Mark Minasi's Windows 7 Support Seminar, in two audio versions:
XP-to-7 (20 CDs), and Vista-to-7 (10 CDs)

Windows 7's here, and most folks are moving to it.  Some made a stop along the way at Vistaville, and others are taking the express train to Win 7, but no matter to which group you belong, Mark Minasi's got an audio CD version of his popular seminars that'll pass along everything you'll need to know in order to convert your XP expertise or your Vista virtue to superlative "7" support skills!  We are now proud to offer two audio adaptations of Mark's popular Win 7 support seminars:  one for those folks who need to get smart on Win 7 but have never touched Windows Vista, and one for those who are already Vista experts but need to update their skills to Windows 7.

To that end, we've assembled different two audio CD lecture sets:

• Supporting Windows 7, for XP Experts:  This 20-CD audio lecture set is aimed at IT pros who currently deploy/manage/troubleshoot Windows XP Professional and who need to understand everything that's changed between XP and Windows 7, but don't have much Vista experience.  We've assembled this set in two parts. 

  Part One, "Vista Support for XP Experts," is a re-release of  Mark's 2007 XP-to-Vista audio class.  We made it part of the XP-to-Win-7 curriculum because of a very important fact that tends to get swept under the rug in most discussions of Windows 7:  a significant majority of what's changed between Windows XP and Windows 7 arrived not with Windows 7, but instead with Vista.  No matter what anyone tells you, Win 7 wasn't a complete rewrite of Windows Vista --  it was, instead, a sort of "version 1.3," with some very useful things added to it, and almost nothing subtracted from it.  So for folks moving directly from Windows XP to Windows 7, Part 1's 11-CD set will be your starting point.  That audio course is a set of best-selling, popular lectures on Windows Vista covering topics from User Account Control, the Aero user interface, some fundamental changes to Windows networking, Windows' all-new deployment tools, BitLocker, the new service architecture, and more.  You can find an outline of what Part 1 covers by looking at our Windows Vista course outline at http://www.minasi.com/vista/vsupport.htm. 

  With Vista mastery under your belt, you then continue with Part Two, "Supporting Windows 7, Part 2:  "From Vista to Windows 7," a 10-CD set of lectures that explain all of the post-Vista improvements in Windows.  The course covers topics like AppLocker, libraries, XP Mode, the new DISM deployment tool, BitLocker To Go, native VHD support and a special extra bonus CD covering BranchCache.  We've posted an outline of what Part 2 covers at whatsnewin7.htm.
   

• Supporting Windows 7, for Vista Experts: If you've already conquered Vista but need to update your support skills to include everything that there is to know about Windows 7 deployment/management/troubleshooting, then we alternatively offer a shorter version of our Supporting Windows 7 audio set, skipping the new-to-Vista information and going straight to Part Two, the 10-CD set whose outline is at whatsnewin7.htm.  If you've already conquered Vista, this is the cheaper, faster path to Windows 7 mastery.  (And let us underscore that this shorter "Supporting Windows 7, for Vista Experts" class is entirely contained within the larger 20-CD "Supporting Windows 7, for XP Experts" class -- some customers haven't understood that and so have ordered both classes, and there's really no reason to do that.)

If one of those audio courses sounds like what you're looking for, then please keep reading so that we may tell you about the product, point you to more information on it, offer some free excerpts so you can "try it before you buy it," and tell you how to buy it.

What's in the Set

Here's what the entire "Supporting Windows 7, for XP Experts" set looks like -- all 20 CDs and the two printed Audio Companions entitled "Supporting Windows 7, Part 1: Vista Support for XP Experts" and "Supporting Windows 7, Part 2:  "From Vista to Windows 7."  Those buying just the "Supporting Windows 7, for Vista Experts" set get the printed Audio Companion entitled "Supporting Windows 7, Part 2:  "From Vista to Windows 7" as well as the the right-hand set of 10 CDs.  Those buying the full 20-CD, the "Supporting Windows 7, Part 2" Audio Companion, as well as the printed audio companion for the BranchCache bonus CD.

Package contents: click on the picture above for a higher-resolution picture
These aren't mere recordings of the live classes; they are, instead, adaptations of Mark's lecture classes that have been reworked, distilled and recorded in the studio.  These audio presentations offer a learning format that you can listen to wherever you'd like at roughly a quarter of the price of the live class.  The longer class includes about 20 hours of lectures, and the shorter one contains about 10 hours of lectures.  The CD sets are packaged in a side-zipper CD case.  For your convenience, we ship the complete version's CDs in two separate CD cases rather than one very stuffed CD case -- that way, it's easy to grab just Part 1 or Part 2 when you're traveling.   

Price

The price varies based on three things:  whether you're buying the complete or short version, whether we're shipping to a location inside the US or outside, and whether you've attended our two-day "Windows 7 Support for XP Experts" class.

Details

We worked hard to make this package as useful and as good a value as we could.  To that end, let us show you more specifics of 

• How we intended for you to use this audio seminar
• How we made it easy to use as a reference
• What you're getting

How To Use The Seminar

You'll get the most out of this audio seminar by listening to it start to finish (although not all in one sitting, of course!) while referring to the Audio Companion book; that's the optimal setting.  That doesn't mean, however, that you can't learn from the seminar without the Companion close to hand, not at all.  Mark wanted this seminar to also work well for those listening in the car or exercising; that's one of the reasons that he restructured his seminar specifically for the audio recordings.

Of course, with any learning experience, dividing your attention between two things (like driving and listening) means that you won't pick up as much as quickly.  That's why we've broken the CDs up into ten-minute tracks:  that way, it's easy to re-listen to a particularly techie part.  And, as you'll see in a minute, we've made it easy to look any particular topic up.  Which brings us to...

How We've Made It Easy to Use This As a Reference

Once you've been through the seminar once, you'll probably find that most of what we covered sank in the first time, but that you need to review a topic or two in detail, or that you listened to the seminar back in January but are only starting to actually do the work in June and so you need to refresh your memory on the specifics of how to block anonymous users and null sessions.  We've gone to great lengths to make that easy.

Table of Contents

Each Audio Companion book includes a table of contents for its part of the audio seminar.  We've put the TOCs on-line, so you can see what you're buying before you spend your money here:

Part 1's table of contents is here.

Part 2's table of contents is here.

Here's a snippet from Part 2's table of contents:

The TOC is organized by discs.  This particular disc, number 7, contains the course's coverage of Win 7's new management tools, as well as coverage of BitLocker To Go.  The table shows that the first track doesn't correspond to any of the PowerPoints, as it's just the brief introduction to the disk.  The second track covers PowerPoints 217 through 222, and explains Windows 7's new Resource Monitor, a sort of enhanced version of Task Manager.  Skip down to track 8, and you see that on that track you'll hear about using BitLocker To Go, Windows 7's offering as a solution to the question of how to control users putting confidential data onto USB sticks, taking the USB sticks out of the building and then accidentally dropping them somewhere, exposing potentially embarrassing company data.  Thus, that line tells you that if you wanted to re-listen to how to use BitLocker To Go, you'd just pop disk 7 in your player and skip to track 8.  It also tells you that you can follow along with track 8 by looking at slides 244-253 in the Audio Companion.

Audio Companion Book

The Audio Companion also simplifies using the seminar.  Take a look at the Audio Companion:

We printed it with two PowerPoints per page so that screen shots are easy to read and diagrams are easy to understand.  (Years ago we experimented with printing one PPT to a page but you then end up having to turn the book sideways, as the slides print in landscape rather than portrait mode.  We then could have bound it on the side but it turns out that the pages are too long for the binding and the book tends to fall apart.  So two slides to a page seems to work best.)  It's spiral bound so that it lies flat without needing you to keep your hand on the book to keep it open to your place.

The Companion also makes finding things easy.  Take a closer look at another page and you can see:

Notice a couple of things here.  First, the slide number — 248, in this case.  As you listen to Mark's lectures, you'll hear that he refers to the slide number frequently, so that it's easy for you to locate a PowerPoint slide to follow along with.  We also use the slide numbers in the table of contents, as you saw, and on the face of the CDs, as you'll see.

Notice also the boxed "7/8" reference in the lower left-hand corner.  That's useful when you're browsing through the Audio Companion book and find that just seeing the PowerPoint slide doesn't provide enough background to help you review a topic.  "7/8" means that you can quickly find the audio lecture that accompanies slide 248 by listening to CD number 7, track 8.  

Finally, the CDs themselves have labels that help you find things. 

There wasn't room on the CD to put more extensive information, but each CD includes a volume title which broadly describes the lectures on that volume.  Then the CD label lists the tracks and the slide numbers covered in that track; for example in the photo above you can see that track 4 covers PowerPoint slides number 10 through 17.  We hope that between the table of contents, the volume/track references on the slides, the slide numbers and the slide number references in Mark's lectures that you find it simple to use the lectures both for primary education and then later for review of specific topics.

What You Get (And Where To Download a Sample!)

To summarize what's in the package, with links where possible:

• You can read detailed outlines about what each part covers here:
  • Part 1's outline is at www.minasi.com/vista/vsupport.htm
  • Part 2's outline is whatsnewinwin7.htm
• The tables of contents for each part, which give you a bit more information vis-à-vis timing and tracks, are here:
  • Part 1's TOC is here.
  • Part 2's TOC is here. 
• Physical contents:
• 20 audio CDs for the full set, or 9 for the short version.  The full set is about 20 hours of lecture, the short version is about 10 hours.
• Softside zip case(s) for the CDs
• Copies of the Audio Companions as needed: 
  • Part 1, Part 2, and BranchCache for the complete set, over 400 pages of PowerPoint slides, spiral bound
  • Part 2 and BranchCache for the short version, over 200 pages of PowerPoint slides, spiral bound
• Sample:  there is simply no better way to know if you'll like a product than to try it before you buy it.  So if you'd like to get a feel for the presentation flow and Mark's style, feel free to download an audio sample here.  It's the audio that goes with the four slides pictured above, a short discussion of unlocking and accessing a USB stick that has been encrypted with BitLocker To Go.  For a better look at the slides, download the PDF of the four slides here.

How to Buy The Audio Seminar

Ready to buy?  Great!  Then here's the fine print, please read it:

• At present we are only selling online through credit cards.  If you want to buy with a check then please drop a line to our assistant at Assistant@Minasi.com.
• If you want to order from somewhere other than the US, then we can accommodate you, but (1) we've got to charge more because it's more work to ship out of the US, and (2) after a lot of research, we've seen that the most cost-effective way to ship things out of the US is to just send it via international mail.  That means that you're responsible for duty and taxes when the CDs get to your country.  Apologies, but we have to charge more for the extra handling and mail costs.
• The cost for US residents includes free USPS first-class mail.
• Because of the high risk and attendant cost of Internet credit card fraud, our online e-commerce system will only ship to the billing address.  If that's a problem, then just email us, again at assistant@minasi.com.

Still more questions?  Then look over our OAQ (ONCE Asked Questions) below or drop our assistant a line.  We're happy to help out with any questions.

To buy, just click one of the five links below to go to our secure server.

• Click here to buy the full 20-CD, two-book set for US residents ($325)
• Click here to buy the full 20-CD, two-book set for non-US residents ($375)
• Click here to buy the 10-CD, one-book short version for US residents ($225)
• Click here to buy the 10-CD, one-book short version for non-US residents ($275)
• Click here to buy the full 20-CD, two-book set for previous attendees of the Windows XP to Windows 7 class (please note in comment field when and where you you took the class) ($200)

Many thanks!

OAQ (Once Asked Questions — questions we've been asked at least once)

What is the license on this recording, what are the restrictions on using this?

None; the only rights that we claim are the standard rights that any copyright holder has under U.S. copyright law — the same rights that you'd have if you purchased a book.  That means in particular that you may:

• Convert the product to another format, like MP3 or WMV, for your personal use.
• You may lend, sell, or give the product to someone else, so long as you transfer all copies; there's no problem with lending this to your buddy Sam, so long as it's not possible for both you and Sam to be listening to them at the same time.  If you made MP3s out of the recording and you give the recordings to  Sam, then you've got to either delete the MP3s or give them to Sam, also.
• And of course it's never legal (or very nice) to offer copies of copyrighted materials via P2P sites, torrents and the like.

Do you offer an MP3 version of the recordings?

No, mainly because we lack the infrastructure to handle selling digitally protected MP3s, WMAs, or whatever.  Apologies to anyone who's really inconvenienced by this, again please understand that we're a very small shop.  Thanks!

Is there be a special price for people who've attended the seminar?

Yes, absolutely.  Anyone who's been in the class can buy the set for a lower price, US$200.  

Does this include all material handed out at the course?

In the case of Part 1 (which was the old Vista class) the answer is yes.  In the case of Part 2 (which is adapted from Mark's three-day Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 class then the answer is "yes, Basically yes, but only the parts that were Win 7-centric, and excluding some parts that, well, no audience has found interesting, like  federated search.  (Remember there's an outline at whatsnewinwin7.htm if you're not sure about what Part 2 covers, and remember that both versions of the audio course get Part 2.) Buyers get a book like the one that attendees get, printed double-sided two slides to a page, spiral bound so it lies flat on your desk for easier viewing.

Do you sell overseas?  Please don't make the shipping overseas too expensive!

Absolutely, it's a top priority to be able to serve our out-of-the-US friends.  After a lot of research, we've seen that the most cost-effective way to ship things out of the US is to just send it via international mail.  That means that you're responsible for duty and taxes when the CDs get to your country.  Apologies, but we have to charge more for the extra handling and mail costs.

Are there going to be any downloadable samples so we can convince the boss to buy?

Sure; see the download links above.

Does Mark do demos that I would be missing or is the seminar exclusively off PowerPoints?

One of the reasons that this has taken so long is that Mark tried recording several live seminars and decided that simply "canning" the live seminars wouldn't be good enough — the periods of time when he's sitting at the computer demonstrating things to the class simply don't work on audio recordings.  So he's spent weeks reworking the seminar, and then recorded it in front of a class of two helpful attendees, then edited it just for CD, including a revised set of PowerPoint.  Wherever there is a "demo," it's driven by screen shots in the PowerPoint.  That's why there are only two PPTs per page... there aren't a lot of these screen shots, but they wouldn't have been readable otherwise.  Mark has, however, kept that to a minimum so that people who can't follow along (such as when driving) can still benefit from the audio presentation.