Whenever we talk about Microsoft certifications, we're covering an extremely wide range. At one side of the range, you might need some teaching on 'Word' or 'Excel', at the other you may be looking for various MCP's in order to become certified in I.T. at the professional grade. It's crucial, as it is with all training, to be very sure of what job you want to get to, and what your motivations are to reach that point, because these can greatly impact what path you take & what learning-method you use. If you are about to have a career move in to I.T., or want to enhance your career prospects in the sector, then don't risk it to chance. Speak to a professional training consultant who will help you avoid any pitfalls.

To many home PC users, the word 'Windows' comes up when they think about Microsoft. It could also mean Microsoft 'Office', which supplies us with an array of popular computer applications. The most familiar program is MS Word, which is an application for word processing. Excel is also a very well-known program for spreadsheets, along with 'Access' that allows us to build databases. For giving presentations, 'Office' has the software package 'PowerPoint', which completes the principle packages within the suite. (Although there are several more within the Microsoft stable, including Outlook, which is widely used as an e-mail, 'messaging' & calendar solution.)

Visual Studio is the foremost 'Windows' software development environment, & is solely owned by Microsoft. They provide a number of 'languages', with C#.Net & 'VB.Net' ('Visual Basic') currently being the most widely used. Each of them are covered under the Programming pages on this website. Principle certifications are currently the 'MCTS' and MCPD (having superseded the earlier 'MCAD' and 'MCSD'.)

Business communications internationally have been taken over by Microsoft Network & Server Operating-Systems. 'Windows Server' is used as the operating platform in around 80-90 per cent of all networked offices. It started off as 'NT' server but has been improved over the years to Server 2000, Server 2003 and most recently 'Server 2008'. A large amount of companies still use Server 2003 as their operating platform, and do not plan to change. There are corporations with 'NT' or 2000 platforms, & they're the organisations that have the most need to up-date to Server 2008. You will locate more information on MS Networking and Server Operating-Systems in the 'MCSE/MCSA' web-pages, including information about the 'Server 2003' vs 'Server 2008' question.

Over the years, to their credit, Microsoft have introduced increasingly professional accreditations - which has meant that various other players in the market have been required to improve their offerings. Consequently, advanced MS accreditations stand in extremely high regard by both IT professionals and global industry.

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