surprised me during a phone call by telling me that she was going to purchase a Motorola DROID and finally enter the smart phone age. This was surprising on a number of levels. She’s notoriously tight-fisted with money, for starters–is there a nice way to say that?–and isn’t the type of person to jump at the chance to toss $80 a month into the wind. She’s notably ambivalent about technology, too, which may be a shocker to some given to whom she’s married; to her, computers are a tool, and years of Mac usage did nothing to indoctrinate her into the Apple cult. (In fact, she uses–chose–a Windows 7-based Dell laptop last year.) And then there’s the DROID itself. This is a decidedly masculine smart phone, the antidote to Apple’s namby-pamby iPhone, and it was marketed then (as now) in a very aggressive fashion.
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“You’re getting … a DROID?” I could hardly believe it.
But she did it. And for the past year (almost), she’s been quite happy with her choice. She’s a Gmail and Google Calendar user, so the Android OS makes sense for her. And watching her latch onto things like Facebook has been both fascinating and disturbing.
But I’m not here to write about that. No, this is about something even more disturbing than my wife posting to Facebook. Last week, after a flurry of sudden work-related activity, I found myself the somewhat bewildered recipient of my own Android-based smart phone, in this case a DROID X. The reasons for this are complex, but basically I’m now an employee of Penton, the owners of this site, and I’m expected to meet certain corporate expectations. I’ve resisted, tried to, held out as long as I could. But now I have this phone.
MCTS Online Training, MCITP Online Training MCITP Online.com » Blog Archive » WINDOWS 7 SECRETS
About the book
Go beyond the obvious and explore the secrets behind Windows 7 with this comprehensive guide. Leading authorities in the field expose the hidden functionality within the Windows 7 operating system, revealing everything from its new features and functionality to modifying the system to work for you. These expert tips and tricks will help you gain the skills you need to quickly go from a Windows 7 user to a Windows 7 expert.
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Paperback: 1080 pages
Publisher: Wiley
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0470508418
ISBN-13: 978-0470508411
Errata, additions, and notes
The tech industry changes on a daily basis. And hey, we’re human too. Here you’ll find everything that’s changed–and any mistakes we’ve found–since the book was first published.
1. Selecting the Right Windows 7 Edition
Understanding the Differences Between the Product Editions
Pages 28-33
I maintain a much more up to date and complete version of this chart in my article Windows 7 Product Editions: A Comparison.
US List Prices for Windows 7 OEM Product Editions
Page 42
Current NewEgg OEM prices are as follows:
Windows 7 Home Premium (32-bit or 64-bit) – $105
Windows 7 Professional (32-bit or 64-bit) – $140
Windows 7 Ultimate (32-bit or 64-bit) – $175
Windows Anytime Upgrade
Pages 42-43
For more information about Windows Anytime Upgrade, please read my articles Windows 7 Feature Focus: Windows Anytime Upgrade and The Windows 7 Netbook Experience
2. Installing and Upgrading to Windows 7
Upgrading from One Windows 7 Version to Another with Windows Anytime [Upgrade]
Pages 76-79
The section is misnamed (the word “Upgrade” was omitted). For more information about Windows Anytime Upgrade, please read my articles Windows 7 Feature Focus: Windows Anytime Upgrade and The Windows 7 Netbook Experience
Performing a Clean Install with an Upgrade Version of Windows 7
Pages 80-82
Microsoft withheld Windows 7 Upgrade media from book authors and press, so Rafael and I weren’t able to fully understand the difficulties surrounding this type of Setup until the OS shipped. Not coincidentally, I’ve spent a lot of time documenting how you can use the Windows 7 Upgrade media to perform clean installs of the OS. You should read Clean Install Windows 7 with Upgrade Media and the Windows 7 Upgrade Scenarios series for much more information on this topic.
Installing Windows 7 on a Mac
Pages 84-88
An updated version of this section–which includes information on new Mac virtualization products that provide support for Windows 7 Aero effects–can be found in the article Best of Both Worlds: Windows 7 on the Mac.
3. Hardware and Software Compatibility
No changes or additions.
4. What’s New in the Windows 7 User Interface
Secret: Microsoft offers a number of wonderful pre-built Theme Packs…
Page 133
Microsoft changed the URL for its Personalization Gallery, which provides pre-built Windows Themes and other downloadable add-ons.
5. Where’s My Stuff? Finding and Organizing Files
An excerpt from this chapter is now available as the article, Windows 7 Feature Focus: Libraries.
6. Personalizing and Configuring Windows 7
More tricks and tips
Leo Laporte and I provide at least one software pick and Windows 7 tip each week on the Windows Weekly podcast.
7. Windows 7 Security
Install an antivirus solution
Page 255
Microsoft Security Essentials is now available for free, and I strongly recommend this AV/anti-malware. solution to all Windows 7 users. (It’s what I use to protect my own PCs.) Find out more in my Microsoft Security Essentials review.
8. Users, Accounts, and UAC
No changes or additions.
9. Networking and HomeGroups
Ad-hoc wireless networking
Page 314
Windows 7 supports wireless, ad-hoc (peer-to-peer) networking, which lets you share a wired (Ethernet) or 3G wireless connection over a standard Wi-Fi interface. Rafael discussed how this functionality is actually available in all Windows 7 product editions (contrary to Microsoft documentation) in his post Windows 7 Starter Hides But Allows Ad-Hoc Networking. I discussed this feature in episode 133 of the Windows Weekly podcast as well.
An (updated) excerpt from this chapter is now available as the article, Windows 7 Feature Focus: HomeGroup.
10. Complete Your Home Network with Windows Home Server
Power Pack 3
In November 2009, Microsoft released Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 (PP3), which significantly enhances the experience of using WHS with Windows 7. You can find out more about this update in my article Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 Preview.
11. Digital Music and Audio
No changes or additions.
12. Digital Photos
No changes or additions.
13. Digital Videos and DVD Movies
Editing Digital Video with Windows Live Movie Maker
Pages 503-526
Microsoft has shipped a major upgrade to Windows Live Movie Maker that substantially changes the application’s user interface and capabilities for the better. Please read my Windows Live Movie Maker Review for more information.
Ripping DVDs in H.264 Format
Pages 549-551
A major update to Handbrake, version 0.94, adds many capabilities to this free DVD ripper, including soft subtitle support and major performance improvements
14. Microsoft Zune: A Digital Media Alternative
Zune 4 and Zune HD
Microsoft has released a major upgrade to its Zune platform, Zune 4. This includes the new Zune HD digital media players, the Zune 4 PC software, and more. To discover everything that’s changed here, please refer to my five part Zune HD Review and, more generally, my Digital Media activity center.
15. Digital Media in the Living Room: Windows Media Center
Internet TV
Page 638
Microsoft released a nice Media Center update that significantly enhances the capabilities of Internet TV and support for the Netflix movie streaming service.
16. Having Fun: Games and Windows 7
Free Microsoft games
Microsoft announced that it will make Windows Vista Ultimates games Tinker and Texas Hold ‘Em available for free to all Windows 7 users. They still haven’t appeared however.
Games on Demand from Games for Windows – LIVE
Page 691
Microsoft announced that is evolving Games for Windows – LIVE to include a portal for accessing and downloading LIVE-enabled titles electronically. This will apparently work similarly to Xbox Live Arcade games on the Xbox 360′s online service.
17. Seven to Go: Windows 7 Mobility Features
Using Windows 7 with a Netbook
Pages 732-734
I’ve written a bit more about this topic in The Windows 7 Netbook Experience.
18. Using Tablet PCs and Ultra-Mobile PCs
No changes or additions.
19. Windows in Your Pocket: Windows Mobile and Other Mobile Devices
Windows Mobile 6.5
Pages 771-772
I’ve spent a lot more time with Windows Mobile 6.5 since the book was published. You can read about my experiences with this interim release in my multi-part Windows Mobile 6.5 Review.
20. Browsing the Web
No changes or additions.
21. Managing Email and Contacts
No changes or additions.
22. Managing Your Schedule
No changes or additions.
23. Your Life in Sync: Windows 7 + Live Services
No changes or additions.
24. Keeping Your Data Safe: File and PC Backup
No changes or additions.
25. Troubleshooting and Recovering from Disaster
No changes or additions.
26. IT Pro: Windows 7 at Work
No changes or additions.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
MCTS Online Training, MCITP Online Training MCITP Online.com » Blog Archive » Microsoft Plays Its Strongest Office 2010 Card: SharePoint
With Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 launching this week and Exchange 2010 hitting general availability on November 9, you may think I’d be a bit preoccupied. OK, well, there’s actually some truth to that. But Microsoft is launching some other important software in the weeks and months ahead, and in my mind, this coming generation of platforms isn’t complete without it. I’m referring of course to Office 2010, which doesn’t include just new versions of the age-old desktop software, but also web versions of some of those applications and a major new revision to SharePoint.
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I’ve written a bit about the Office 2010 desktop and web software in the past, but if I can sum up my feelings about the most recent pre-release version, this summer’s Technical Preview, it’s one of ambivalence. On the desktop, Microsoft is finally providing the lauded ribbon user interface to all Office applications, not just a hand-picked selection. But aside from Outlook, which is getting a fairly major update this time around, the other applications are seeing mostly minor, evolutionary changes only. On the web, the Office Web Applications are somewhat disappointing right now: They’re being positioned solely as add-ons to the traditional desktop apps, and not as full-fledged (“first class” in Microsoft parlance) standalone solutions of their own.
The one bit of new news is that Microsoft revealed this week that a public beta of Office 2010 will hit sometime in November. I believe this refers only to the traditional desktop applications and not the Office Web Applications, but it should still prove interesting, especially if Microsoft extends the functionality we saw with the Tech Preview.
The big news this week, however, is SharePoint. Months ago, when Microsoft contacted me about the Office 2010 Tech Preview, it had only vague information to share about SharePoint 2010. But this week, at the SharePoint Conference 2009, it revealed a feature-complete version of the software that, too, will enter public beta next month. As Microsoft promised, it is a major release.
For the 3 or 4 readers who are unfamiliar, SharePoint is Microsoft’s content and document management, enterprise search, and collaboration server suite. The key to SharePoint, I think–and this is something we’re starting to see more of in other Microsoft products–is that it provides an environment in which the users can actually create and manage their own collaborative web sites. In the past, trying to set up an FTP site, file share, or other dumb dumping ground for shared files required administrative oversight, slowing down the process and pulling admins away from more critical work. It’s all about power to the people, without any of the usual security concerns.
For SharePoint 2010, Microsoft is extending this popular platform in several key ways. From a user experience consistency standpoint, it’s picking up the ribbon UI, of course, and a new one-click layout functionality. It’s providing integration pieces for key new Office 2010 app technology like BackStage. And looking ahead to the ways in which SharePoint 2010 will be used in the real world, SharePoint 2010 will also come in two versions aimed at Internet-facing sites, one for on-premises servers and one for hosted versions.
MCTS Online Training, MCITP Online Training MCITP Online.com » Blog Archive » Office 2010 Review Part 4: Office Mobile 2010
Like the Office Web Apps, Microsoft’s just-released Office Mobile 2010 suite of applications for Windows Mobile 6.5 is free, and positioned as a companion to the full, PC-based Office suites and applications. Here, however, the usage scenario is mobile rather than cloud-based: Since people tend to bring their smart phones around with them at all time, the mobile version of Office provides an always at-the-ready set of limited but still useful apps. What we’re talking about, mostly, is viewing and (very) light editing. But the addition of an updated mobile version of OneNote could provide hugely beneficial to mobile users, be them students or anyone else who needs to take quick notes on the go.
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Office Mobile 2010 can also connect to SharePoint 2010-based document libraries, can access Office documents stored on Windows Live SkyDrive, and can interface with documents that are shared via email. It’s a decent set of functionality marred only by it being limited to Windows Mobile 6.5, the very latest version of a justifiably derided smart phone OS that few people willingly choose. (An updated version will ship with Windows Phone 7-based devices later this year.) One can’t help but wonder how popular and useful an iPhone- and/or Android-based version of this suite would be. Microsoft offers up only a repetitive “no comment” to such questions, however.
Basic Office functionality
Office Mobile, of course, has been around for a while–since the first version of Windows CE in 1996, in fact–but it didn’t really become a semi-cohesive suite of applications until the 2000 release of the Pocket PC OS for PDAs. Then called Pocket Office, it consisted of very basic versions of Outlook (broken into separate Email, Calendar, and Contacts components), Word, and Excel applications. Over time, PowerPoint and then OneNote were added as well.
Until the current version of Office Mobile, the primary interaction method was via stylus and hardware keyboard and most people used the apps as simple document viewers. Light editing capabilities have always been the suite’s biggest selling point, but I have a hard time believing that many people–especially the mobile workers that Windows Mobile targeted–ever did such a thing. And even those that did would have found disappointing formatting issues moving between desktop and mobile versions of the apps. (This problem has been somewhat mitigated over time.)
Over time, Office Mobile got better, but the bar was pretty low, and the basic usage model didn’t really change. So the apps displayed Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations more like their desktop counterparts, but your mileage would vary depending on the complexity of those files. As it turns out, that’s still true today.
What’s new in Office Mobile 2010
Microsoft offers a number of improvements with the latest version of its Windows Mobile-based office productivity suite. It (sort-of) requires a touch-compatible device, common in Windows Mobile 6.5 world, and provides enhanced support for touch gestures. (Microsoft says it supports non-touch Windows Mobile 6.5 devices, but with reduced functionality. I’m amused to think such devices even exist.)
This time around, OneNote is up front and center, and that trend will continue into Windows Phone 7, where OneNote will get the primest real estate on the Office hub. The reasoning here is simple: While few are probably all that interested in working on Word, Excel, or PowerPoint documents on the go, many people–especially students–could utilize OneNote’s note-taking capabilities, especially if they’re out and about and the phone is the only device they have with them. That it can capture pictures using the device’s built-in camera and work with voice clips is, of course, just the icing on the cake.
Office Mobile 2010 Review OneNote Mobile 2010.
The addition of SharePoint Workspace is also a big deal: Now Windows Mobile users can access their SharePoint (2010)-based sites, document libraries, and lists on the go. Office documents that are stored in these document libraries can be opened on the device, edited, and then saved back to the server. This can be slow, but if you’re going to access certain documents regularly, you can also keep a local copy on the phone.
Office Mobile 2010 Review SharePoint Mobile 2010.
Word and Excel Mobile trudge along with much the same basic functionality as before. But PowerPoint Mobile picks up some interesting functionality that should prove useful to the Windows Mobile-carting road warrior: You can now use the mobile app as a remote of sorts for your PC-based presentations. This setup won’t come cheaply, however: You’ll need to connect the phone to the PC via Bluetooth for it to work.
Office Mobile 2010 Review PowerPoint Mobile 2010.
Finally, there’s Outlook Mobile, which as before is split into multiple applications and isn’t available from the Office Mobile folder, but is instead afforded a much higher position in the Windows Mobile UI hierarchy. You can access Outlook’s various components through E-mail (Messaging), the Phone application’s contacts list, and separately through Contacts), and Calendar, and Tasks. It remains a mixed bag, but if you’re using a Windows Mobile phone in tandem with Exchange Server 2010, there are a few nice upgrades, including support for Conversation View. (It doesn’t appear to support multiple Exchange accounts, however. Apparently, we won’t get that functionality until Windows Phone 7.)
Office Mobile 2010 Review Outlook Mobile 2010. Final thoughts
Ultimately, Office Mobile 2010 is an evolutionary update to what has always been a fairly lackluster set of mobile-based companions to Microsoft Office. That said, much bigger changes are coming later this year in Windows Phone 7, and while that could potentially change the way we look at mobile productivity, the reality is that the device form factors simply limit what’s possible. Office Mobile 2010 is a decent upgrade, especially if you’re in a Microsoft-oriented shop with Exchange and SharePoint back-ends. And the price, certainly is right, assuming you have the right kind of hardware.
Office 2010 Review Part 3: Office Web Apps
As a long-time proponent of what is now called cloud computing, I’ve been eagerly awaiting Microsoft’s entry into the cloud-based office productivity market. This market has been dominated for too long by an unworthy entry, Google Docs, which to mind is dumbing down the user base by lowering expectations of what is possible on the web. Surely, I’ve thought, there’s got to be a better way.
Office Web Apps is Microsoft’s first real push into this market, since its disjointed Office Live Workspace and Office Live Small Business products neatly sidestepped the issue of working in the web and simply assumed that everyone would use PC-based versions of the various Office applications in tandem with live services. That strategy made sense years ago, but with Office Web Apps, Microsoft is finally making its first steps into Google Docs territory. My only worry is that it is doing so too tentatively.
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The Office Web Apps strategy is also just as disjointed as before. By my count, customers have several ways in which they can interact with both the Office Web Apps and the underlying cloud storage systems they utilize. These include:
Office 2010 desktop applications + Windows Live SkyDrive. In this scenario, you utilize a traditional Office application on your PC but access Microsoft’s free cloud-based storage service for consumers.
Office 2010 desktop applications + SharePoint 2010. Here, business users use traditional, PC-based Office applications with an internally-hosted (on-premise) document repository.
Office Web Apps Review
Office Web Apps running in an on-premise SharePoint server.
Office 2010 desktop applications + SharePoint Online. Here, business users use traditional, PC-based Office applications with a cloud-hosted document repository.
Office Web Apps + Windows Live SkyDrive. Consumers can access Microsoft’s free (but ad-supported), web-hosted versions of Word, Excel, OneNote, and PowerPoint via the Windows Live SkyDrive service.
Office Web Apps + SharePoint 2010. Businesses can host both SharePoint and Office Web Apps internally, where Office Web Apps is basically installed as an add-on for SharePoint 2010.
Docs.com. A special version of Office Web Apps aimed at Facebook users. This is essentially identical to the “Office Web Apps + Windows Live SkyDrive” option above, except that your sharing capabilities are determined by your Facebook friends list.
Office Web Apps Review
Docs.com works just like Office Web Apps on SkyDrive.
Confused yet?
It gets worse, of course, because you can also mix and match to your heart’s delight. And when Microsoft’s Windows Live Wave 4 arrives later this year, there are going to be some other changes and additions coming.
I’ve tested almost all of these scenarios, having left only the hosted SharePoint option to the imagination. And what I’ve discovered is that while Office Web Apps, overall, is far more capable than Google Docs, and offers a much more desktop-like experience, it still has a ways to go before it can replace any true PC-based solution. That this is all by design is, perhaps, the most frustrating aspect of this whole affair. Let’s see what’s happening.
Note: I’m going to use the phrase “Office documents” a lot in this review, and generally speaking I’m referring not just to Word documents, but also to Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, and OneNote notes. This is just a convenient shorthand. If I want to reference something that is specific to Word, I will call that out as a “Word document.”
Office Web Apps 101
Microsoft positions Office Web Apps not as a direct competitor to Microsoft Office (or various desktop-based also-rans–OpenOffice.org, Lotus SmartSuite, Corel WordPerfect, and so on), but rather as a companion, or extension, to Microsoft Office. This positioning is important because Microsoft is wary of losing any of its many paying customers to a product that is essentially free to almost anyone who wants it. So Office Web Apps provides a familiar Office 2010 user experience, complete with a ribbon UI (albeit a very scaled back ribbon UI). It takes some advantage of its online-ness by allowing you to collaborate with others on the same document and in real-time. And it provides a relatively high-fidelity document viewing experience. Except of course when it doesn’t.
Office Web Apps Review
Each of the Office Web Apps provides an Office 2010-like ribbon user interface.
I suspect there are organizations out there that are eager to push their years-old investment in some earlier Office product forward a few more years, and that these organizations are looking to Office Web Apps as a possible solution to this need. I suspect further that these organizations will be disappointed, unless their users have very basic needs. Office Web Apps is a decent way to view Office documents, and a fairly decent way to edit them, but the latter is only true if you have never pushed the upper bounds of any Office application’s capabilities. But don’t get too carried away, because you may be surprised at what’s missing. What’s present, in these Web Apps, are just the basics.
By default, when you “open” a document in Office Web Apps, you will get the viewing experience. This experience hides the ribbon so that you can dedicate more onscreen real estate to the task at hand. Performance here is decent: In testing my most frequently used documents, each opened in 2-3 seconds and the viewing experience is pretty much exactly what you’d expect.
Office Web Apps Review
The Office Web App viewing experience dispenses with the ribbon.
Choose Edit in browser, however, and prepare for a wait. 5-6 seconds doesn’t sound like a lot. But in my experience, Word documents open more slowly in the browser–and that’s true whether we’re talking about the Microsoft-hosted SkyDrive experience or an on-premise SharePoint experience–than does the same document locally with Word 2010. And you get to see the ribbon render in front of you while you wait: A “Loading” graphic appears, and the gray outline of the ribbon, and you wait, and then finally the document is ready for editing.
Office Web Apps Review
Wait for it … Wait for it …
Light editing, that is. Because Office Web Apps only provides a small portion of the overall Office 2010 experience. Using Word as a typical example, there are three tabs instead of seven, and you won’t get any of the addition possible tabs–like Picture Tools–as you do in the desktop apps. These tabs, too, are less full-featured than their desktop counterparts and can’t be customized in any way. So again using Word as an example, the Home tab in Word Web App has 25 commands, compared to 38 for the PC application.
Office Web Apps Review
The Word Web App ribbon compared to the Word 2010 ribbon.
But we might expect the web-based app to be less full-featured, in fact that’s perfectly reasonable. But again, just looking at that Home tab, what’s missing is often unfortunate. You get no Format Painter, Grow Font, Shrink Font, Change Case, Text Effects, Shading, and many others. There’s no Reviewing tools at all, no picture editing. It goes on and on.
These missing tools make the Office Web Apps a lot less useful for intermediate to advanced users. Further problematic are the many problems. I routinely encounter weird little error messages that prompt me to “restart” Office Web Apps, which involves the current document closing unceremoniously, and that’s been true both on SkyDrive and SharePoint. And sometimes a document simply won’t open in the editing experience, prompting me to try Word (the PC application) instead. Sometimes those same documents open just fine in the browser, however.
Office Web Apps Review
A typical, unhelpful Office Web App error message.
And for all the high fidelity claims, I’m a bit disappointed that Office Web Apps can’t accurately display some pretty simple formatting. For example, it can’t even handle soft line breaks in Word Web App. (Well, sometimes. In testing this again, it worked in SkyDrive but not in SharePoint. What??)
Ultimately, what we’re left with here is a very basic web solution that looks like Office 2010 but only offers perhaps 20 percent of the functionality. The issue I have with this is that I believe Office Web Apps has been purposefully detuned so as not to eat into desktop sales of Office. What Microsoft should have done, of course, is offered a more powerful version of Office Web Apps with cheap, subscription pricing. That way, they could offer something that sits between “free” and “Office 2010 Home and Student.” Just a thought.
Sharing and collaboration
OK, so Office Web Apps isn’t a straightforward replacement for any existing Office products, but it does fill a few interesting niches. What if you own an older version of Office and need to access a document that has newer features? Office Web Apps will let you do that. What if you want to share a document with someone who doesn’t have Office at all, or a particular Office application? Office Web Apps will let you do that. Or maybe you need to share documents with a Mac user, who has access to Word and Excel but not OneNote. Office Web Apps fills that need nicely too.
Office Web Apps also provides some real-time collaboration functionality, though this varies from app to app. In Excel Web App, for example, two or more people can edit an Excel workbook simultaneously via either SkyDrive or SharePoint, and changes are reflected in real time, for both editors. OneNote Web App lets multiple people take notes simultaneously to the same shared notebook, and this even works with the desktop version of OneNote as well, so users can mix and match. (Note sync is “near real-time,” however.)
Word and PowerPoint Web App do not offer any collaboration functionality. However, the desktop versions of these applications do support co-authoring, and you can collaborate with others on documents that are hosted on SkyDrive or SharePoint.
PowerPoint Web App also offers one of PowerPoint 2010′s best features: Broadcast Slideshow. So you can present a full-featured PowerPoint presentation to others remotely without even having PowerPoint installed on your PC.
Google Docs comparison
I only occasionally use Google Docs, but as part of an ongoing effort to keep up on the competition, I have used this solution from time to time for writing and have, in fact, written a number of SuperSite articles and reviews in this environment. (We also use Google Docs in tandem with the Windows Weekly podcast, which gives me a regular look at what’s going on there.) For purposes of this review, I loaded up my three frequently-used Word docs in Google Docs to see how Google handled them. These documents are modern DOCX files, and they utilize Microsoft’s new Office 2010-era styles.
So, how do they look? In a word, terrible. Consider my WinInfo document, which is about as basic as things get. Google Docs destroys the styles, providing basic Times New Roman fonts for everything, and it removes the spacing between paragraphs. This is about as simple as documents get, people.
Office Web Apps Review
The same basic word processing document in Google Apps (left) and Word Web App (right).
On the other hand, Google Docs does provide a reasonable document width, one that is consistent whether the browser window is floating or full-screen. Office Web Apps, like some 90s-era web page, simply stretches the document out to the full width of the browser, making reading difficult, and it doesn’t provide any obvious way to change that. On the other hand, the styles (including the fonts and paragraph spacing) are perfect.
Presentations and spreadsheets fare even worse in Googleland, and I have to think that anyone trying to move from Excel or PowerPoint to Google Docs is going to be hugely disappointed. I’m not exactly a presentation jockey, but I did create a recent presentation using PowerPoint that included a few flourishes, including an embedded video. Office Web Apps handled this presentation with ablomb, but Google Docs choked on it, offering to let me “open” it, which, to my surprise, triggered my desktop version of PowerPoint.
One area where Google Docs does come out ahead is startup performance, and if you try to start editing a new document in either environment, you notice the difference. Google Docs takes about 2-3 seconds to start up, and once you’re up and running, the performance is notably good, probably due in part to the simplicity of the solution. Office Web Apps takes about twice as long to render the application so you can start working. But the actual editing performance is excellent as well.
Google Docs also offers some form of offline mode–and yes, I know this is currently in the throes of changing, but the new solution is already in place–while Office Web Apps does not. So you need to be online and connected to use Office Web Apps, meaning that during those classic offline situations–like when you’re flying–you won’t be able to work. Unless of course you buy Office for your PC. Which is exactly the point.
Wildcard: Using online storage with your Office suite
The one aspect of Office Web Apps that isn’t getting enough attention, I think, has little to do with the web-based apps and everything to do with using the online storage in tandem with Office 2010. This is actually a very interesting scenario, because it gives you the best of both worlds, and looked at from a harsh, economic standpoint, is in fact what Microsoft wants you to do for obvious reasons. With Office 2010, you can somewhat easily–not seamlessly, but easily enough–access both SharePoint- and SkyDrive-based documents.
It’s a bit ponderous. You can’t just choose File, Open to open a document in the cloud, though businesses can of course do some mapping to make SharePoint-based storage the default open/save location. Instead, you can open SharePoint- or SkyDrive-based files in your traditional PC applications. This is more ponderous from SkyDrive. While both SkyDrive and SharePoint provide a browser warning about opening files from the Internet, when you open from SkyDrive, you also see the application open the document in Protected View, forcing you to manually enable editing.
Office Web Apps Review
You can save documents to the web or SharePoint using the Office 2010 applications’ Backstage view.
But it does work, and it does give you the power of the full suite in tandem with the 25 GB of free SkyDrive storage that is otherwise still pretty hard to access. And if you should lose your Internet connection while editing a web-based document, Office 2010 has the smarts to cache it locally so you won’t lose any work.
Availability and pricing
Office Web Apps is available now for SharePoint 2010 and will ship to the general public via SkyDrive sometime in June when Office 2010 becomes broadly available. It works with Internet Explorer 7 or later, as you’d expect, but also with Firefox 3.5 or later on Windows, Mac, and Linux, and Safari 4 or later on the Mac.
The consumer, SkyDrive-hosted version of Office Web Apps (or Docs.com, which is functionally very similar) is free. The SkyDrive version of Office Web Apps will be ad-supported.
Businesses that purchase a volume license version of Office 2010–Office Professional Plus 2010 or Office Standard 2010–will get a free a license for Office Web Apps as well. However, Office Web Apps does require SharePoint 2010, which is not free, or SharePoint Foundation 2010 (which is also not free, but is low-cost).
The Office Web Apps save documents in the Office 2010 (“X”) file formats only.
Final thoughts
As a reviewer, I’m arguably never happy, and I’d like to see Microsoft be more aggressive with its cloud-based offerings. That said, even in this deliberately stilted form, Office Web Apps offers some meaningful advantages over the competition and should stave off many possible defections to Google Docs or other online office productivity solutions. Microsoft is walking a fine line here, hoping to entice customers to upgrade to the latest Office applications and suites while offering a compelling online play as well. But Office Web Apps is very much as Microsoft positions it, a companion to the PC applications, and not a replacement. That, to my mind, is unfortunate but understandable. Hopefully the software giant will reevaluate this decision and, over time, improve Office Web Apps at a much more frequent clip than it does with its PC-based productivity applications. Put simply, I like what I see here, but Microsoft could have gone a lot further. I suspect it will in the future.
Hands-On with Office 365
Since late last week, I’ve been living in the future, sampling Microsoft’s Office 365 and examining what it’s like to go “all in” on cloud services. I like it a lot. My predilections towards cloud computing are probably well known by now. But now they’re backed up with some real world experience. And with Office 365, Microsoft is very clearly on to something.
We last discussed Office 365 back in late October–in Microsoft Gets It Right with Office 365–so there’s little need to rehash general information about the product or its licensing and pricing. Instead, this time around, I’ll discuss what it’s like to use the services, from the perspectives of a typical user and an administrator. Both experiences are already very nicely implemented, even in the beta.
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Users can logon to the Office 365 dashboard and access web-based versions of Outlook and SharePoint, and download the Lync 2010 client and, if on the appropriate subscription, the Office 2010 Professional Plus client suite. Users who wish to–and are licensed to–use client applications to access Office 365 will need to install an Office 365 first, to ensure that certain system components are up to date. Unfortunately, this client doesn’t configure Outlook and SharePoint Workspace for you, but doing so is a simple matter.
From the web-based version of Office 365, you can access your email, calendar, contacts, and tasks, using an Outlook Web App client that is very similar, from a look and feel perspective, to the desktop version of Outlook. Microsoft has dispensed with the previous bifurcation of OWA into low-end and premium experiences, so now everyone gets the premium experience. And aside from a few missing bits–like the inability to retain custom column widths in the UI–it’s quite nice.
Ditto the hosted SharePoint interface, or Team Site as it’s called, which is indiscernible from an on-premise install, from the user’s perspective. I was up and running on SharePoint very quickly, and even connected seamlessly to the site from the new Windows Phone, syncing the contents of document libraries to the device for on-the-go access.
The new Lync client is an update to Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and it looks and works much like its predecessor. Lync provides IM, audio- and video-conferencing, shared desktops and applications, and more, and while I haven’t had a chance to use the version included with Office 365 much, I’d recently used the product separately, and it offers nice presence integration throughout various Office applications and, as it turns out, even the Office 365 web applications as well.
From an admin perspective, the Office 365 dashboard offers similar simplicity. There’s plenty of documentation, of course, but also management interfaces for users, security groups, domains, the actual web services (hosted Exchange and SharePoint, primarily), and deploying Office.
The only thing I had any difficulty with had nothing to do with Office 365, and is arguably one of the simpler if rote activities one has to perform when moving to such a solution: When I added my own custom domain to the service and configured it for Office 365 via the hosting provider (Go Daddy, in this case), I must have done something wrong because SharePoint access worked fine, but Outlook client access was broken. I finally just started over from scratch and all is well.
Those businesses that are hoping to migrate to Office 365 from a current on-premise solution, or perhaps set up a hybrid environment in which some resources are hosted and some are local will have a bit more work to do, of course, but Office 365 does include web-based migration tools right in the dashboard and offers solutions that will get you moved off of your current Exchange 2003, 2007, or 2010 boxes, or even Small Business Server 2003, 2008, or 2011 (the latter of which has yet to ship); these solutions are for 1000 or fewer desktops however.
The beauty of Office 365, of course, is that it aims to work equally well for the smallest of businesses–literally, a business of one–and the biggest enterprises, and everything in between. It’s early days yet, and I’ve got months of testing ahead of me, but my initial impressions are all very positive. I was able to get an admittedly small domain up and running on Office 365 very easily. I suspect those in the trenches will make even shorter work of it.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Computer Training in CompTIA Described
In total, there are 4 A+ examinations and sections to study, but you only have to get certified in 2 to be considered A+ competent. This is why many educational establishments simply offer two. But giving you all four options will help you to build a much wider knowledge and understanding of your subject, which you'll come to realise is a Godsend in industry.
If you decide to become a student on the A+ computer training course you will develop an understanding of how to work in antistatic conditions and build and fix computers. You'll also cover fault finding and diagnostics, through both hands-on and remote access. Should you want to work towards maintaining networks, add the excellent CompTIA Network+ to your training package. Taking this course as well will prepare you to apply for more interesting jobs. Alternatively, you may prefer the Microsoft networking qualifications (MCP, MCSA and MCSE).
Often, people don't catch on to what IT can do for us. It is ground-breaking, exciting, and means you're working on technology affecting everyones lives in the 21st century. We're only just beginning to get to grips with how this will truly impact our way of life. How we correlate with the world as a whole will be profoundly affected by technology and the internet.
The usual IT technician in the UK will also earn a lot more than employees on a par outside of IT. Average wages are hard to beat nationally. The requirement for well trained and qualified IT technicians is assured for many years to come, thanks to the continuous increase in this sector and the vast shortage still present.
Validated exam preparation and simulation materials are vital - and should definitely be sought from your training supplier. Sometimes people can get confused by practising exam questions that don't come from official sources. Quite often, the terminology in the real exams can be quite different and it's important to prepare yourself for this. Why don't you analyse whether you're learning enough by doing tests and simulated exams prior to taking the real deal.
We'd hazard a guess that you've always enjoyed practical work - the 'hands-on' personality type. Typically, the world of book-reading and classrooms can be just about bared when essential, but you really wouldn't enjoy it. Consider interactive, multimedia study if books just don't do it for you. Our ability to remember is increased when multiple senses are involved - learning experts have been saying this for as long as we can remember.
Learning is now available in the form of CD and DVD ROM's, so everything is learned directly from your own PC. Using video-streaming, you are able to see your instructors showing you how to do something, with some practice time to follow - in an interactive lab. Any company that you're considering must be pushed to demo a few examples of their training materials. Expect video tutorials, instructor led classes and a variety of interactive modules.
Kick out the typical salesperson who offers any particular course without performing a 'fact-find' to gain understanding of your current abilities as well as level of experience. Make sure they can draw from a wide-enough array of training so they're able to solve your training issues. With a little live experience or certification, you could discover that your appropriate starting-point is now at a different level to a new student. Consider starting with some basic Microsoft package and Windows skills first. This can often make the slope up to the higher-levels a bit more manageable.
If you decide to become a student on the A+ computer training course you will develop an understanding of how to work in antistatic conditions and build and fix computers. You'll also cover fault finding and diagnostics, through both hands-on and remote access. Should you want to work towards maintaining networks, add the excellent CompTIA Network+ to your training package. Taking this course as well will prepare you to apply for more interesting jobs. Alternatively, you may prefer the Microsoft networking qualifications (MCP, MCSA and MCSE).
Often, people don't catch on to what IT can do for us. It is ground-breaking, exciting, and means you're working on technology affecting everyones lives in the 21st century. We're only just beginning to get to grips with how this will truly impact our way of life. How we correlate with the world as a whole will be profoundly affected by technology and the internet.
The usual IT technician in the UK will also earn a lot more than employees on a par outside of IT. Average wages are hard to beat nationally. The requirement for well trained and qualified IT technicians is assured for many years to come, thanks to the continuous increase in this sector and the vast shortage still present.
Validated exam preparation and simulation materials are vital - and should definitely be sought from your training supplier. Sometimes people can get confused by practising exam questions that don't come from official sources. Quite often, the terminology in the real exams can be quite different and it's important to prepare yourself for this. Why don't you analyse whether you're learning enough by doing tests and simulated exams prior to taking the real deal.
We'd hazard a guess that you've always enjoyed practical work - the 'hands-on' personality type. Typically, the world of book-reading and classrooms can be just about bared when essential, but you really wouldn't enjoy it. Consider interactive, multimedia study if books just don't do it for you. Our ability to remember is increased when multiple senses are involved - learning experts have been saying this for as long as we can remember.
Learning is now available in the form of CD and DVD ROM's, so everything is learned directly from your own PC. Using video-streaming, you are able to see your instructors showing you how to do something, with some practice time to follow - in an interactive lab. Any company that you're considering must be pushed to demo a few examples of their training materials. Expect video tutorials, instructor led classes and a variety of interactive modules.
Kick out the typical salesperson who offers any particular course without performing a 'fact-find' to gain understanding of your current abilities as well as level of experience. Make sure they can draw from a wide-enough array of training so they're able to solve your training issues. With a little live experience or certification, you could discover that your appropriate starting-point is now at a different level to a new student. Consider starting with some basic Microsoft package and Windows skills first. This can often make the slope up to the higher-levels a bit more manageable.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Comptia A+ Exam Specific
Exam Location: You can register for the exam at any Pearson VUE and Thompson Prometric center.
Time Allocated: 90 minutes per exam
Total marks: 900
Minimum Pass Marks: 220-601 (Essentials) - 675 marks; 220-602 - 700 marks ; 220-603 - 700 marks; 220-604 - 700 marks;
Number Of Questions: Approximatly 100 questions for Essentials. Other exams have 90 questions.
Exam format: Linear format; computer-based test (CBT)
Prerequisites: None
Validation Period: Certification does not expire FREE CompTIA A+ Certification Online School. Our FREE Comptia A+ Certification Exam Resources Certkingdom.com Academy provides free quality resources on A plus certification exam. Our CompTIA A+ school provides you online access to resources required to gather free Microsoft certification practice questions skills and knowledge to quickly become A+ certified. All resources and study material are totally free to all A+ certification candidates & learners:
CompTIA Home;A+ Certification;Articles;Study Guide;Practice Questions Practice Exams;Tutorial & Tips;A+ Forum;Blog;Active Membership;New & Info Blog;APlus Jobs;A+ Book Deals;Deals On Ebay;Comptia A+ Certification Exam Review.
CompTIA A+ certification (also known as CompTIA A Plus) is an international industry credential that validates the knowledge of computer service technicians.
The skills and knowledge measured by the CompTIA A+ exams are vendor neutral and are derived from an industry-wide and worldwide job task analysis. CompTIA A+ exam options include:
Comptia A+ Essentials
Comptia A+ 220-602 (IT certification)
Comptia A+ 220-603 (Remote Support Technician)
Comptia A+ 220-604 (Depot Technician)
For example,the exam 220-601 is one of the Comp TIA's certification examinations and the exam name is Comp TIA A+ essentials. This certification is designed for the candidates who wish to gain skills and knowledge in the ability to support the computers that have several software as well as hardware configurations. This exam is the mandatory examination for Comp TIA's A+ certification.
For writing this examination, there is no prerequisite required to the candidates and this certification is designed for the candidates who wish to start a career in the information technology field. However, this examination will help the candidates to certify with higher level certifications such as MCSE, CCNP etc. After successfully completing this examination, candidates can get various job opportunities in top multinational companies. Some of the job roles include PC support technician, IT technician, Enterprise technician, call center technician, depot technician, Bench technician and help desk technician etc.
Time Allocated: 90 minutes per exam
Total marks: 900
Minimum Pass Marks: 220-601 (Essentials) - 675 marks; 220-602 - 700 marks ; 220-603 - 700 marks; 220-604 - 700 marks;
Number Of Questions: Approximatly 100 questions for Essentials. Other exams have 90 questions.
Exam format: Linear format; computer-based test (CBT)
Prerequisites: None
Validation Period: Certification does not expire FREE CompTIA A+ Certification Online School. Our FREE Comptia A+ Certification Exam Resources Certkingdom.com Academy provides free quality resources on A plus certification exam. Our CompTIA A+ school provides you online access to resources required to gather free Microsoft certification practice questions skills and knowledge to quickly become A+ certified. All resources and study material are totally free to all A+ certification candidates & learners:
CompTIA Home;A+ Certification;Articles;Study Guide;Practice Questions Practice Exams;Tutorial & Tips;A+ Forum;Blog;Active Membership;New & Info Blog;APlus Jobs;A+ Book Deals;Deals On Ebay;Comptia A+ Certification Exam Review.
CompTIA A+ certification (also known as CompTIA A Plus) is an international industry credential that validates the knowledge of computer service technicians.
The skills and knowledge measured by the CompTIA A+ exams are vendor neutral and are derived from an industry-wide and worldwide job task analysis. CompTIA A+ exam options include:
Comptia A+ Essentials
Comptia A+ 220-602 (IT certification)
Comptia A+ 220-603 (Remote Support Technician)
Comptia A+ 220-604 (Depot Technician)
For example,the exam 220-601 is one of the Comp TIA's certification examinations and the exam name is Comp TIA A+ essentials. This certification is designed for the candidates who wish to gain skills and knowledge in the ability to support the computers that have several software as well as hardware configurations. This exam is the mandatory examination for Comp TIA's A+ certification.
For writing this examination, there is no prerequisite required to the candidates and this certification is designed for the candidates who wish to start a career in the information technology field. However, this examination will help the candidates to certify with higher level certifications such as MCSE, CCNP etc. After successfully completing this examination, candidates can get various job opportunities in top multinational companies. Some of the job roles include PC support technician, IT technician, Enterprise technician, call center technician, depot technician, Bench technician and help desk technician etc.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Exam 220-702 CompTIA A+ Practical Application (2009) Released
Our Exam 220-702 Preparation Material provides you everything you will need to take your 220-702 Exam. The 220-702 Exam details are researched and produced by Professional Certification Experts who are constantly using industry experience to produce precise, logical and verified answers to the questions.
Our 220-702 exam gives you a deep insight of the questions and answers that actually will guide you through your certification and this is the aim of certkingdom to provide you with the 220-702 test questions and Certkingdom CompTIA A+ Practical Application (2009) study notes that will modify you as Certification administrator. This 220-702 certkingdom brain dump includes test questions which will not only enhance your abilities to cope with the problems but you will also be able to manage online real time problems. The only way to achieve 220-702 exam guide is to get 220-702 braindumps only at Certkingdom 220-702.
220-702 Certkingdom exam Resources:
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Certkingdom 220-702 Practice Questions are designed with questions, coupled with precise, logical and verified answer. Certkingdom.com's 220-702 practice exam provides you with an examination experience like no other. To take a more authentic exam, you would have to take the exam itself, in an exam center!
Our 220-702 practice exams and study questions are composed by current and active Information Technology experts, who use their experience in preparing you for your future in IT. Pass On Your First Try With Certkingdom.com.
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Our 220-702 exam gives you a deep insight of the questions and answers that actually will guide you through your certification and this is the aim of certkingdom to provide you with the 220-702 test questions and Certkingdom CompTIA A+ Practical Application (2009) study notes that will modify you as Certification administrator. This 220-702 certkingdom brain dump includes test questions which will not only enhance your abilities to cope with the problems but you will also be able to manage online real time problems. The only way to achieve 220-702 exam guide is to get 220-702 braindumps only at Certkingdom 220-702.
220-702 Certkingdom exam Resources:
Furthermore our CompTIA 220-702 braindumps exam is always updated to provide you the most actual information available and this is done with the help of our Certkingdom professionals team of certification experts, technical staff, and comprehensive language masters who are always in-touch with the changes in the 220-702 exam. So the true way for passing the 220-702 exam is to get in-touch with the Certkingdom to obtain the certification exam questions that will lead to your certification success. Easiest way to get these certifications is to log on to the 220-702 Certkingdom and download the 220-702 test questions to do CompTIA 220-702 practice exam to obtain your free 220-702 exam certification.
Certkingdom 220-702 Practice Questions are designed with questions, coupled with precise, logical and verified answer. Certkingdom.com's 220-702 practice exam provides you with an examination experience like no other. To take a more authentic exam, you would have to take the exam itself, in an exam center!
Our 220-702 practice exams and study questions are composed by current and active Information Technology experts, who use their experience in preparing you for your future in IT. Pass On Your First Try With Certkingdom.com.
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Sunday, November 14, 2010
The CompTIA A+ certification exam
The CompTIA A+ certification exam has been designed as the leading industry standard to determine a computer technicians hardware and software knowledge.
Often referred to as the "entry-level" exam, the A+ Exams is actually one of the few tests that requires you to pass not just one, but two parts. A+ Essentials is required with a choice of 3 other exams:
Comptia A+ Essentials
Comptia A+ 220-602 (IT Technician)
Comptia A+ 220-603 (Remote Support Technician)
Comptia A+ 220-604 (Depot Technician)
Review Of Exam Specifics:
Exam Costs: $168 each. CompTIA members can take the exams for $132. Employers that require this test are usually corporate members and will inform you of this. One of the best ways to know more about is from Internet.You can also buy exam vouchers of VUE or Prometric to get a discount. Check CompTIA store for exam vouchers.
Exam Location: You can register for the exam at any Pearson VUE and Thompson Prometric center.
Locate an authorized Pearson VUE testing center near you
Locate an authorized Prometric testing center near you
Time Allocated: 90 minutes per exam
Total marks: 900
Minimum Pass Marks: A+ certification - 675; 220-602 - 700; 220-603 - 700; 220-604 - 700;
Number Of Questions: Approximately 100 questions for essentials. Other exams have 90 questions
Exam format: Linear format; computer-based test (CBT)
Prerequisites: None
Validation Period: Certification does not expire however it is recommended you upgrade to the latest exam version when objectives are revised.
Score Report: Delivered immediate on test completion.
Exam Pattern
The question types found on the A+ exam are:
Multiple Choice with Single answer: Student is required to select a single answer from a range of options (generally 4-5) by clicking on a radio button.
Multiple Choice with Multiple answer: Student is required to select a range of options.we would encourage anyone taking the free practice tests with the help of the IT Exams and we will thanks a lots. The number of options to select is specified.
Fill in the Blank: Student is required to select the missing text to complete the sentence (multiple choice style).
This is only meant as quick overview for you to get a better grasp of what is involved with studying for the CompTIA A Plus certification exam. If you are 100% committed to following through with your entry into the free certification practice questions we highly suggest you visit the certkingdom CompTIA A+ web-site and review the full overview from their web-site. You can also leverage various free A+ certification study aids available online.
Often referred to as the "entry-level" exam, the A+ Exams is actually one of the few tests that requires you to pass not just one, but two parts. A+ Essentials is required with a choice of 3 other exams:
Comptia A+ Essentials
Comptia A+ 220-602 (IT Technician)
Comptia A+ 220-603 (Remote Support Technician)
Comptia A+ 220-604 (Depot Technician)
Review Of Exam Specifics:
Exam Costs: $168 each. CompTIA members can take the exams for $132. Employers that require this test are usually corporate members and will inform you of this. One of the best ways to know more about is from Internet.You can also buy exam vouchers of VUE or Prometric to get a discount. Check CompTIA store for exam vouchers.
Exam Location: You can register for the exam at any Pearson VUE and Thompson Prometric center.
Locate an authorized Pearson VUE testing center near you
Locate an authorized Prometric testing center near you
Time Allocated: 90 minutes per exam
Total marks: 900
Minimum Pass Marks: A+ certification - 675; 220-602 - 700; 220-603 - 700; 220-604 - 700;
Number Of Questions: Approximately 100 questions for essentials. Other exams have 90 questions
Exam format: Linear format; computer-based test (CBT)
Prerequisites: None
Validation Period: Certification does not expire however it is recommended you upgrade to the latest exam version when objectives are revised.
Score Report: Delivered immediate on test completion.
Exam Pattern
The question types found on the A+ exam are:
Multiple Choice with Single answer: Student is required to select a single answer from a range of options (generally 4-5) by clicking on a radio button.
Multiple Choice with Multiple answer: Student is required to select a range of options.we would encourage anyone taking the free practice tests with the help of the IT Exams and we will thanks a lots. The number of options to select is specified.
Fill in the Blank: Student is required to select the missing text to complete the sentence (multiple choice style).
This is only meant as quick overview for you to get a better grasp of what is involved with studying for the CompTIA A Plus certification exam. If you are 100% committed to following through with your entry into the free certification practice questions we highly suggest you visit the certkingdom CompTIA A+ web-site and review the full overview from their web-site. You can also leverage various free A+ certification study aids available online.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
CompTIA A Plus Support Training Simplified
There are four specialist areas of training in a full CompTIA A+ program; you're thought of as an A+ achiever when you've passed the test for 2 out of 4 subjects. Because of this, most colleges limit themselves to 2 study areas. You'll find that it's necessary to have the training for all four areas as many positions will ask for the skills and knowledge of each specialist area. Don't feel pressured to qualify in them all, but we would recommend you at least have a working knowledge of every area.
In addition to learning how to build and fix computers, students on A+ courses will be taught how to work in antistatic conditions, along with remote access, fault finding and diagnostics. If you feel it appropriate to add Network+ training, you'll also have the ability to take care of networks, meaning you're in a position to expect a better remuneration package.
A skilled and specialised advisor (as opposed to a salesman) will want to thoroughly discuss your abilities and experience. This is useful for understanding your starting level of study. Don't forget, if you've had any relevant accreditation or direct-experience, then it's not unreasonable to expect to start at a different point than a student who's starting from scratch. Consider starting with user-skills and software training first. This can help whip your basic knowledge into shape and make the learning curve a much easier going.
At times folks don't catch on to what information technology is doing for all of us. It is electrifying, revolutionary, and means you're working on technology that will change our world over the next few decades. It's a common misapprehension that the technological advancement we've had over recent years is slowing down. This couldn't be more wrong. Massive changes are on the horizon, and most especially the internet will be the most effective tool in our lives.
Let's not ignore salaries also - the usual income across the UK for a typical IT employee is significantly more than remuneration packages in other sectors. It's a good bet you'll bring in quite a bit more than you could reasonably hope to get in other industries. There is a great UK-wide need for professionally qualified IT workers. And with the constant growth in the marketplace, it appears this will be the case for the significant future.
We need to make this very clear: It's essential to obtain proper 24x7 round-the-clock instructor and mentor support. We can tell you that you'll strongly regret it if you don't. Don't buy training courses that only support students via an out-sourced call-centre message system when it's outside of usual working hours. Companies will always try to hide the importance of this issue. Essentially - you want to be supported when you need the help - not when it's convenient for them.
Keep looking and you'll come across the top providers who offer direct-access online support 24x7 - even in the middle of the night. Always choose a trainer that goes the extra mile. Only proper live 24x7 round-the-clock support gives you the confidence to make it.
Consider only learning paths that progress to industry accepted accreditations. There are far too many small colleges suggesting minor 'in-house' certificates that are essentially useless in the real world. Unless your qualification is issued by a company like Microsoft, CompTIA, Adobe or Cisco at CertKingdom, then you may discover it won't be commercially viable - because no-one will recognise it.
In addition to learning how to build and fix computers, students on A+ courses will be taught how to work in antistatic conditions, along with remote access, fault finding and diagnostics. If you feel it appropriate to add Network+ training, you'll also have the ability to take care of networks, meaning you're in a position to expect a better remuneration package.
A skilled and specialised advisor (as opposed to a salesman) will want to thoroughly discuss your abilities and experience. This is useful for understanding your starting level of study. Don't forget, if you've had any relevant accreditation or direct-experience, then it's not unreasonable to expect to start at a different point than a student who's starting from scratch. Consider starting with user-skills and software training first. This can help whip your basic knowledge into shape and make the learning curve a much easier going.
At times folks don't catch on to what information technology is doing for all of us. It is electrifying, revolutionary, and means you're working on technology that will change our world over the next few decades. It's a common misapprehension that the technological advancement we've had over recent years is slowing down. This couldn't be more wrong. Massive changes are on the horizon, and most especially the internet will be the most effective tool in our lives.
Let's not ignore salaries also - the usual income across the UK for a typical IT employee is significantly more than remuneration packages in other sectors. It's a good bet you'll bring in quite a bit more than you could reasonably hope to get in other industries. There is a great UK-wide need for professionally qualified IT workers. And with the constant growth in the marketplace, it appears this will be the case for the significant future.
We need to make this very clear: It's essential to obtain proper 24x7 round-the-clock instructor and mentor support. We can tell you that you'll strongly regret it if you don't. Don't buy training courses that only support students via an out-sourced call-centre message system when it's outside of usual working hours. Companies will always try to hide the importance of this issue. Essentially - you want to be supported when you need the help - not when it's convenient for them.
Keep looking and you'll come across the top providers who offer direct-access online support 24x7 - even in the middle of the night. Always choose a trainer that goes the extra mile. Only proper live 24x7 round-the-clock support gives you the confidence to make it.
Consider only learning paths that progress to industry accepted accreditations. There are far too many small colleges suggesting minor 'in-house' certificates that are essentially useless in the real world. Unless your qualification is issued by a company like Microsoft, CompTIA, Adobe or Cisco at CertKingdom, then you may discover it won't be commercially viable - because no-one will recognise it.
How To Obtain A Copy Of A+ Certification
Our 220-701 exam gives you a deep insight of the questions and answers that actually will guide you through your certification and this is the aim of certkingdom to provide you with the 220-701 test questions and CertKingdom CompTIA A+ Essentials (2009) study notes that will modify you as Certification administrator. This 220-701 certkingdom brain dump includes test questions which will not only enhance your abilities to cope with the problems but you will also be able to manage online real time problems. The only way to achieve 220-701 exam guide is to get 220-701 braindumps only at certkingdom 220-701.
Furthermore our CompTIA 220-701 braindumps exam is always updated to provide you the most actual information available and this is done with the help of our certkingdom professionals team of certification experts, technical staff, and comprehensive language masters who are always in-touch with the changes in the 220-701 exam. So the true way for passing the 220-701 exam is to get in-touch with the certkingdom to obtain the certification exam questions that will lead to your certification success. Easiest way to get these certifications is to log on to the 220-701 certkingdom and download the 220-701 test questions to do CompTIA 220-701 practice exam to obtain your free 220-701 exam certification.
Furthermore our CompTIA 220-701 braindumps exam is always updated to provide you the most actual information available and this is done with the help of our certkingdom professionals team of certification experts, technical staff, and comprehensive language masters who are always in-touch with the changes in the 220-701 exam. So the true way for passing the 220-701 exam is to get in-touch with the certkingdom to obtain the certification exam questions that will lead to your certification success. Easiest way to get these certifications is to log on to the 220-701 certkingdom and download the 220-701 test questions to do CompTIA 220-701 practice exam to obtain your free 220-701 exam certification.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Microsoft Issues Support for HTML5
Microsoft is voting for HTML5 as the future Web standard.
Dean Hachamovitch, the general manager of Internet Explorer, wrote in a blog post Thursday that "the future of the Web is HTML5."
The post was authored as a response to Apple chief executive Steve Jobs' open letter concerning Flash, which he criticized as a bottleneck to Apple's own technology and a security risk, among other concerns.
Hachamovitch said that IE9 would also favor HTML5, which does not define a video codec. "We think H.264 is an excellent format," Hachamovitch wrote. "In its HTML5 support, IE9 will support H.264 video only."
See what Editor Lance Ulanoff has to say about IE9
But Hachamovitch did not completely dismiss Flash, noting that it is the predominant medium for Web video, and noted how hard it was to actually view that video without Flash installed.
"While video may be available in other formats, the ease of accessing video using just a browser on a particular Web site without using Flash is a challenge for typical consumers," he wrote. "Flash does have some issues, particularly around reliability, security, and performance. We work closely with engineers at Adobe, sharing information about these issues we know of in ongoing technical discussions."
Hachamovitch concluded: "Despite these issues, Flash remains an important part of a good consumer experience on the Web."
Dean Hachamovitch, the general manager of Internet Explorer, wrote in a blog post Thursday that "the future of the Web is HTML5."
The post was authored as a response to Apple chief executive Steve Jobs' open letter concerning Flash, which he criticized as a bottleneck to Apple's own technology and a security risk, among other concerns.
Hachamovitch said that IE9 would also favor HTML5, which does not define a video codec. "We think H.264 is an excellent format," Hachamovitch wrote. "In its HTML5 support, IE9 will support H.264 video only."
See what Editor Lance Ulanoff has to say about IE9
But Hachamovitch did not completely dismiss Flash, noting that it is the predominant medium for Web video, and noted how hard it was to actually view that video without Flash installed.
"While video may be available in other formats, the ease of accessing video using just a browser on a particular Web site without using Flash is a challenge for typical consumers," he wrote. "Flash does have some issues, particularly around reliability, security, and performance. We work closely with engineers at Adobe, sharing information about these issues we know of in ongoing technical discussions."
Hachamovitch concluded: "Despite these issues, Flash remains an important part of a good consumer experience on the Web."
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