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It's official: Microsoft certifies that I can indeed configure Windows Vista

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I recently participated in some discussions around Microsoft certifications, which reminded me of how long it has been since I've actually taken a certification exam.  So I decided I would get back into it again, and decided to start with something I should be able to handle with little difficulty, considering I've been working with Windows Vista for, well, since before it was even called Windows Vista:  exam 70-620, Configuring Windows Vista Client (https://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/exams/70-620.mspx).  So I scheduled the exam on Friday and walked in this morning, without any preparation except for "real world experience."

There were plenty of questions on the exam that made me cringe, not because of what they were asking but because of how the questions began:

You are an IT professional responsible for supporting PCs for your company.  A user in your organization is running Windows Vista Ultimate.

Of course we all know that you would normally want to run Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Enterprise in your organizations.  And they get better:

You are an IT professional responsible for supported PCs for your company.  A user in your organization is running Windows Vista Home Basic and would like to upgrade to Windows Vista Ultimate.

Yikes.  I don't think I want to work for that company.  Overall, though, it wasn't a bad exam and I passed easily, so now I am indeed qualified to configure Windows Vista clients.  Aren't you glad?  :-)  If you are looking to take the exam yourself, be sure to know Windows Defender, Windows Meeting Place, Windows Mail, Internet Explorer add-on configuration, Windows Sidebar, Windows Calendar, Windows Fax and Scan, and connecting to networked video projectors.  And then there's the topics that you know will be stressed, like User Account Control, Windows Firewall, network configuration and troubleshooting, Device Manager, etc.

The funniest part: In the "Sectional Results" area of the exam results page, my weakest area was "Installing and Upgrading Windows Vista."  Sigh, back to work on the full-time job of installing and upgrading Windows Vista.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    I actually did pretty well on the 70-624 exam, during the beta process for the exam - I think I missed one question.  But I spent more time submitting feedback on the exam questions than I did on the exam itself...

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Pretty funny Michael! I wonder how you would do taking the 70-624 - Deploying Vista and the Microsoft Office 2007 systems exam. It's even more amusing with some of the odd ball answers that are just way out there. I'd love for the Certification team to post the ratios of people answering those totally out there answers.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    …a installare e configurare Vista nelle aziende. Capita anche questo: Michael Niehaus, uno dei “papà”

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    LOL, that's make me proud to work in the same company :-)