CBT Review

First to the market with Windows Vista videos as far as I am aware is CBT Nuggets with their Windows Vista First Looks product.

Being first to market at least allows other CBT Companies to know what they are up against, so if this product is a winner it raises the benchmark immediately for other players in the training game.

So did CBT Nuggets succeed here? Well, yes and no.

The product itself is fine for a first look at Vista and in the defense of CBT Nuggets, they don't claim that this is a series of comprehensive training videos on Windows Vista. Its designed to be a pre-release introduction of what Windows Vista is all about, and they demonstrate their videos using the Beta and RC versions of Vista.

Since Vista is out now its probably worth waiting to see what else CBT Nuggets comes up with as this is a series that is rather simplistic for most Windows XP users wanting to step up into Vista.

The video quality of this series is very poor and not up to the usual standards you'd expect from a company that does produce some quite good video training products. The trainer appears to be running Vista in a virtual machine with 8 bit color, which makes the product look awful. So if you expect to see the new Aero interface in all its glory - forget it. He also turns off some features on the Sidebar (but does explain why he is doing it), to make the videos smaller. Quite frankly I'd prefer a larger download size and the videos looking better (note to CBT Nuggets: your target market probably has broadband).

Overall not a great product from CBT Nuggets, but a reasonable introduction to what you can expect to see in the final release of Windows Vista.

Pros:
First to market with Vista Training.
Price.

Cons:
Material is quite shallow, but don't forget, this is a "First Look" at the product.
Video quality is very poor.

Company: CBT Nuggets
Product Link: Windows Vista First Look
Price: $29

Our Rating: 4/10

There are 15 major topics in covered in this release of Windows Vista Training from TrainSignal, covering topics from Installing, Backing Up and Configuring Windows Vista.

As is normal with Trainsignal products, the audio and visual quality is excellent and that only leaves the...well, training.

In many of the videos, we felt that the training was good, not technically too hard to understand - we'd say aimed at the experienced home user through to Level 1 (Helpdesk) support staff.

If you are beyond this level, you'll probably find this training to basic.

This release includes coverage of the new Aero Interface in Vista, installation, managing disks, networking, backups, users and groups, sharing, IE7 and administration tasks - overall it covers a good portion of the things you'll want to do with Vista.

There were however many "little" things that we didnt like. For example, the backup video spends around 20 minutes showing us a third party backup solution which has nothing to do with Vista. Whilst we appreciate the fact that Windows Vista now ships with a "crippled" backup application, and sure, some people might like this training showing you an alternative. But when I pay for training on Windows Backup, I dont expect a third of the video to demonstrate a totally different product (especially one I have to pay for). You may disagree, but we think that a short mention of alternatives you might like to check out would have been better, not a mini tutorial.

Other gripes included the fact that there were many times throughout these videos where the trainer got stuck trying to perform a task and it didnt work. He'd forget a password, or clicks something and doesnt appear to understand what has gone on. Whilst it definately gives you the feeling that the training is done live (and I understand that things dont always work in the real world), I'd have edited these things out. It doesnt look good.

We have mixed emotions about this release from TrainSignal. Its a reasonable release for beginners, but from what we've seen the trainer is clearly not an expert.

These gripes aside there are a lot of videos in this package and unless you are expecting a really hardcore technical tutorial, you'll probably be reasonably happy with this release.

Whilst it isnt what I'd call the best training around (and Trainsignal have done much better than this before), ibut ts certainly the best at the moment as many vendors havent yet released their Windows Vista training. If you need Vista training right now, its definately the best on the market, otherwise I'd probably wait to see what else comes out in the coming months.

That said, if you are a home user, or low level support staff member wanting to find out more about Windows Vista, we recommend it.

Pros:
19+ Hours of Training. Video and audio quality is very good as usual with most trainsignal products.

Recommended to home users and helpdesk staff.

Cons:
Trainsignal claim 19+ Hours of training, although this certainly doesnt mean 19+ hours of good training. Quite frankly, removing the errors the trainer makes and the babbling on about unrelated topics, this should have been much shorter. You can't always judge the quality of training by how long it goes for and this release is highly evident of that.

In our opinion, the Trainer clearly isnt an expert on Vista and that does undermine the products value. That said, most of the training appears to be technically accurate.

Company: TrainSignal
Product Link: Windows Vista Administration and Support
Price: $149

Our Rating: 7/10

If you're looking for Windows Vista Training, don't go any further. This new release from Winstructor is just what you need to pass the 70-620 exam, or simply learn practically every thing you'll need to know about Windows Vista.

The Series starts out with a video demonstrating how to install Vista, which of course anybody can do - however this video shows you how to upgrade XP and even how to dual boot Windows Vista with Windows XP and how to use the new bcdedit command to change your boot menu.

This package also includes a video on Sharing and Permissions which goes for over and hour and would have to include the best explanations I've heard on the subject. If you've ever had trouble with understanding how shares and permission work, you need this video!

Security is covered in the form of videos on the Windows Firewall, Windows Defender, User Account Control and even a really good video on Windows Live OneCare (which is Microsoft's Anti-Spyware, Anti-Virus, Firewall, Backup and PC Tune Up application). Also included is a great video on Parental Controls and this one is simple enough for most parents to understand.

Since some applications have changed in Windows Vista, namely the Windows Event Viewer and the Performance Monitor which is now called the Reliability and Performance Monitor, these subjects now have major coverage in these videos.

One thing I really liked about this series is that when a subject is explained, if there is a group policy object that relates to the subject, Winstructor includes coverage of that as well. Whilst home users might not fully understand group policy, more technical folks will love this.

And speaking of technical things, the Vista Sidebar video is unlike any other video that simply shows you the SideBar, this video also shows you what you need to create your own Gadgets!

Other videos include Printers, Remote Desktop and Remote Assistance, Mobile Computing, Networking, Backup and Restores, Internet Explorer 7 and a video on Aero including the new search features of Windows Vista.

This training is just what you need to master Windows Vista.

At $69.95 its without doubt the best value training around and the quality is superb. I imagine that most people that pay between $100-200 per CBT will kick themselves when they get this for less than half the price.

The training is very thorough, detailed and informative. Highly recommended.

Pros:
Price.
20+ Videos
Covers almost everything.

Cons:
No coverage of IIS.

Company: Winstructor
Product Link: Windows Vista Training Videos
Price: $69.95

Our Rating: 9/10