Introduction to Windows 7

August 13, 2017
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This year I was able to take the official Microsoft course 6292 on Windows 7 and then subsequently passed the “Configuring Windows 7” exam 70-680. I now have the MCTS Windows 7 moniker. I’ve compiled this list of resources that were helpful to me in getting my head around the many changes in Win7.

Windows 7 Feature overview

This is a good place to start looking for the big picture of what has changed coming from XP. A lot of this is in common with Vista, but for enterprise support professionals, we largely skipped this upgrade so we need the full feature view.

http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/technetwindows7.aspx?tab=Videos&seriesid=141&webcastid=6764

Test Drive: virtual machines to use in feature tours:

Microsoft is making a lot a material available on their “Windows Test Drive” web site. This set of labs is especially useful. They allow you to use virtual Win7 machines and experiment with the features. Just follow the lab examples to get some real hands-on training.

http://www.microsoft.com/click/WindowsTestDrive/ITPro/

Windows 7 Learning Snacks (video training)

The Microsoft “snack” series of training modules allows a quick view of a single major feature.

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/training/format-learning-snacks.aspx#win7

Evaluate Systems and Transitions

Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit

This tool is updated for Win7 and provides a good set of tools to evaluate Win7 readiness of the applications in use for an enterprise. There are options for standalone or data collection modes for the tool. These are great for uncovering all those small one-off applications that no one ever documents but are suddenly “mission critical” when they don’t work.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/ee677580.aspx

Windows 7 Deployment Guide

Win7 offers an expanded array of tools for the migration and deployment scenarios. These tools do figure prominently on the exam. And they offer a number of ways to ease the transition onto the new version.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/ee676738.aspx

Originally Posted November 26, 2010
Last Revised on November 26, 2010