Stuff to pimp your Windows Home Server

Hacking Windows Home Server is a blog dedicated to Microsoft's WHS technology. Brought to you by Donavon West, Microsoft MVP and author of LiveGadgets.net and donavon.com I'll also discuss the Hewlett-Packard HP MediaSmart Server EX470, EX475, EX485, EX487, the T7-HSA Tranquil Harmony Home Server and any other new Home Server hardware platforms that arise. You can also call this hacking or hackz. In any case I will show you some cool things to make your Microsoft Windows Home Server even sweeter.

A blog devoted to getting the most out of your
Windows Home Server by Microsoft MVP Donavon West.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Review: TrainSignal Windows Home Server CBT Course

I had the chance to review a computer based training (CBT) course on Microsoft's Windows Home Server from TrainSignal.

The videos training course comes on 2 CDs and are front ended by a rather 90's looking menu system built with Macromedia Flash Player 8. The menus also have some annoying mouse overs that sound like some sort of cyber chicken. But once you clicking on a chapter title, it launches a beautifully produced 800x600 WMV video "chapter" in a browser window.

All aspects of WHS are covered from Installation to Folder and Media Sharing to Advanced Administration. If you want to learn at your own pace, and prefer a guided instructor over reading a user's guide, then you can't go wrong with this CBT course.

There are 21 videos in the entire course (click on the play button to the right to watch a sample video) and each video is an average of 40 minutes long, which is 14 hours of video! If you plan on watching the entire series, you'd better have a lot of free time on your hands!

Of course if there are certain chapters or sections that you have no interest in, you can skip right over them. For example, if you don't see yourself streaming audio to your Windows Mobile device, you can skip over the section on LobsterTunes.

Overall I found the video quality excellent and the instructor Scott Lowe to be very knowledgeable on the subject. I was also pleased to see that nothing needed to be installed on my laptop. The 2 CD course sells for $99 and can be ordered here. That may sound a bit pricey at first, there there is a lot of information in these videos.

Fin. Why not comment on what you've just read or even Digg It!

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2 comments:

Unknown said...

I recently purchased the Windows Home Server Users Guide (Expert's Voice) (Paperback) book.
Do you think there is info in the videos that is not in the book that would benefit me.

Donavon West said...

I have that book as well. I would say that most everything in the video is covered in the book with the exception of the more advanced topic (like how to install Wordpress or streaming to a Windows Mobile phone), but I would suggest that you go to the video website, take a look at the chapters listed and compare for yourself.

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