It’s been a little over a year since I completed the X-Ways Forensics four-day course and purchased a license. That decision led to a lot of growth for me.
The X-Ways Forensics four-day course was excellent. It provided detailed instruction and demonstration on efficiently navigating and activating specific functions in X-Ways Forensics. However, with my limited experience, it was challenging for me to consistently combine the many options available to accomplish a specific task.
I have since spent considerable time reading the manual and performed several exercises on my own to try out specific X-Ways Forensics functions. While I have had success building my confidence using X-Ways Forensics, completing Brett Shavers’ updated course (Live), The X-Ways Forensics Practitioner’s Guide/2E Online Course, significantly enhanced my capabilities as an X-Ways Forensics practitioner.
The following are my impressions of his new course:
- Shavers shares his experience where X-Ways Forensics’ functions and features fits in a digital forensic toolbox.
- Acknowledges that while X-Ways Forensics may be difficult to use, its practical application in digital forensics and granular control makes it worthwhile to learn.
- Describes volume snapshot refinement, filtering, and searching as the heart, soul, and brain of X-Ways Forensics, respectively. Shavers demonstrates purposeful application of these core X-Ways Forensics functions for digital forensic cases.
- Advocates for creating your own tooltips as useful reminders and to enhance understanding of X-Ways Forensics functionality.
- Shares common mistakes that may be made in X-Ways Forensics and how to avoid them.
- The help file and the manual, while largely similar, are not the same.
Having attended X-Ways and Shavers’ courses, they complement each other very well and I benefited from both. I imagine Shavers’ OnDemand course is the same, if not improved.
| X-Ways Forensics 4-Day Course | Detailed instruction and demonstration of X-Ways Forensics functionality and navigation. Completion of the course is also one prerequisite to attempt the X-PERT certification. After taking the course, my comprehension of the manual improved. https://www.x-ways.net/training/index.html |
| The X-Ways Forensics Practitioner’s Guide/ 2E OnDemand Course | Instruction and demonstration of practical application of X-Ways Forensics’ functionality to digital forensics and get started quickly as a new user. May be helpful to assess if X-Ways Forensics is applicable to your needs. After taking the course, I have a greater appreciation of X-Ways Forensics’ many features and granularity. https://courses.dfir.training/offers/VhLMHtoz/checkout |
mr. eerie 