I'm going it alone!!!

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Hi there,
Well, after much careful consideration and a lot of interesting message reading from the forum, I've decided to ditch my training provider ( & save my credit card from a battering ) and take my courses one step at a time starting with the A+ cert.
As much as i am willing to learn from the books ( probably Mike Meyers ) i also feel that i would benefit from classroom experience too. Is there such a course where you can combine the two?. Also i have heard rumours that the new 2005 objectives are due to be introduced in nov. Is it worth starting the course before then?. I may sound as though i'm bleating on a bit but you want to be sure you are doing things the correct way don't you.

 

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I've looked at comptia's site and there is absolutely no mention of and upgrade to the A+ objectives. There are usually numerous announcements, including focus groups to develop the new criteria, beta testing and finally the actual test goes live. It takes quite a long time to do this and usually comptia doesn't go "stealth" about it.

My opinion would be to go ahead and start studying (after all...even if there is a change, IRQs and what a motherboard is will not change). The Meyers book is excellent. Just get a hold of a few PCs you can tinker with and away you go.

A note to the future. Depending on your educational goals, you may not be able to self study *all* of your certifications. Some require a great deal of hands-on experience, preferably in a live production environment. Unless you are wealthy, you probably wouldn't be able to build the kid of lab that would minic a real world corporate network.

Ok, time to crack that book open. Let us know how you get on and don't be afraid to ask questions.

 

Hi Trip,
Cheers for your reply.
With regard to starting the study can you advise me of the best Meyers books to purchase and also HOW MANY PC's DO I NEED?? I noticed that in the back of the sybex labs book it says you require certain tooling and also 5 operating systems. Also there is a exercise involving laptops. Do i need one of them?. I see pound signs flashing before me and all short of turning my lounge into a workshop what do i actually need?

 

Well...it shouldn't be that bad. First of all, the only book you should need is this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...2933/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_27_1/202-3069656-1408641

I pinned a Books and Resources thread at the top of the A+ forum just to help answer such questions:

http://www.certforums.co.uk/forums/thread3707.html

As for the rest of it, there are no hard and fast rules. I usually recommend a minimum of one PC that you aren't afraid to open up and tinker around in. Also, while there are many specialized tool kits you can use, for most PC repairs I've ever done, a flat head and phillips screwdriver was all I ever needed.

Word of warning tho. The interior of a PC is very sensitive to static shock. Static discharges so slight that you'd never feel them are enough to fry delicate electrical circuits causing problems you'd never be able to track down. You can research and buy an ESD (Electrostatic Discharge) kit but in in pinch, all you have to do is once you open the PC, touch the metal frame to equalize the static potential between you and the machine. Afterwards, it should be safe to put your hands inside. Oh...don't forget to turn off the PC first. For good measure, I usually unplug the power cord, too.

BTW: All of this is in the Meyers book.

It doesn't hurt to have a laptop handy I suppose but the first time I even actually opened one was long after I'd gotten my A+, so I suppose it's not critical. As far as having five OSes to play with, I suppose it would be handy to have computers running Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000 Professional and Windows XP lying around, but that's a big expense. Remember, this is a general computer hardware and OS test, not a Microsoft Windows MCSE exam. You don't have to be a drop dead Windows expert.

Chances are you have access to XP at home though there are still plenty of folks out there with Windows 98 on their home PCs. Just take your time, read the book and try the suggestions they describe. If you are running the "ipconfig" command, it will act the same in Windows 2000 as well as Windows XP (you'd use "winipcfg"for Windows 9X).

Take one step at a time. The preface of the Meyers book includes how to study for the exam and other helpful hints. Pay attention to them. This is very do-able. Don't let yourself get overwhelmed. If there's something special you think you need, there's probably a simple way to find it (I once borrowed an older PC from a friend because it was running Windows 95 and I wanted to see how it differed from Windows 98 ).

You'll do fine. When you have a question...post it here. That's why we're around.

 

Thanks for your reply trip.
Will get the required materials and ' Off i go '.
Will be in touch soon no doubt.

 

Hmmm.... Trip, you left out the most important tool in a computer tech's toolkit. One that I use every time I open a case, without fail.

 

If you are talking about ESD measures, I did mention them briefly above. I hate to admit it, but I never used an ESD strap before it was required equipment on a contract job. When I went to work for an IT Department, they had the equipment on hand. I do keep the strap now in my toolkit and use it.

Now if my mind reading powers are totally "cream crackered" and you are thinking about another tool, please enlighten me.

 

Well, I guess it's me who has had his powers of comprehension "hosed". I did miss your ESD comments. Probably because I was surprised that you left it out of your first list of tools that you said were the "only" tools you ever used. My bad....

 

Well...not the *only* tools, just the most commonly used. My bad. I should have expressed myself better.