Rating: 
Summary: Must Have Book for the A+ Exam
Review: Michael Meyers does an excellent job in helping you prepare for the A+ Exam. The Book is well Written and informative. Michael Meyers use of light humor keeps the reader entertained. This book is not a dry read like most technical books can be.
Rating:
Summary: A Technical Book that is Easy to Read
Review: If you have been tinkering with computers for a few years and want to gain an A+ Certification, this is the book for you. The author begins with an introduction and pre-test that helps you see clearly what areas you need to focus on so that you can create your own unique study plan.Most chapters begin with a section called "Historical/Conceptual". This section contains interesting information that is not specifically part of the exam. I urge all readers to read this section because it makes subsequent sections easier to understand. Each chapter ends with review questions so you can check your progress frequently. The book is organized into twenty well-defined pages. Even though this book is over 1100 pages long, it is easy to find any topic you need to review. The book includes a CD with several practice exams. Each question includes an explanation for the correct answer. When I took the real exam, I was surprised at how many questions seemed exactly like the practice questions. The book has many practical tips and tools that will help PC technicians with their day-to-day work. One example is the list of files to put on a Windows boot disk. This book will stay in my office as I expect to refer to it often. In summary, this book is very readable and is designed for a wide range of experience levels.
Rating:
Summary: You will pass the A+ exam
Review: I picked up this book, with little prior knowledge of the subjects covered by this exam, and two months later I am A+ certified. This is an excellent book, I even had the previous edition and still passed. Good luck!
Rating:
Summary: Burning Question
Review: I read and used this 3rd edition to help with various pc issues and it was extremely informative. Can anyone who has read the 4th edition check & verify if it contains any mention of Windows XP either Professional or Home versions? Specifically I'm wondering if there are any mentions of the XP system in the DOS chapter of the book since Meyers proclaims (in the 3rd edition) that *all* versions of Windows while they may not contain *true* DOS still has a command prompt; However, this is not the case in WinXP. Anyone?
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This is the best A+ prep book I have seen. It covers everything you need to know for the exams and makes sure you have the background information which, even if it is not tested directly, is important for understanding the rest of the material and for credibility inside the computer industry. In addition, the writing is clear and not nearly as dull as the writing in some other prep books. Personally, I prefer Mike Meyers's "I remember back in 1984..." style to the Robot Style writing in some of the other books. The included CD contains very useful practice questions and other valuable material. Most importantly, I used this book as my primary source and I passed both A+ exams the first time.
Rating:
Summary: Great!!!!
Review: This is definatly the definative guide for the A+ exams. The format is very clear and easy to understand. One might want to have a bit of tech experience before reading this book, but this is true if you want to take the A+ exams themselves. I would also recommend getting a copy of the A+ passport book of Meyers as well. It condenses the All in one book into EXACTLY what you need for the exam. DO NOT JUST USE THE PASSPORT BOOK!! While it gives you the information which is on the test, it does not teach much about the theory behind the technologies covered on the test. You need to understand this in order to do well on the test. Bottom line: The book rocks.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: This book helped me pass the A+ Service Technician's Examination. It is very thorough (Mike Meyers doesn't leave many things out) and quite fun to read. The last thing is important: if you're going to slog through 1,200 pages of technical information, it helps to be led through it all by someone with a sense of humor. My only complaint is with the pictures: not all of them were needed, and they seem to increase this already hefty book's size even further. Otherwise, this is one of the best computer books I've ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Mike Meyers is at the top of his game!
Review: Over the past 14 years there are several people who I have come to trust to produce exam material that will more than cover the exam. Mike Meyers is the premier name in the A+ certification arena and this book has new updates and coverage of both A+ exams and more. Nothing short of amazing is the amount of detailed and technically accurate information presented in this book in the over 1100 pages. One thing I was impressed with was the Pre-Test that starts this book, this gives the candidate a more accurate account of the skill set required to pass the exam. Breaking down the book is the first 8 chapters covering hardware, while chapters 9 through 12 deals with DOS, Windows 9.X and 2000, I think NT workstation should be included, but this does not detract from the book whatsoever. Chapters 13 through 19 are more hardware and finally chapter 20 for networking. As I have come to expect there are review questions with each chapter, which far and away tougher than the actual exam. The book is well organized and documented making this the perfect study tool for both self study and classroom teaching. The cd included has a number of tools and utilities, plus over 1 hour of training videos, 500+ questions in adaptive format to work with as well as 6 full practice exams. With everything include about the only thing it doesn't do is take the exam for you.
Rating:
Summary: Great, Great, Great....................................
Review: Just finished reading this book and it is the best out there. Mike really knows how to teach A+. I work as a network adminstator and wanted to start the road to certs. Decided to start with A+, I picked Mikes book up and couldn't let go. Mike really know how to drill the subject matter into you. I'm going to take the exam here pretty soon and thanks to Mike I'll pass with flying colors. Great for people in the NAVY that are out at sea alot and want to read something that will return there investment... Check out his Network+ book too...
Rating:
Summary: Great book for passing A+ exam
Review: The A+ certification exam is not easy. Using this book will help anyone pass. Michael Meyers has a great way of making topics that many would consider difficult easy. His style of writing does not make it boaring neither. The first chapter gives an inside look of the PC. He quickly goes through the basic components. The second chapter on microprocessors is very good. He gives an explaination of how processors work and also the differences between each modern processor. In the third chapter he talks about RAM history and how it works. The fourth chapter gives a detailed explanation of the motherboard and the system BIOS. Chapter 5 is an excellent introduction to the expansion bus. This chapter is very important to understand. Chapter 6 - 8 are about power supplies, floppy and hard drives. These chapters give detailed explanations on each of these devices. He then takes a break from hardware and jumps into software. Chapter 9 on DOS is excellent. It gives an overview of DOS commands and also explains the structure of DOS. The chapter on Windows 9x describes many parts of this OS and how to install and maintain it. The Windows 2000 section describes the differences of the Windows 9x and Windows NT operating systems. It also showed how to troubleshoot and maintain this OS. I felt the Windows 2000 information was a lot lighter than the other operating systems. Chapter 12 on memory managment will give the reader a very good understanding of how memory works in a PC. The author then jumps back to hardware describing SCSI and the changes it has gone through over the years. The next few chapters go into some basic PC devices (CD-ROM, Sound Cards, Video Boards, Modems). Chapter 18 talks about Laptops. This chapter mostly talks about how laptops handle power management and PC cards. Chapter 19 on printers talks about printers ranging from dot matrix to laser printers. The chapter on networks could have been a bit longer and some of the protocols should have been given more detailed discussions. The book is very good and the layout is perfect. The book is not structured as the test is (Hardware / Operating System). It goes into hardware then operating systems and back to hardware. This layout works because understanding some of the OS information will help the reader understand the setup of hardware devices like video and sound cards. If you want to understand the PC or want to pass the A+ exam this book is an excellent choice. It is a great tutorial and reference. For even greater practice get the Lab Manual as well. With these two books you will pass.
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