Microsoft has a cert called "Most Valuable Professional" that gives out a ton of free stuff (free MSDN subscription, free admission to a conference that gives away hardware, etc). It also probably looks good on your resume to hiring managers who don't know any better. Renewing the cert involves doing "community work", and the easiest way to do community work is to post a lot on Microsoft's forums. Microsoft doesn't care about the quality of the posts, or whether they solve the problem, solely about the number. This is why whenever you look up a Windows issue and go to Microsoft's forums, you always see people posting the same copy-pasted "Hi, I'm a Microsoft community expert who has been providing independent Windows advice for the past 10 years. blah blah blah Have you tried running sfc /scannow?" response to every single problem.