Doubtless: Faith that Overcomes the World Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a great book! It is easy to read and the stories are great. I loved it and it has truly cured me of doubt! If you are having a problem believing I encourage you to get this book you will not be disappointed!

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Doubt is more than a mindset that prevents us from casting the proverbial mountain into the sea. It's the doorway to unbelief. It's the cousin of fear and suspicion that blocks faith and discernment. It's the reason hope dies, faith fades and prayers go unanswered. Stop doubt dead in its tracks and build faith that overcomes the world with practical teachings will give you a new perspective on how to walk out God's Word.In Doubtless, Jennifer equips you to:'Discern the subtle voice of doubt and unbelief'Avoid the dream killer called self-doubt'Overcome the fear that follows doubt'Develop the "great faith" that demands results'Fight the good fight of faith and have victory every time'And much more!

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The Children of The Law of One & The Lost Teachings of Atlantis Review

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(More customer reviews)if you are curious as to the cause, nature and origin of the critical state of disharmony on our planet, The Children of The Law of One & The Lost Teachings of Atlantis by (the now late) Jon Peniel is the most comprehensive, informative and authentically true book i've found on The Matter.
with humor and aplomb the CLO & LAT explained everything to me about "life" as we know and experience it in/on the extant (3D five sense reality) incarnated plane of existence we live/operate in/on. the CLO & LAT also caused me see, literally and figuratively, The Light -- especially understanding, appreciating and coming to terms with the fact that we are indeed spiritual beings having a human experience (as opposed to human beings having a spiritual experience or even human beings having a human experience).
if you are wanting to know the origins of our being here, how things "devolved", why things are the way they are in our world/plane of existence today, how they got this way -- the details and history of how the whole "mess" started, who/what is responsible, what's gonna happen next/how the "mess" is going to be "cleaned" up, what needs to be done, how to better yourself and live life so as to be an exemplar for others, etc. -- essentially all of life's mysteries and questions explained -- then this is The Book for you.
an excellent companion book imho, Fallen Angels and the Origins of Evil: Why Church Fathers Suppressed the Book of Enoch and Its Startling Revelations, is Most Congruent and dovetails very well with the CLO & LAT teachings on what Went Wrong and what's gonna happen to Right Things.

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This is the account of an American teenager who discovered a monastery in Tibet that was the inspriation for the legend of "Shangri La". It might be categorized as a 'new age' or philosophy book, like The Celestine Prophecy, since it focuses on his spiritual training and their teachings in a novel-like format. Hard to believe, but interestingly, the sub-tropical region amongst the Himalayas that he describes finding, was later documented by explorers from National Geographic, the 'covered up' (there is still evidence of this). Also interesting is that the author was apparently mentioned in the Edgar Cayce readings (the famous American psychic whose books have sold millions of copies), as someone who would one day bring an important message to the world.--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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E-Commerce Security: Weak Links, Best Defenses Review

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(More customer reviews)The title is ever so slightly misleading in that the topic is not electronic commerce as a whole, but the (admittedly most popular) Web segment of it. However, within this limit, the book does provide solid coverage and good advice for a whole range of issues.
Chapter one is a general introduction to the factors involved, looking at some recent "attacks" of various types, and then reviewing the client, transport, server, and operating system components to be examined in the remainder of the book. Client (generally browser) flaws are covered thoroughly in chapter two. The breadth of coverage even includes mention of topics such as the concern for privacy considerations with cookies. Active content is the major concern, with an excellent discussion of ActiveX (entitled "ActiveX [In]security"), a reasonably detailed review of the Java security model, and a look at JavaScript. Unfortunately, very little of this touches directly on e-commerce as such, except insofar as insecure client technology is going to make e-commerce a harder sell to the general public. While covering the transport of transaction information, in chapter three, Ghosh makes an interesting distinction between stored account systems (where you want to secure the transmission of identification data) and stored value systems (where the data, once transmitted, is useless to an eavesdropper). Many books concentrate on either channel security or electronic cash systems, so this comparison is instructive.
A server involves multiple programs, and may involve multiple machines. Server security can quickly become complex, and this is quite evident in chapter four. While a great deal of useful and thought-provoking information is presented, the complicated nature of the undertaking works against this chapter. Not all topics are dealt with thoroughly, or as well as the previous material was. Oddly, one issue not covered in depth is the firewall, which is handled very well in chapter five, with operating system problems. Ghosh sets up a classification scheme for OS attacks, illustrated by specific weaknesses in Windows NT and UNIX.
The book ends in chapter six with a call for certification of software, greater attention to security in all forms of software, and, interestingly, for greater use of component software. (From the jacket material, it appears that Ghosh is currently involved in the promotion of component software systems.)
Each chapter ends with a set of references. Unlike all too many books with bibliographies stuff with obscure citations from esoteric journals, the bulk of the material listed is available on the Internet. A separate section lists Web sites used in the text.
The various issues dealt with in the book are explained clearly, and generally present counsel on the best practices for secure online commerce. A compact but comprehensive guide to the current state of electronic transaction security.

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MCTS 70-640 Exam Cram: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuring Review

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(More customer reviews)This a very good book to prep for the exam. I'm surprised that there aren't more reviews for this book. This is one of the better IT books that I've read. If you have MCSA/MCSE-level knowledge of AD 2000 or 2003, this book is the only book that you'll need to prep for the exam. I'm talking about knowledge in actually designing and configuring AD, DNS, GPOs, and security; not simply managing AD. AD itself has not changed very much from 2000 to 2008.
The book does a great job of covering pretty much all the exam objectives in an easy to read manner. The only annoying thing about the book was that it put all the references at the end of the book in an appendix instead of at the end of each relevant chapter. I can see how that is a matter of preference, so other readers might like that. But overall, one couldn't ask for a better exam prep book.
I'm not sure what the other reviewer meant about some of the terms used in the book not matching up with MS terminology. I didn't run into this inconsistency at all. I also took the MeasureUp exam included on the CD and the terminology seemed to match. BTW, the MeasureUp exam is very easy to use and was pretty tough (it looks like you only get one 50 question exam on the CD, but can pay for the full version to get more). For the Exchange exam that I took last month, I actually bought a full Transcender exam and that was terrible. The Transcender interface looks like it hasn't changed in 15 years and for a paid product, I found a few errors. Anyway, I think if you really want to purchase a practice exam, use Measure Up (MS actually has them listed on the preparation materials section of the exam site).
The exam number is now 083-640 for English only. I had no indication that the exam number was renamed, and Prometric's site didn't have anything to alert me of this. So now I know why I couldn't select English as the language for 070-640. Duh!
Anyway, half of the exam consisted of two labs using fully functional VMs to do eight tasks each. I then had thirty regular questions for the rest of the exam. The lab caught me off guard because I didn't prepare for it, but it was actually easier than the questions after I got over the initial shock. The lab used real VMs, so you could actually go to the help system to find answers to the questions or browse the file system to look for a certain file name for a command or file if you couldn't remember the full name. I don't know if they deduct points if you use the help system. I'm not even sure how they grade the lab since I didn't get a breakdown of the scores for each section, but overall I got 916/1000, so I think the labs helped me a lot.
You definitely need hands-on skills and practice, not that you couldn't get by with some of the ridiculously easy lab tasks such as changing a group scope from global to universal. The keys to passing this exam are the following:
1.) Previous design and configuration experience with either AD 2000 or 2003. Can you set up AD from scratch and configure a child domain and DNS?
2.) Read all the chapters in this book and take the MeasureUp exam on the CD. I didn't take the big exam at the end of the book, but I did take each end-of-chapter exam.
3.) Set up a lab. I used Hyper-V and had 1 root domain with 2 DCs and one child domain with 1 DC. I also had 1 XP VM. I also installed a stand-alone CA on one of the DCs.
4.) Some supplemental materials on AD FS and possibly CA if you haven't worked with either before (which I think many sys admins haven't since these aren't the most common roles in use). You can just read a few short articles on MS on these topics--I don't think you'll need to go in depth and start reading white papers.
5.) Give yourself about a month to read the book and practice on your lab. I could have taken the exam in a month but I got real busy at work and then had an issue with scheduling with Prometric (BTW, this is one of the worst commercial Web sites. I consistently got the "Web site is down" messages on several occasions and navigating through to find a test center was not the most user friendly). Anyway, it ended up taking me 6 weeks from the start of reading this book to taking the exam, but I was pretty much ready in 4 weeks.

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MCTS Exam Cram Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, ConfiguringExam 70-640Don PoultonCovers the critical information you'll need to know to score higher on Exam 70-640!Utilize new features of Windows Server 2008 related to Active Directory Install and configure Active Directory forests and domains Plan and implement an Organizational Unit structure Plan and manage Active Directory infrastructure components, such as operations masters, global catalogs, read-only domain controllers, and sites Plan, implement, and manage Active Directory using Group Policy Plan and manage Active Directory roles, including Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services, Active Directory Rights Management Services, and Active Directory Federation ServicesDeploy software in Active Directory using Group Policy Utilize Active Directory features to manage users and groups Back up and restore Active Directory, and rebuild an Active Directory domain controller from backup Deploy and manage a public key infrastructure using Active Directory Certificate ServicesCD Features MeasureUp Practice Questions!Detailed explanations of correct and incorrect answersMultiple test modesRandom questions and order of answersCoverage of each 70-640 exam objectiveWRITTEN BY A LEADING EXPERT:Don Poulton, MCSA, MCSE, A+, Network+, Security+, has been involved in consulting with small training providers as a technical writer, during which time he wrote training and exam prep materials for Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, and Windows XP. More recently, he has written or co-authored several certification volumes on Security+, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Vista, published by Que Publishing.informit.com/examcramISBN-13: 978-0-7897-3791-5ISBN-10: 0-7897-3791-4

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Learning FreeNAS: Configure and manage a network attached storage solution Review

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(More customer reviews)This was my first excursion into a *nix or Free* type of operating system. I did not know what CHOWN or CHMOD was a couple of weeks ago. I scrathed around the web and found out about both and many other things about FreeNAS.
But I thought my knowledge was lacking so I purchased the Learning FreeNAS book. I have looked at several areas including the ineffective Index.
This book is for some far distant, previous release of FreeNAS and has less than half of what you need to know about many subjects. It does not mention anything about installing on a Hard Disk or Flash drive. I does not mention LiveISO/USB booting & operating.
So installation pretty much a miss. Tried looking up several things in the index. Missing. Wanted to know more about the CIFS configuration. The bottom half of the current screen is missing from the book.
To sum it up, almost everything you need to know, and more than is in this book, is available FOR FREE, on the web. Start with YouTube. With any amount of *nix or Free* knowledge, you already know more than this book does.
Such simple questions as how to install on USB Flash or CF Flash or hard drive are left, essentially unanswered. He goes into configuring your BIOS to boot from USB but not how to make the very thing you need to have to do such a boot from USB flash.
I feel cheated. There are some other sections which contain some useful information but I expect this is on the web, too. If updated to current version(s), this would be a valuable book but as it is, it is only marginally valuable.
Mike Morrow

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SMB Consulting Best Practices (Smb Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)If you haven't heard about the author's personal enterprises, then you surely will after reading all about him in this book. Heck, if a merchant won't promote his own wares, then who would? The gist of the book is to sell yourself wherever there is a heart-beat, and since would-be readers of this book have a pulse, they are fair game.
The author insists on calling this light-weight a 'tome,' but it is far from one. This book could have been written in half the number of pages and had room to spare. It is interspersed with redundant spaces for the reader's notes. These 'Notes' boxes and generous screen-shots fill many pages with vacuums when the author draws a blank. He admits it is more profitable to self-publish and and so the lack of editing is evident. The prose is colloquial, verbose, replete with spelling and grammatical errors, and has a few misplaced figures.
So why rate it three stars? Well, we mustn't throw out the baby with the bath water. The author is a successful consultant and so his experiences are instructive. Among the topics covered are the business plan, growing a consulting practice, marketing, sales, client relationships and financial management. One can almost envision him recalling courses from his MBA as he navigates these topics. The author is a Microsoft Small Business Server consultant and the material leans heavily that way, and so a more accurate title would have been SBS Consulting Best Practices. The coverage is adequate, but not worth the price tag, especially for those familiar with consulting books.

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This book serves the small and medium business (SMB) technology consultant seeking to make a great living as a professional service provider. Focused more on the "business" side than the "bits" side, it's all about:* Not only surviving but thriving as an SMB consultant by cultivating a superior portfolio of top flight customers with appropriate, effective and efficient business development approaches. * Keeping your customers happy by applying the consulting practice management skills presented between the covers.* Finding your calling in SMB consulting life by discovering niches such as Windows Small Business Server 2003 (SBS 2003) that allow you to master a technical area and consistently deliver assured outcomes.Some will find this book, built on the well established construct of the finder, minder, grinder professional services delivery model, could aptly be titled "How to Make Money as an SMB Consultant." Others will view this book as a transition tome between SBS 2000 and SBS 2003 due to the timeframe that is was penned (this books uses both examples as . Others will view it as the first SBS 2003 book to market! And finally, many will consider this book their ready guide to taking their SMB consulting practice to the next levels of profitability and service delivery.Bottom line: This is your "pocket MBA" course on how to launch yourself as an SMB consultant using Microsoft's SBS solution -or- if you're an experienced consultant, this book will help you sharpen your SMB consulting operations. It's safe to say it's purchase price will be returned many times over and reflect an positive return on investment! You may contact the author (an experienced SMB consultant, SBS guru and writer) directly at sbs@nethealthmon.com if you have any questions about this book you would like answered before you make your purchase. You will receive a reply within one business day.

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Microsoft Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) Administrator's Companion (Pro -Administrator's Campanion) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is thorough and well written from a technical aspect. It is also the only Threat Management Gateway book in print at this time, as far as I know.
The only strikes against it...
It is dry, as you would expect from most technical manuals. There is none of the humor of Mark Minasi or the exuberance of Tom Shinder's writing.
I have come across a couple items that I think are incorrect due to the book having been written before TMG 2010 was actually released. Microsoft Press has a section on their website for updates to books, but as of my writing this, no corrections have been posted.
Some of the concepts in here could probably use a little more thorough explanation (for me it was NLB). But all in all, a well done book. At this point in time, I would consider this a must-purchase if you are going to use TMG 2010.


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Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007 Administrator's Companion Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is geared toward readers such as Web Developers, Information Management / Compliance Specialist, Administrators to name but a few. If you are a beginner to Sharepoint Server 2007, this book will be a most difficult read. The concepts and topics that are presented will have to be re-enforced with online research or the purchase of another book.
To give an example.
The book is composed of six sections, with the first three ( 663 pages in length ) being targeted towards administration and configuration. However, within this mix we have presentations on performance monitoring and MOM 2005, high level discussions on information security policies such as password and storage policies, data classification. We are introduced to advanced Enterprise topics such as the Business Data Catalogue and records compliance ( that is the Sarbanes Oxley Act etc. ). These discussions all assume prior expertise and should you be new to Sharepoint Server 2007 this will no doubt frustrate you. The Authors, in their quest to appeal to a wide variety of readers, cannot delve into the in-depth explanations, followed up by well worked out examples that a beginner to Sharepoint Server 2007 would require.
Web Developers will tend to focus on Sections 5 and 6. While these sections do introduce Workflow Services, Webparts and products like Sharepoint Designer I found the overriding theme is again one of high level discussion and overviews. Expertise is assumed.
Overall I would say that if you are coming from a background with some expertise in Sharepoint Server 2003 or you require a high level picture of the abundance of features that Sharepoint 2007 can bring to your organisation in addition to how it integrates with other server platforms, such as ISA 2006 for example, you will enjoy this book and the nuggets of useful information it provides. The writing style is not engaging; this book is not a joy to read but it will tell you what can be done with Sharepoint Server 2007, outline best practices and point you in the correct direction. The how-to part is very much left to yourself.
If however, your goal in purchasing this book is an in-depth knowledge of the installation, administration and configuration of Sharepoint 2007 and you have no prior expertise with Sharepoint Server 2003 or indeed 2001, then you will gain little benefit from this book. You will find it difficult to read, difficult to digest and your understanding of Sharepoint 2007 will not improve. If anything, you may be discouraged from using Sharepoint Server 2007 which would be a shame as the product is in my opinion really good. Regards.

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Get your mission-critical collaboration and information-management systems up and running with this essential, single-volume guide. This comprehensive reference details features and capabilities of SharePoint Server 2007. It delivers the easy-to-follow procedures, practical workarounds, and key troubleshooting tactics you need for on-the-job results.

Discover how to:

Install and deploy SharePoint Server 2007
Configure server farms and define a farm topology
Create and manage content libraries, records repositories, and document workflows
Manage enterprise search and indexing features
Develop and implement an information security policy
Configure other server platforms to work with SharePoint Server 2007
Create a Business Data Catalog and manage data connections to other applications
Monitor and fine-tune system performance
Apply best practices for backup and recovery

CD features:

Fully searchable eBook
Code samples and additional resources

A Note Regarding the CD or DVD

The print version of this book ships with a CD or DVD. For those customers purchasing one of the digital formats in which this book is available, we are pleased to offer the CD/DVD content as a free download via O'Reilly Media's Digital Distribution services. To download this content, please visit O'Reilly's web site, search for the title of this book to find its catalog page, and click on the link below the cover image (Examples, Companion Content, or Practice Files). Note that while we provide as much of the media content as we are able via free download, we are sometimes limited by licensing restrictions. Please direct any questions or concerns to booktech@oreilly.com.

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Designing Web Usability Review

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(More customer reviews)I agree with other reviewers, Jakob does present his ideas as Rules You Must Follow, rather than observations or suggestions. On a few things, he offers no data to back up his assertion, and on a couple things I know he's factually incorrect. I also agree that there are a lot of typos in this book, but only if you're observant.
However, what he does present is just great. I like the writing style. I like the example images. For example, when he says to design for "any" screen size, and then shows you 3 screenshots of Web sites that lock themselves into a certain size, that certainly illuminates how stupid some designers can be.
One other point. Jakob is writing for usability, about how people get information. He pays no attention to marketing issues, such as branding, creating product interest, giving the customer a memorable experience, entertainment, etc. It is fine that he concentrates on other areas, but know before you buy the book that you will have to make up you own mind in those areas (at least). For instance, site reports from the Web site I work on show that any time I throw a DHTML "whiz-bang" widget onto the site, the area it is promoting gets a doubling to a quadrupling of traffic. That flies in the face of his "don't use whiz-bang features" philosophy. But I've learned that his data and my data don't always agree. So take Jakob with a grain of salt.

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MCTS: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Configuration Study Guide: Exam 70-630 Review

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(More customer reviews)I recently passed exam 70-630 (MCTS: MOSS Configuration) and this book was one of the study methods I used for preparing for the exam. Overall, this is an excellent resource for not only the exam but I found it to be a decent reference manual as well. The book covers all of the concepts you "need to know" without going into the great depths of every detail. It's easy to read and follow and retain the information. It is also they only book available specifically geared towards exam 70-630.
If you understand all of the concepts of this book and can answer the practice questions provided with it, you are more than ready for the real exam. My only critique about it is that I did not find the practice questions to be very helpful as many of them were much more detailed and more complicated than the actual exam. However, it's better to err on the side of complexity than making the practice questions too easy.
I would recommend pairing this book with a practice test vendor such as Self Test Software or Transcender and you should be successful in achieving your MCTS in MOSS Configuration.
Overall it's a very good study guide and reference book.

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Windows Small Business Server 2008 Unleashed Review

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(More customer reviews)More than half finished with this book, I am writing a review from the perspective of an in-house person who manages IT as just one of my job duties in our small organization rather than from a consultant's point of view. The short of my opinion is this: 1) The value of this book will far exceed its costs if it saves you from making just one or two mistakes (and I think it will); 2) You will need more than this book to manage an SBS environment; 3) The target audience for this book remains ambiguous to me.
Depending on how extensively you use each component of SBS and what you already know, I recommend separate SharePoint, IIS, Exchange, and Active Directory books as well as one that covers Server 2008 in general in addition to this book. SBS Unleashed is far too short at 800 pages to cover these topics in enough detail for you to make full use of the product's capabilities.
Specifically, I would not feel comfortable managing an Exchange Server with only this book at hand. With three chapters (Management, Client Connectivity, Disaster Recovery), it is easily the most in-depth covered topic. That is appreciated; however, something as crucial and common as how to configure and manage email addresses that use both internal and external domains is only covered tangentially even though you will have both if you follow the instructions in the installation chapter. An Exchange Admin would likely find this trivial, but if this book was written for her, I am sure she would find an example of how to add an additional external email address (which IS included) even more trivial.
The SharePoint chapter also demonstrates additional books are in order. Seemingly randomly included is a step-by-step on how to setup a Wiki, but an explanation of exactly what can be done with SharePoint is missing. The take-away sounds like this: "SharePoint is a great document management and collaboration software package, here are the default settings, steps to merge existing data, how to back-up settings, and one page on troubleshooting." Disappointing. The same thing goes for Exchange Public Folders. You might learn how to back them up and a few (important) notes, but don't expect to be told how you can make use of them.
I would not have subtracted a star if it wasn't for two things: 1) Target audience, and 2) The chapter on IIS.
1) If this book is targeted at people who already understand the standalone products and are mainly interested in what is different in SBS, why would something such as a screen shot of where you enter your organization's address information be included? (I use that just as an example of the conflicting target audiences).
2) The chapter on IIS was extremely frustrating as it was not fully edited (wizard names confused, repetitive paragraphs, sentences that I don't think I should have had to read more than once or twice but did), it included a full page of a log file with no explanation, and it did a rough job of explaining certificates, which are better covered in a future chapter on Exchange Client Connectivity. It just seemed rushed and not thought out besides not doing you much good if you aren't already familiar managing IIS.
Despite my criticisms, this book is a must-buy if you are a consultant who has clients that might use SBS or if your organization is planning or considering implementing an SBS solution. The authors are really part of the SBS community and you can find some of them active on blogs and newsgroups (see the SBS newsgroups at Microsoft Connect). I do think they have taken a very complex product and presented a substantial amount of useful information in an engaging way that will help you manage SBS. I'm sure as more seasoned IT admins read the book, they will disagree with me.

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Optical Fiber Communications Systems: Theory and Practice with MATLAB® and Simulink® Models (Optics and Photonics) Review

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(More customer reviews)Figures in the book are of a very low quality. Material is highly derivative and merely revised (looks like it was copy-pasted by a lazy bachelor student. Mistakes in English are obvious as well as a lack of logic in material representation. Matlab codes are not something original, you can find the same ones and much better on MathWorks. Do not buy this book.

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Carefully structured to provide practical knowledge on fundamental issues, Optical Fiber Communications Systems: Theory and Practice with MATLAB and Simulink Models explores advanced modulation and transmission techniques of lightwave communication systems. With coverage ranging from fundamental to modern aspects, the text presents optical communication techniques and applications, employing single mode optical fibers as the transmission medium. With MATLAB and Simulink models that illustrate methods, it supplies a deeper understanding of future development of optical systems and networks.The book begins with an overview of the development of optical fiber communications technology over the last three decades of the 20th century. It describes the optical transmitters for direct and external modulation technique and discusses the detection of optical signals under direct coherent and incoherent reception. The author also covers lumped Er:doped and distributed Roman optical amplifiers with extensive models for the amplification of signals and structuring the amplifiers on the Simulink platform. He outlines a design strategy for optically amplified transmission systems coupled with MATLAB Simulink models, including dispersion and attenuation budget methodology and simulation techniques. The book concludes with coverage of advanced modulation formats for long haul optical fiber transmission systems with accompanied Simulink models.Although many books have been written on this topic over the last two decades, most of them present only the theory and practice of devices and subsystems of the optical fiber communications systems in the fields, but do not illustrate any computer models to represent the true practical aspects of engineering practice. This book fills the need for a text that emphasizes practical computing models that shed light on the behavior and dynamics of the devices.

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The Gift: The 12 Greatest Tools of Personal Growth -- and How to Put Them into Practice Review

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(More customer reviews)As a speaker and trainer for over 20 years, I have often quoted Dr. Helmstetter's earlier books in my presentations on self-esteem and successfull goal setting. This book is the best yet because of how concisely he isolates 12 major-but-simple techniques anyone can use to improve their lives. In fact, a reader can pick and choose what chapter to read to fit a particular circumstances.
I bought extra copies of this book to give to people I care about. Recently I was visiting a friend in her real-estate office. She pulled out her now well-worn, bookmarked copy of the book I had given her several weeks ago to help her through a business slump. She told me how priceless she thought the book was and how much she was benefiting from it. However, she was equally excited because she been able to share parts of it with her teenage daughter, who then asked to borrow the book to share with another friend who needed to work on her self-esteem. (My friend got another copy for the girls because she will not give up her own!)
I have read all of Dr. Helmstetter's books and know that he has already changed many lives, but I truly believe this is his best book yet. There is something in this book for everyone, and the real gift you give yourself when you have this book is the joy of sharing it with someone else.

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The latest book from Shad Helmstetter, Ph.D., the author of the classic personal growth best-seller, "What to Say When You Talk to Your Self.""The Gift" is the inspiring story of women and men who are changing their own lives - by helping other people change theirs.This beautifully-written book helps you put the 12 best personal growth concepts ever discovered into practice - in your personal life and in your career.

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Mike Meyers' CISSP(R) Certification Passport Review

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(More customer reviews)The CISSP strikes terror for some, since it is not an easy exam to prepare for. I picked up this book because of its portability (I travel so I need something light to carry around), not expecting anything substantial to be inside, only pointers to help me remember some of the material I have already covered. Instead, I found this book to be a gem, a book full of concise material written in style that is uncluttered, presented in a format that is structured. Plus, the book offers online questions for practice. Besides the occasional typo or two, the only fault I can criticize about the book is its Q&A section--it seemed a little too simple for a professional exam.
Overall, I would recommend this book as a good first book to use, to quickly gain as much grasp of the security concepts in as little time as possible, and then slowly graduate to the more substantial offerings from QUE or Wiley.

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Snort IDS and IPS Toolkit (Jay Beale's Open Source Security) Review

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(More customer reviews)Syngress published "Snort 2.0" in Mar 03, and I gave it a four star review in Jul 03. Syngress followed with "Snort 2.1" in May 04, and I gave it a four star review in Jul 04. I recommend reading those reviews, since the latest edition -- "Snort IDS and IPS Toolkit" (SIAIT) -- makes many of the same mistakes as its predecessors. Worse, it includes material that was already outdated in BOTH previous editions. If you absolutely must buy a book on Snort, this edition is your only real choice. Otherwise, I would stick with the manual and online articles.
SIAIT looks impressive page-wise, but it suffers from the multiple-author, no-editing, rush-to-production problems unfortunately inherent in many Syngress titles. One would think that including many contributing authors (11, apparently) would make for a strong book. In reality, the book contributes very little beyond what appears in "Snort 2.1," despite the fact that "only" chapters 8, 10, 11, and 13 appear to be repeats or largely rehashes of older material. Comparing to "Snort 2.1," these compare to old chapters 7, 10, 12, and 11, respectively.
The absolute worst part of this book is the re-introduction of all the outdated information in chapters 8 and 10. It is 2007 and we are STILL reading on p 353 that XML output is "our favorite and relatively new logging format" and on p 367 that "Unified logs are the future of Snort reporting." (I cited both of these as being old news in Jul 04!) I should note that these chapters are not entirely duplicates; if you compare output such as that on page 335 of "Snort 2.1" with page 365 in SIAIT you'll see the author replaced the original 2003 timestamps with 2006! This is the height of lazy publishing. Chapter 10 features similar tricks, where traffic is the same except for global replacements of IP addresses and timestamps; notice the ACK numbers are still the same and the test uses Snort 1.8.
There's plenty more in this book to make you cringe. Mentions of Netbus, SubSeven, BO2k, ExploreZip, QAZ, and the like in ch 1 will make you think it's 1999 all over again. In ch 2 you can be mislead into thinking that "there will be rule upgrades released with each major version of Snort for those who do not care to register." In reality the last rule set for unregistered users arrived with Snort 2.4 in Jul 05. Ch 3 wastes time rambling about SMP, threads, operating systems, and other topics I can better learn in a non-Snort book. I also liked reading how to install Snort 2.4.3 on OpenBSD in a book about Snort 2.6.x. Ch 3 also featured such pearls of wisdom as recommendations to not run Metasploit but instead use worthless stateless tools like Snot and Sneeze (p 123).
A few more choice words could be said about these disasters. Check out the "three way handshake" diagram on p 238 that shows FIN ACK / FIN ACK / FIN, and the "graceful close" diagram on p 239 that shows FIN / FIN ACK / ACK / ACK. These sorts of train wrecks are evidence that someone is asleep at the publishing house. Returning to the old material theme for ch 9, be prepared for screenshots or output from BASE 1.0.2 from Jul 04, Sguil 0.3.1 from Apr 04, and SnortSnarf from Jan 03. Finally, ch 12: why bother?
I have a few positive comments. The best chapter in SIAIT is ch 5 (Inner Workings). I liked seeing Afterglow, Tenshi, and SEC in ch 9. I enjoyed hearing something about performance profiling in ch 6. I thought the rules chapter was ok, but (to repeat a plea from my earlier reviews) would someone please consider writing a real rule writing reference that exceeds the introductory material found in this book and elsewhere? We also need coverage of shared object rules and other advanced Snort features.
It should be clear by now that the Syngress Snort book procession needs to end. Another publisher should consider writing a real Snort book for version 3.0 once it is available.

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This all new book covering the brand new Snort version 2.6 from members of the Snort developers team.This fully integrated book, CD, and Web toolkit covers everything from packet inspection to optimizing Snort for speed to using the most advanced features of Snort to defend even the largest and most congested enterprise networks. Leading Snort experts Brian Caswell, Andrew Baker, and Jay Beale analyze traffic from real attacks to demonstrate the best practices for implementing the most powerful Snort features. The accompanying CD contains examples from real attacks allowing readers test their new skills. The book will begin with a discussion of packet inspection and the progression from intrusion detection to intrusion prevention. The authors provide examples of packet inspection methods including: protocol standards compliance, protocol anomaly detection, application control, and signature matching. In addition, application-level vulnerabilities including Binary Code in HTTP headers, HTTP/HTTPS Tunneling, URL Directory Traversal, Cross-Site Scripting, and SQL Injection will also be analyzed. Next, a brief chapter on installing and configuring Snort will highlight various methods for fine tuning your installation to optimize Snort performance including hardware/OS selection, finding and eliminating bottlenecks, and benchmarking and testing your deployment. A special chapter also details how to use Barnyard to improve the overall performance of Snort. Next, best practices will be presented allowing readers to enhance the performance of Snort for even the largest and most complex networks. The next chapter reveals the inner workings of Snort by analyzing the source code. The next several chapters will detail how to write, modify, and fine-tune basic to advanced rules and pre-processors. Detailed analysis of real packet captures will be provided both in the book and the accompanying CD. Several examples for optimizing output plugins will then be discussed including a comparison of MySQL and PostrgreSQL. Best practices for monitoring Snort sensors and analyzing intrusion data follow with examples of real world attacks using: ACID, BASE, SGUIL, SnortSnarf, Snort_stat.pl, Swatch, and more.The last part of the book contains several chapters on active response, intrusion prevention, and using Snort's most advanced capabilities for everything from forensics and incident handling to building and analyzing honey pots. Data from real world attacks will be presented throughout this part as well as on the accompanying CD. * This fully integrated book, CD, and Web toolkit covers everything all in one convenient package * It is authored by members of the Snort team and it is packed full of their experience and expertise* Includes full coverage of the brand new Snort version 2.6, packed full of all the latest information

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MCITP Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-685): Windows 7, Enterprise Desktop Support Technician (Pro - Certification) Review

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(More customer reviews)Bear in mind, I have several certifications:
I studied this book, forwards, backwards and sideways.
I understand the content, and tested repeatedly high with the enclosed test prep materials.
There is not one concept or item in this book that I do not understand.
None the less, this book did not prepare me for this exam.
The authors did a good job of covering Windows 7 in the enterprise.
There's just one problem, THIS EXAM WHICH I JUST FAILED is weighted heavily in knowledge of Windows Server 2008 R2.
The case scenarios all have at least 25 variables each, and most, if not all of those variables center around the server O.S.
Microsoft should split this exam into 2 parts. 1 part for Windows 7, and one part for Windows server.
I've never felt so cheated in my life.
--Update--
I went through this book cover to cover a second time, did all the exercises and case scenarios.
Just failed the test a second time.
I wonder if there are any stats on the pass rate for this 70-685?
Between the two failed exams and the cost of this book, I'm out about $275.00
After 17 years, I'm finished with Microsoft Press material of any kind.
The 70-680 Microsoft press book was a disaster with the sheer volume of errors. (18 full pages of errata)
This book has no bearing whatever in the actual exam that MS publishes for the 70-685.
I'll stick with Cisco, Novell and CompTIA from now on.


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Announcing an all-new SELF-PACED TRAINING KIT designed to help maximize your performance on 70-685, the required exam for the new MCITP certification: WINDOWS 7, ENTERPRISE DESKTOP SUPPORT TECHNICIAN. This 2-in-1 kit includes the official Microsoft® study guide, plus practice tests on CD to help you assess your skills. It comes packed with the tools and features exam candidates want most-including in-depth, self-paced training based on final exam content; rigorous, objective-by-objective review; exam tips from expert, exam-certified authors; and customizable testing options. It also provides real-world scenarios, case study examples, and troubleshooting labs to give you the skills and expertise you can use on the job. Work at your own pace through the lessons and lab exercises. The official study guide covers identifying and resolving desktop application, networking, security, and performance issues; supporting mobile users; and providing support for hardware failures.Then assess yourself using the 200 practice questions on CD, featuring multiple customizable testing options to meet your specific needs. Choose timed or untimed testing mode, generate random tests, or focus on discrete objectives. You get detailed explanations for right and wrong answers-including pointers back to the book for further study. You also get an exam discount voucher-making this kit an exceptional value and a great career investment. A Note Regarding the CD or DVD The practice test materials are available as a download along with your ebook version of the kit, and will be located in your account. Please direct any questions or concerns to booktech@oreilly.com.

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IEEE Std 1100-1999, IEEE Recommended Practice for Powering and Grounding Electronic Equipment (The IEEE Emerald Book) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book, now in its second edition, is the work of power quality professionals who are members of the IEEE. It features the official vocabulary for power quality, outlines numerous PQ fundamentals, covers grounding & bonding and supplies recommended practices for many PQ mitigation techniques. The coverage of power quality case studies is helpful but not as in depth as it could be. This is a must-have for anyone interested in learning about power quality.

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