A+ Certification Guide [Hardcover]

Peter Moulton (Author, Preface), Jeremy Moulton (Preface)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0130843164 | ISBN-13: 978-0130843166 | Publication Date: October 25, 1999

Master PC troubleshooting and repair, pass the industry-leading A+ certification exam -- and have fun doing it! The authors of A+ Certification aren't just top PC troubleshooters and trainers: they're also co-hosts of the radio show "Dial A Nerd"! This book is full of easy-to-understand photos, real-world anecdotes from the trenches, and A+ sample questions. In short, you get all the rigorous exam preparation you need -- without the pain! You'll start with the basics of configuring, installing and upgrading PCs. Master the basic troubleshooting, maintenance and safety techniques every PC technician should know. Review every important PC component and peripheral covered on the newest A+ exam, including motherboards, CPUs, and memory; printers; network cards; serial and parallel ports; and more. Understand how Windows works; then master every DOS and Windows configuration, integration, networking, and troubleshooting topic covered on the A+ exam. There's also a full chapter on maximizing customer satisfaction -- a crucial element of the latest A+ exam! For all PC administrative and maintenance personnel responsible for supporting PC users, troubleshooting PC problems, and maintaining and repairing DOS/Windows PCs.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Preface

This book is the work of the team at The Moulton Company. Without the writing of Jeremy Moulton and Phil Crouse and the help of Jason Moulton, Julie Labra, Melissa Clawson, Phil Lowry and Drew Thomason the book would not have been completed. Each played an important role.

As for the final book itself, Jeremy covered Windows 95 and NT, Phil Crouse covered customer service, Jason did Internet research, and Pete worked it all into a single book. Jeremy, Jason and Pete all have A+ Certifications. The basic materials were developed from the PC Troubleshooting course attended by thousands of PC administrators and technical support personnel and taught by the people working at Moulton, Minasi & Company in the 1980s. Pete's troubleshooting experiences and mistakes made back at the dawn of IBM PC time (1981) when he began selling and building PC's also contributed to the content. Jeremy started his PC experience with Apple II PCs, and Jason teaches a network server repair and maintenance class for Compaq.

The people at Prentice-Hall publishers including Mary Franz, Miles Williams, Jim Markham, Kathleen Caren, and others have made this process as painless as it can be. They are largely responsible for keeping and improving some of the tidbits of nerd humor found throughout the book.

We hope you enjoy this book and find it a useful reference even after you have achieved your A+ certification. —Pete and Jeremy

From the Back Cover

A+ Certification

Prep for A+ with the experts who trained 1,200 Digital/Compaq technicians!

Master PC troubleshooting and repair, pass the industry-leading A+ certification exam-and have fun doing it! The authors of A+ Certification are the same world-renowned PC troubleshooters and trainers that just prepped 1,200 Digital/Compaq employees. But that's not all: They're also co-hosts of the radio show "Dial A Nerd"!

A+ Certification gives you all the rigorous exam preparation you need-without the pain! You'll find easy-to-understand photos, real-world anecdotes from the trenches, plenty of A+ sample questions, and more! This book covers every exam objective, including:

• All the basics of configuring, installing and upgrading PCs
• Troubleshooting, maintenance, and safety techniques every PC technician must know
• Detailed coverage of every key PC component: motherboards, CPUs, memory, I/O, network cards, and more
• Windows and DOS configuration, integration, networking, and troubleshooting
• Configuring, troubleshooting, and repairing printers Detailed coverage of maximizing customer satisfaction-a key element of the A+ exam!
• Bonus A+ Certification computer based training module from CBT Systems-worth $225!
• A+ Certification is easy, hands-on, visual, accurate, affordable, and fun. It's all the help you'll need to ace your A+ exam-fast!

This book is also available as part of A+ Certification - The Complete Video Course (ISBN: 0-13-086138-3).

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall (October 25, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130843164
• ISBN-13: 978-0130843166
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.4 x 2.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,601,073 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Pete is the original Dial-A-Nerd. The Dial-A-Nerd concept was created in the late 1980's to provide telephone help to the general public. Dial-A-Nerd was originally advertised in the 1990 USA Today classifieds. Dial-A-Nerd became the Dial-A-Nerd Radio show on WJFK Radio and then the Technically Correct TV Show on WMAR ABC Channel 2 in Baltimore.

Pete has certainly been around since before the earliest days of personal computers. During his early years working in data communications he personally met some of the pioneers of the Internet, but he never met Al Gore. Pete often likes to claim he's older than the dust in a 1981 PC.

Pete founded The Moulton Company. The Moulton Company developed and delivered the first PC Troubleshooting Seminar for Data Tech Institute in the mid 1980's. Following from this Pete has developed and delivered seminars on Telecommunications, PC Troubleshooting and Repair, and PC Networking on every continent on the Planet save Antarctica.

Pete wrote several books for Prentice-Hall Publishers including "A+ Certification and PC Repair Guide","The Telecommunications Survival Guide", and "SOHO Networking."

Pete's PC support and troubleshooting experience comes from building and supporting PCs, and training non-technical users to maintain and troubleshoot PCs over the last 30 years. His work continues today and has led to writing and publishing "Pete the Nerd's Do It Yourself Virus Removal."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just another A+ Certification book !, March 11, 2000

By 

Michael J Woznicki "Michael J Woznicki" (Holland, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A+ Certification Guide (Hardcover)

Looking for and A+ book that will give you the best chance to pass the test? Would a book that was used to help over 1,200 people pass the exam qualify as useful? Well the Prentice Hall and Peter Moulton have the right book to fit your needs.

A book that over 1,200 DEC employees used has to be worth a look and this book is definitely worth the time. The 950+ page text is packed with pictures, tables diagrams, charts and figures along with some of the best review questions I have ever seen.

The text is consistent with everything the COMPTIA requires for the exam, and this book gives you the information in a fairly simplified format. For the most part the complexity of computers is removed and replaced with information that any skill level can learn with, and learn easily.

The book comes with a CD with a CBT training course, which makes a nice addition to the book, what is missing, is the CD with practice questions, which can be added to the next edition. Also if you couple this book with the Prentice Hall's A+ Certification Interactive Workbook you would have a great combination and a better chance to pass the exam.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better than the first edition but s few updates are needed., December 16, 2001

By 

Michael J Woznicki "Michael J Woznicki" (Holland, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A+ Certification and PC Repair Guide (2nd Edition) (Hardcover)

When I passed the A+ Exam I used a lot of material to study from. I had no idea of Prentice Hall and this book and that's too bad. Whether striving for the certification of trying to become a better technician this book has something for everyone and all technical levels can benefits from what's contained in the book.

While this edition is smaller that the previous one, don't let that sway you into thinking information may have been left out. Almost the opposite is true as I see every exam objective given more than enough coverage.

Divided into two parts as are most A+ books, this one begin wi9th the hardware exam and tackles the topics like the boot process, upgrading and troubleshooting, safety, CPUs, motherboards, ram, printers, portables and finally networking.

While the coverage for portables and printers is enough to pass the exam a little more information could have been included. From the part two is the operating systems exam. What I really like is the fact that DOS and Windows 3.X was included giving you a starting and reference point to today's operating systems.

Also coverage of the Windows 95, 98 and ME, again this is something you find anywhere else, and Windows 2000 Professional, what I think may need to included is Windows NT Workstation. Memory and file management as well as networking and troubleshooting the operating systems rounds out the topics.

There is review questions at the end of each chapter, but hands-on labs or exercises should have been included as well as a cd with practice test to allow you try before going live. Overall a decent study tool and this book should give you a good chance of passing the exam.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not a real good start, February 3, 2001

By 

Jason S Rice (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A+ Certification Guide (Hardcover)

Even though this is a very informative book, it has it's drawbacks. The information is true for the majority of the book, but has a small amount of inaccuracies. Given that this is a technical book, the text could be a disadvantage to an individual trying to pass the CompTIA exam. I would not discourage someone to use this book to pass the A+ exam, nor would I suggest it. There are many well written guides that may be less confusing than Mr. Moulton's literature.