MCDST 70-271 Exam Cram 2: Supporting Users & Troubleshooting a Windows XP Operating System

The new Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician (MCDST) credential proves that you have the skills to successfully support end users and successfully troubleshoot desktop environments running on Windows XP. MCDST candidates must pass two core exams (70-271 and 70-272). The 70-271 exam, when combined with the 70-272 (the application exam for desktop support technicians), validates that a candidate can successfully answer (or escalate) all calls from end users. Co-written by best-selling author Dan Balter, the MCDST 70-271 Exam Cram 2 gives readers the essential information they need to know to pass this exam, focusing on exactly what they need to know. This book can be used as a sole study guide for those experienced with Windows XP or it is the perfect supplement guide for more comprehensive training materials, instructor-led classes, and/or computer-based training.

Dan Balter is the Chief Technology Officer for InfoTechnology Partners, Inc., a Microsoft Certified Partner company. He works as an IT consultant and trainer for both corporate and government clients and has worked with several different network operating systems throughout his 20-year career. Dan takes pride in turning complex, technical topics into easy-to-understand concepts. Dan is a Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician (MCDST), a Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA) on Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003, and a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) on Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, and Windows Server 2003. He specializes in Microsoft networking technologies, firewalls, virtual private networks (VPNs), and other security solutions in addition to designing and implementing messaging and business solutions for large and small organizations.

Dan is the author of Exam Cram 2: Managing and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Environment and a co-author for the best-selling books Exam Cram 2: Windows XP Professional and Exam Cram 2: Windows 2000 Professional, all published by Que Publishing. Dan frequently speaks at conferences across North America, including Advisor DevCon conferences and Windows & .NET Magazine Connections conferences. A graduate of USC's School of Business in 1983, Dan has authored more than 300 video-based and CD-ROM¿based computer training courses, including instructional titles on installing, configuring, and administering Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003. He is also a featured video trainer for courses on Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Outlook, and Intuit's QuickBooks small business accounting software. Dan is the video trainer for ExamBlast¿Windows XP Professional and for the QuickBooks Pro training series on video and CD-ROM from BlastThroughLearning.com.

Dan and his family live in the Santa Rosa Valley area in Southern California, near the city of Camarillo. Dan lives with his lovely wife, Alison; their 8-year-old daughter, Alexis; their 5-year-old son, Brendan; and their golden retriever, Brandy. When he's not writing, researching, or consulting, Dan enjoys traveling with his family, swimming, playing racquetball and basketball, rooting for the Los Angeles Galaxy soccer team and the L.A. Lakers, going for long walks, listening to music, and exploring new age spirituality. Dan can be contacted via email at Dan@TechPartners.info.

Philip Wiest is a nationally known professional technical trainer who has presented more than 1,200 Cisco and Microsoft seminars to more than 37,000 students throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia since 1989 for Skillpath Seminars, CompuMaster Seminars, Prime Learning International, and Dun & Bradstreet. He has earned several prominent certifications, including the MCSE; CCNP; CCDA; Network+; Server+; Security+; A+; and, most recently, the new MCDST designation.

He delights audiences by crashing (often with little effort) and then resurrecting (often with much effort) unsuspecting software programs and network applications. His unique, irreverent, solutions-oriented style is at once humorous and insightful.

Philip's clients include The Walt Disney Company, the FBI, American Express, the National Association of Recording Merchandisers, ARCO, Bank of America, KPMG, Sony, EMI Records Group N.A., the National Association of Realtors, Warner Bros., and on and on.

Since graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, he has published more than 200 newspaper and magazine articles, received dozens of national training awards, and completed 15 marathons. He resides in Santa Monica, California, never more than a stone's throw from a keyboard or a microphone.