Virtual Lab worth it?

I'm learning a lot going through Mike Myer's book and am doing well on the review questions in the book after I finish reviewing a chapter, but I feel like I'm not preparing enough for the 802 portion of the exam. should I purchase the virtual lab for $100? I see Messer advertising one for that price. Generally, what's the best virtual lab to use?

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bloodshotbetty

I have had a lot of trouble with the Messer virtual labs. Things don't load, I get logged out, keyboard shortcuts randomly turn on, etc. I don't know that I would buy them again because of that. I have started loading my own VMs and playing around on those.

DoubleNNs

VirtualBox and VMware Player are both free. Additionally Microsoft has free downloads of evaluation versions of their OSes. Especially in a virtual lab environment, the evaluation time limit shouldn't pose a problem.

bloodshotbetty

The 802 is all about troubleshooting windows, installing/upgrading windows, formatting/partitioning/etc, command prompt...

Since the exam covers XP, Vista, and 7, I have been using VM's to familiarize myself with each OS. Currently, I am working on the "boot troubleshooting" lab from Professor Messer. It is running me through how to boot in safe mode in each version of windows, locating boot files, etc. When they work, they're great!

TreyClem18

Having just taken the 801 and 802 Monday, I honestly don't believe the Virtual Lab would be worth it...BUT everyone learns differently as well.

leep80

I passed the 802 without a virtual lab.