Essential Hands-on Skills in the 70-270 course !

Recently one of your a fellow students called Melvin (names are routinely changed to protect the identity of the individual ) posed a question.

"Arun, is there a list of important things I need to learn to do with XP Pro?"

What he meant was the hands on skills that he would learn as part of the course.

So I have come up with such a list for the 70-270 course :


Installation Skills

• Run Upgrade Advisor from OS media *!*
• Create an Unattended Installation using Answer Files and Disk Duplication *!*
• Convert a Fat32 Volume to NTFS

Networking Skills

• Configure TCP/IP properties for network cards including DNS Suffixes, WINS Servers etc
• Release and renew an IP address, clear ARP Cache and DNS client cache
• Create / Join a Work group with other Windows Systems
• Join a Windows Active Directory Domain
• Configure ICF/ICS
• Create a VPN Connection to a RAS Server
• Create a Dial-up connection to an ISP
• Install IIS and host two websites

Troubleshooting Skills

• Configure remote Assistance and Send RA Invitations to an Expert
• Start / Stop Services using services console ( Services.msc) and Command prompt ( net start etc. )
• Create, delete and manage Restore Points
• Use Taskmanager to identfy resource hungry processes and to kill them
• Change the startup type of a Service and to manually start / stop / restart a service
• Configure Startup using MSCONFIG Tool
• Edit BOOT.INI file
• Change File Associations for known File Types
• Access, Search and Backup Windows Registry
• Boot to Recovery Console and Install it as a Startup Option
• Boot to Safe mode with networking and use it to roll back a driver

Productivity Skills

• Configure Outlook Express to access a email server
• Configure Dual Display and Extended Desktop
• Install an popular Anti-virus Product like Norton, Avast, Mc Afee and Configure its options and Firewall
• Install 3rd Party Browsers and Update Plugins for Flash, Java
• Install Adminpak.MSI
• Install a Bluetooth Adapter and pair a Bluetooth Device
• Update DirectX and .Net Framework
• Configure a manual Wireless connection to a residential gateway / AP using WPA
• Install a Multifunction Device and configure Printer / Scanner and Fax functions
• Install a CD-DVD Authoring Program and create Data / Audio / DVD Movies
• Use Hot Pluggable USB Devices and to Stop a USB Device before physically un-plugging it
• configure a residential Wireless gateway ( read Wirelss router ) from a Wired connection using the built in Configuration Webpages

Administration and Configuration Skills

• Create Local users and Groups
• Modify Local Computer Policy
• Enable Hibernation and to Create custom Power Management Profiles
• Install a Local / Network Printer and edit Server properties
• Create a file share and configure Share and NTFS permissions
• Map a network Drive
• Configure Multiple Languages and keyboard Layouts
• Configure Accessibility options
• Change a password for an user account without using any console
• Encrypt an NTFS File and Folder
• Use Compressed Drives and Folders

*!* Skills that are needed for your 70-270 exam but are not relevant to the industry in general.
This list is by no means EXHAUSTIVE. Please feel free to add any topics I may have forgotten in the comment section below.
:)