Ultimate Certification Training Bundles - Pearson Vue

Bundle Up and Save on Ultimate Certification Training Bundles

We've handpicked all the resources you need to succeed on exam day and put them together into convenient and deeply discounted training bundles. Preparing for your certification is challenging, and we want to help make your certification preparation as smooth as possible. As many experts contend, the best way to train for your certification is to combine the power of learning via multiple formats and approaches to help you build the hands-on skills you need to succeed. That's why we designed an exclusive collection of certification training bundles comprised of our best-of-breed practice tests, video training, state-of-the-art simulators, and eBooksthat focus on complete and late-stage exam preparation, combined for maximum learning at maximum savings. Browse Cisco Bundles Browse CompTIA Bundles Browse Microsoft Bundles Browse Red Hat Bundles -email from imprints@e.informit.net

Microsoft opens Windows 10 to Apple, Android apps - phys.org

Microsoft hopes to get more people using the next version of its Windows software on all kinds of devices by giving them access to many of the same apps they're already using on Apple or Android phones.

In a major strategy shift, a top executive told an audience of several thousand software developers Wednesday that Microsoft will release new tools to help them quickly adapt the apps they've built for Apple or Android gadgets, so they will work on smartphones, PCs and other devices that use the new Windows 10 operating system... Read Full Article

Adobe eSeminar Invite

Adobe will be conducting a eSeminar with the the title:

I Didn’t Know Acrobat Could Do That 

Date: 11 November 2015

Time: 01:30pm [Asia/Singapore]

Speakers: Nelson John

OVERVIEW:

Join this fun and informative session to learn useful best practices as well as new features on Acrobat DC that let you do more with PDF documents. It’s back to basics, with maximum impact on your productivity.

 Learn more about:

• Sharing large files and getting PDF documents signed
• Working with PDFs on mobile devices
• Converting camera images directly to PDF
• Saving PDFs as amazingly editable Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files
• Distribute forms that anyone can fill in and sign on a desktop, tablet, or mobile device – anytime, anywhere, in any language

DATE	TIME (60 MIN)	ESEMINAR	ADOBE SPEAKER
11 Nov 2015, Wednesday	1:30pm to 2:30pm(Singapore / Malaysia / Philippines) 12:30pm to 1:30pm(Indonesia / Thailand / Vietnam)	I Didn't Know Acrobat Could Do That.	Nelson John Senior Solution Consultant, SEA
Session will be conducted online via Adobe Connect. Login details will be provided upon registration.

Battle for Internet Speed: PLDT VS GLOBE

With current issues related to internet speed in the Philippines, PLDT and Globe Telecom announced their new Broadband plans.

PLDT Launches GIGABIT while Globe Telecom have its Platinum Broadband. Both promising to deliver 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps).

Telstra an Australian Company was also looking into joining the battle but no confirmations yet if they will pursue.


-Dexter Ray Magalang

Get Windows 10 Update from other PC

Downloading Windows update for all your computer units will cost you time and bandwidth.

Since all of your units are downloading same updates, why not download the update on one computer then distribute to other units on the network?

Microsoft have these method embedded on Windows 10 called Windows Update Delivery Optimization.

Windows Update Delivery Optimization lets you get Windows updates and Windows Store apps from sources in addition to Microsoft. This can help you get updates and apps more quickly if you have a limited or unreliable Internet connection. And if you own more than one PC, it can reduce the amount of Internet bandwidth needed to keep all of your PCs up-to-date. Delivery Optimization also sends updates and apps from your PC to other PCs on your local network or PCs on the Internet.

How does Delivery Optimization work?

Delivery Optimization works in two ways.

Download updates and apps from other PCs

In addition to downloading updates and apps from Microsoft, Windows will get updates and apps from other PCs that already have them. You can choose which PCs you get these updates from:

PCs on your local network. When Windows downloads an update or app, it will look for other PCs on your local network that have already downloaded the update or app using Delivery Optimization. Windows then downloads parts of the file from those PCs and parts of the file from Microsoft. Windows doesn’t download the entire file from one place. Instead, the download is broken down into smaller parts. Windows uses the fastest, most reliable download source for each part of the file.

PCs on your local network and PCs on the Internet. Windows uses the same process as when getting updates and apps from PCs on your local network, and also looks for PCs on the Internet that can be used as a source to download parts of updates and apps.

Send updates and apps to other PCs

When Delivery Optimization is turned on, your PC sends parts of apps or updates that you’ve downloaded using Delivery Optimization to other PCs on your local network, or on the Internet, depending on your settings.

Delivery Optimization is turned on by default in Windows 10.

How do I turn Delivery Optimization off?

Here’s how:

1. Go to Start , then Settings > Update & security > Windows Update , and then select Advanced options.
2. On the Advanced options page, select Choose how updates are delivered, and then use the toggle to turn Delivery Optimization off. When turned off, you'll still get updates and apps from Windows Update and from the Windows Store.

If you’d just like to stop downloading updates and apps from PCs on the Internet, select PCs on my local network.

Source: Windows Update Delivery Optimization: FAQ

-Dexter Magalang

Featured Software: Deep Freeze ENTERPRISE - Powerful tool for educational institutions

Although this software should be disabled during certification exams, this is one of the best tools used by most of the institutions I have been.

The thing is most of them uses standard version of Deep Freeze.

Their problem usually starts when they need to unfreeze the units. Since  the standard version does not support network controls, they would have to go to the units one by one to disable the software, then do the same to enable the software.

Another problem is when you get trapped in an endless reboot due to an update either from Windows or other software which is another problem when using standard version.

Deep Freeze is a great product, you just have to choose the product version that best suits your needs.

Visit Deep Freeze Website

DEEP FREEZE IS RATED #1 BY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

Deep Freeze is the best way for educational institutions to keep their lab, library and classroom computers in pristine condition while reducing IT support costs.
Today’s educational system relies extensively on computers and laptops. These devices, used by students, are subjected to constant changes, malware and inappropriate content.

Deep Freeze Offers:

• Restoration of original system configurations and settings, so no waiting for IT to reset a frozen or tampered computer.
• Reversal of any impact of malware.
• Deletion of unwanted content through a reboot.
• Reduction in the cost of handling support tickets by an average of 63%!!

Adobe ACA 2015 Creative Cloud and ACE Exams

Adobe and Certiport have announced the upcoming release of new Creative Cloud exams for Adobe Certified Associate (ACA) program. 

 The new exams will be based on the 2015 update of the Creative Cloud software and will be delivered on the online LMS engine. The new exams will feature scenario-based question groupings, which will present test candidates with a short one-paragraph scenario depicting a realistic design situation followed by 3-5 questions related to that scenario. The question types on the new exams will continue to be a mixture of linear and performance-based items.

The new English exams will be released in two phases. The Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign exams will be released in September 2015 and the Dreamweaver, Flash and Premiere Pro exams will come out in early 2016.

The current Creative Cloud ACA exams (that are based on the 2013 Creative Cloud software) will stay in market temporarily to allow customers time to become familiar with the new CC exams and make the transition.

Also, Adobe have made 6 Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) exams available for all Certiport Authorize Testing Centers (CATC). The following exams will now be added:

Photoshop CC ACE Exam

Illustrator CC ACE Exam

InDesign CC ACE Exam

Dreamweaver CC ACE Exam

Flash CC ACE Exam

Premiere Pro CC ACE Exam

Pearson VUE will continue to deliver these same six exams (along with all other ACE exams) through Pearson VUE Testing Centers (PVTC) so a test-candidate will have the option to take one of these exams at either a CATC or a PVTC. ACE exam vouchers that can be redeemed at CATCs will be separate from ACE exam vouchers that can be redeemed at PVTCs so a test-candidate will need to decide to take the exam at a CATC or PVTC at the time the voucher is purchased.

All credential management (certificate fulfillment, candidate logos, etc.) for ACE exams will continue to be managed by Pearson VUE whether a candidate earns the credential at a CATC or a PVTC.

Sources: 

ADOBEACACC

ADOBEACE

-Dexter Ray Magalang

Office 2016 - Whats New!

There is nothing permanent except change. -Heraclitus

When Microsoft released MS Office 2007 sometime year 2006, most MS Office users were lost with the huge change in the interface as they switched from using the old menus and toolbars with tabs and the ribbon. After Office 2007, comes Office 2010, then Office 2013 with most users not able to catch-up with the changes.

Just before you are able to get used to working with Office 2013 and know every features of it, Microsoft now comes with MS Office 2016 and it is scheduled to be release today (Sept. 22, 2015).

Those who are using Office365 may get notifications already regarding their upgrade options so lets try to have a peek of whats new and interesting with Office 2016.

Real time co-authoring in Word
When you're collaborating on a document, you can see text changes others are making as well as the location of their cursor within the document. Changes are displayed automatically as people use and update the document. This capability will be available when working in documents stored on OneDrive for Business and Office 365 SharePoint sites.

-This is already available in google docs, a great feature to be included in MS Apps.

Tell Me

Tell Me saves you the time you would normally use to look for a specific function within the Ribbon. You can type what you’re looking for in the Tell Me box at the top right corner of the Ribbon in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access, and with “word-wheeling”, which enables results as soon as you start typing, every keystroke refines the results so that you can click on what you’re looking for as soon as you see it. For example, when you want to mark your document as confidential, just type “confidential” or “confidential banner” and Tell Me will bring back the “Insert Watermark” command. When you click in the Tell Me box, you'll also see a list of the last five commands you ran from within Tell Me, saving you time getting to the feature you want to use.

-Looks like a widget to me. Will be one of my meds when in Alzheimer mode.

Excel Power Query integration

Microsoft Power Query for Excel, which was a separate downloadable add-in for Excel 2013 and 2010 is now integrated in Excel. Power Query enhances self-service business intelligence (BI) for Excel with an intuitive and consistent experience for discovering, combining, and refining data across a wide variety of sources including relational, structured and semi-structured, OData, Web, Hadoop, Azure Marketplace, and more.

-Lets integrate more add-ins.

Excel forecasting functions

The time series forecasting sheet functions are used to predict future values based on historical data. For example, a monthly timeline with values on the 1st of every month or yearly timeline. For this type of timeline, it’s very useful to aggregate raw detailed data before you apply the forecast, which produces more accurate forecast results as well.

-A crystal ball.

Math input control

Already available in OneNote and Window, math input control is now available in Word, Excel and PowerPoint. You can write math equations with a digital pen, a pointing device, or even your finger, and have the ink converted to a “typed” format.

-This has been a problem ever since. We have tons of add ins to do this, finally its included with MS Office.

New chart types

The following new chart types are available. They are particularly good for visualizing financial or hierarchal information and for revealing statistical properties in your data:

• Financial: Waterfall
• Statistical: Histogram, Pareto, Box and Whisker
• Hierarchical: Treemap and Sunburst

Excel data cards

Data cards display rich tabular data for a specific geolocation on mouse hover or selected visual. Users can drill down and surface hidden data during presentation or storytelling. This hidden data may be aggregated data that cannot be shown as an existing visual. For example, a column chart can't show the description for a set of events that occurred at a specific location: such as a list of health violations spanning across a time period at a particular restaurant.

- I thought this is already available with Office 2013.

Use Clutter in Outlook to sort low priority messages

Clutter moves low priority messages out of your Inbox and into their own folder, saving you time when you scan for important messages. Clutter looks at what you've done in the past to determine the messages you’re most likely to ignore. It then moves those messages to a folder in your Inbox called Clutter items. The Clutter items folder will be available regardless of how you access your account. From Outlook desktop, you can access your Clutter folder, configure your clutter experience, and indicate that an individual mail is not clutter.

-Has been in my mail for more than a month but still don't know how to use it.

Microsoft Office 2013 Master Certification Requirements

For those who are trying earn the MOS Master certification for Office 2013, exam requirements are quite different from Office 2007 and 2010.

MOS Master certification in Office 2013 provides 3 different tracks:

Track 1: Word 2013

Title	Required exam(s)
Word 2013 Expert Part 1	425
Word 2013 Expert Part 2	426
Excel 2013	420

Elective exams (choose one): PowerPoint 2013 (422), Access 2013 (424), Outlook 2013 (423), SharePoint 2013 (419) or OneNote 2013 (421)

Track 2: Excel 2013

Title	Required exam(s)
Excel 2013 Expert Part 1	427
Excel 2013 Expert Part 2	428
Word 2013	418

Elective exams (choose one): PowerPoint 2013 (422), Access 2013 (424), Outlook 2013 (423), SharePoint 2013 (419) or OneNote 2013 (421)

Track 3: Traditional Office 2013

Title	Required exam(s)
Word 2013 Expert Part 1	425
Word 2013 Expert Part 2	426
Excel 2013 Expert Part 1	427
Excel 2013 Expert Part 2	428

NO Elective exams

-Dexter Magalang

Buying a laptop? Here's how to make sense of Intel's new Core chips -(CNN)

I found this quick guide from money.cnn.com for Intel's new Core Chips.

To read the full article click here, for those who are too lazy to read the full article you may scroll down below for the quick guide.

Here's a quick guide:

1. Super-cheap tablet or a tiny PC + basic computing tasks = Core m3.

2. Moderately-priced tablet or tablet/laptop hybrid for average + average tasks = Core m5.

3. Higher-end tablet/laptop hybrid + average tasks = Core m7.

4. Inexpensive laptop or mini PC + average tasks = Core i3.

5. Moderately-priced PC + advanced tasks = Look for a Core i5.

6. High-end, full-powered laptop + seriously advanced computing tasks = Core i7.

Keep in mind that the speed of your processor isn't the only factor that determines how well your PC functions. For instance, more RAM allows you to run more tasks simultaneously, and a solid-state flash drive instead of a mechanical hard drive will allow your PC to boot faster.

But tailoring the processor for your computing needs is generally a good way to ensure that you're getting the right PC.

To read the full article click here.

-Dexter Magalang

Accessing your MCID and Access Code (For Certiport Users)

After passing Microsoft Certified Professionals qualifying exams, you automatically become an MCP  and was given access to MCP site. Within 1 to 2 weeks, an email message from Microsoft will be sent to you containing instructions on how to access MCP along with your Microsoft Certification ID (MCID) and Access Code.

The email needs immediate attention as the Access Code is only valid up to 30 days. After the 30 days period, you might need to contact Microsoft Regional Center to request for a new one.

For whatsoever reasons, some candidates are reporting that they do not receive any email from Microsoft and therefore do not have a their MCP and Access Code.

For those who have obtained their MCP thru Certiport Exams (MTA and MOS) you may be able to have your MCP and Access code via your Certiport account.

Here are to steps from Certiport on how to Access your MCID. The Access Code initially sent to your email is also available just below where your access code can be found.

TO ACCESS YOUR MCID AND ACCESS CODE

Log in to the Certiport Website

1. Navigate to www.certiport.com and click Login. Log in using your Certiport Username and Password.

Obtaining your Microsoft Registration Information

2. Once logged in, access your Profile by clicking on My Profile.

 

 3. Click on the Programs tab to access your registration information.

4. Click on Edit Registration Data for the Microsoft program.

5. Locate your MC ID within the registration info.

Source: certiport.com

-Dexter Magalang

Comma separator in excel changed to semicolon (FIX)

If you are used to manually typing formulas in MS Excel, you notice some change after upgrading to Windows 10. The usual comma used to separate arguments was suddenly changed into a semicolon.

It may be a very slight change but may create a great impact if you have been using comma for years, or if you have created automated macros that are designed to use comma as separator.

If you are in the same situation as mine, you might want change the separator back to comma so let’s get started.

1.       Open your Control Panel (right click on Start Menu then choose Control Panel, or type “Control Panel” on the start menu)
2.       Choose Change date, time, or number formats under Clock, Language, and Region.

3.       In the Region dialog box, choose Additional settings... under Formats tab:

4.       In the Customize Format dialog box, under Numbers tab, change the List separator from semicolon to comma or any value/symbol that you wish to use.

5.       Apply all changes.

   Welcome back Comma!

        -Dexter Magalang