Should I wait for Windows 7 Before Taking a Class?

The short answer is no. I’ve been reading the blogs from the Windows 7 development team and all indications are that Windows 7 is built on Windows Vista. If you are looking at getting a jump start at Windows 7, go ahead and look into a class on Windows Vista.

Microsoft currently offers 7 classes that target Vista. I highly recommend that you go through the syllabus of each class before committing. You will find sections of each class that are clearly for IT Pros entering the field and sections where you really pick up the new features of Vista. Here is another bonus. The Vista classes are also the stepping stones for Server 2008. Vista is the client for 2008 so naturally what we learn in a vista class also applies to server 2008.
Below are the current class offerings from Microsoft which are Vista specific.

Course 5105B: Deploying Microsoft Windows Vista Business Desktops
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/syllabi/5105bfinal.mspx

Course 5115A:
Installing and Configuring the Windows Vista Operating System
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/syllabi/5115A.aspx

Course 5116A: Configuring Windows Vista Mobile Computing and Applications
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/syllabi/5116afinal.mspx

Course 5117A: Installing, Configuring, Troubleshooting, and Maintaining Windows Vista
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/syllabi/5117afinal.mspx

Course 5118A: Maintaining and Troubleshooting Windows Vista Computers
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/syllabi/5118afinal.mspx

Course 5119A: Supporting the Windows Vista Operating System and Applications
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/syllabi/5119afinal.mspx

Comments

Adding a Comment to a GPO with PowerShell

As I'm writing this article, I'm also writing a customization for a PowerShell course I'm teaching next week in Phoenix. This customization deals with Group Policy and PowerShell. For those of you who attend my classes may already know this, but I sit their and try to ask the questions to myself that others may ask as I present the material. I finished up my customization a few hours ago and then I realized that I did not add in how to put a comment on a GPO. This is a feature that many Group Policy Administrators may not be aware of. This past summer I attended a presentation at TechEd on Group Policy. One organization in the crowd had over 5,000 Group Policies. In an environment like that, the comment section can be priceless. I always like to write in the comment section why I created the policy so I know its purpose next week after I've completed 50 other tasks and can't remember what I did 5 minutes ago. In the Group Policy module for PowerShell V3, th

Return duplicate values from a collection with PowerShell

If you have a collection of objects and you want to remove any duplicate items, it is fairly simple. # Create a collection with duplicate values $Set1 = 1 , 1 , 2 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 1 , 2 # Remove the duplicate values. $Set1 | Select-Object -Unique 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 What if you want only the duplicate values and nothing else? # Create a collection with duplicate values $Set1 = 1 , 1 , 2 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 1 , 2 #Create a second collection with duplicate values removed. $Set2 = $Set1 | Select-Object -Unique # Return only the duplicate values. ( Compare-Object -ReferenceObject $Set2 -DifferenceObject $Set1 ) . InputObject | Select-Object – Unique 1 2 This works with objects as well as numbers. The first command creates a collection with 2 duplicates of both 1 and 2. The second command creates another collection with the duplicates filtered out. The Compare-Object cmdlet will first find items that are diffe

How to list all the AD LDS instances on a server

AD LDS allows you to provide directory services to applications that are free of the confines of Active Directory. To list all the AD LDS instances on a server, follow this procedure: Log into the server in question Open a command prompt. Type dsdbutil and press Enter Type List Instances and press Enter . You will receive a list of the instance name, both the LDAP and SSL port numbers, the location of the database, and its status.

Jason Yoder, MCT

Search This Blog