CompTIA A+ preparation
You learn computer hardware, operating systems, basic networking and security, and how to solve faults like a help desk technician.
Level 101 · 25 lessons · 21 practice labs
Lessons
Hardware and operating systems
- Inside a computer: processor, memory, storage, motherboard: You will recognise a computer’s main parts and what they do, and name which one to suspect for a given fault.
- Memory modules and virtual memory: You will learn RAM types and fitting rules and observe how the operating system uses swap with the free command.
- Storage devices: HDD, SSD, NVMe and partitioning: You will compare storage types, see disks and partitions with lsblk and know which to choose for which job.
- Peripherals, connector types and mobile devices: You will tell USB, HDMI and wireless connections apart and list the basic components of laptops and phones.
- Printers and power supply problems: You will manage a print queue, fix common printer errors and recognise power supply symptoms.
- Windows, macOS and Linux: differences and common ground: You will compare the three operating systems by version, file system and use, and say which fits a given environment.
- Navigating the file system on the command line: You will find and copy files from the command line and know the equivalents between Windows and Linux commands.
- Creating and managing user accounts: You will know the difference between standard and administrator accounts and create, lock or delete a user.
- Installing and updating software: You will install and update software with a package manager and explain why trusted sources matter.
- File and folder permissions: You will see who can read and write a file and narrow its permission with chmod to what is needed.
- Backup, restore and system recovery: You will show how to back up and restore files and what a system recovery point is for.
- Short task: prepare a new employee’s computer, account and folders
Networking and security
- IP addressing: static, dynamic and DHCP: You will explain how a device gets its IP address, the static versus dynamic difference, and view the setting.
- Testing connectivity: ping, traceroute and nslookup: You will tell whether a network problem lies in the device, the router or DNS using ping, traceroute and nslookup.
- Wireless setup and a small-office router: You will set up a wireless network with secure encryption and see why changing a router’s default password matters.
- Enabling a basic firewall: You will turn on a computer’s firewall and write a simple rule that limits incoming connections.
- Signs of malware and clean-up steps: You will recognise signs like slowness and odd pop-ups and follow the steps of isolating, scanning and cleaning.
- Physical security and safe data destruction: You will list device locking, screen privacy and methods of irreversibly erasing a disk before disposal.
- Short task: set up a small-office network and secure it
Troubleshooting and procedure
- The troubleshooting method: a six-step process: You will apply the method of identifying the problem, testing a theory and documenting the fix on a real fault, step by step.
- Diagnosing a slow computer: You will inspect processor, memory and disk use to find the source of slowness.
- Resolving disk space problems: You will find what is filling the disk with df and du and clean unneeded files safely.
- Resolving network connection problems: You will resolve a connection fault by checking cable, address, gateway and DNS in order.
- Operational procedures: documentation, change management and safety: You will log a fault as a ticket, get a change approved and follow safety rules such as handling static electricity.
- Capstone: one shift on the help desk, six tickets
Practice labs
- Write the hardware profile of an accounting PC: You read the processor, memory and disk details from a Kervanpazarı Market accounting PC's system report and write them into a profile file.
- Why 32 GB won't fit: inspect the memory slots: From a workstation's memory-slot and motherboard output you work out how much memory, and of which type, it can take.
- Prepare an upgrade proposal for three old PCs: You compare the inventory files of three Lalezar Tekstil PCs and write a justified memory, disk or replacement proposal for each.
- Find the folder eating a full disk: On a user disk that is 97 per cent full you find the three largest folders and report their sizes.
- Free space by clearing temp files and caches: On a reception computer you clear temporary files, old logs and caches without touching user data and free at least 2 GB.
- Archive and cap a growing shared folder: You archive and compress projects older than a year in Bulutkuşu Ajans's shared folder and set up a warning-threshold script for the remaining space.
- Open an account and home folder for a new intern: You create a user account, a password that must change at first login and a home folder for a new intern.
- Set up groups for the sales and warehouse teams: You create two department groups for Demirkaya Lojistik, put six employees in the right groups and give each team access only to its own folder.
- Close a departing employee's account safely: You lock a departing employee's account, hand their files over to their manager, remove their scheduled jobs and record what you did.
- Fix a report folder nobody can write to: You inspect the ownership and permissions of a folder the team cannot save reports to and fix it so only the team can write.
- Lock down payroll files everyone can read: You find payroll files left open to others on a Selvi Klinik server and make them readable by human resources only.
- Make new files in a shared folder inherit the right access: You set group inheritance and default permissions on a shared project folder and prove that newly created files are editable by the team too.
- Note a computer's address, gateway and DNS: You find a client's IP address, subnet mask, gateway and DNS server and determine whether they came from DHCP.
- Bring a PC with a 169.254 address back online: On a client that gave itself a 169.254 address you find why it cannot reach DHCP and restore connectivity.
- Site won't open: name resolution or routing?: Using ping, traceroute and nslookup you prove whether a branch's unreachable intranet site is a DNS or a routing problem and fix it.
- Find the suspicious program that runs at startup: You list the programs a computer starts at boot and identify the one entry that does not belong, with your reason.
- Clean an infected machine in the right order: On a Pusulam Sigorta computer you confirm the symptoms, disconnect it, remove the persistence entry and the malicious file and document the clean-up in order.
- Remove an add-on hijacking the browser home page: You find the component in a user's browser profile that changes the home page and proxy setting, undo the settings and stop it coming back.
- Prioritise five incoming tickets: You rank five tickets in the help desk queue by impact and urgency and write the first step for each.
- Solve a slowing till PC with the six-step method: You work through the slowness of a Kervanpazarı Market till PC with the six-step method, find the cause, fix it and close the ticket.
- Apply a change with a rollback plan: You prepare a change record, a backup and a rollback plan for a printer driver update, apply the update and document the result.
About this course
You learn computer hardware, operating systems, basic networking and security, and how to solve faults like a help desk technician.
What you will learn
- Hardware and operating systems
- Networking and security
- Troubleshooting and procedure
Prerequisites
No prior knowledge is needed; the course starts from zero.
Lab environment
Lessons run in your own Kali Linux terminal that opens in the browser. Nothing to install; the lab starts clean in every lesson.
Frequently asked questions
- Is this course right for my level?
- The course is at beginner level; every term is explained where it first appears.
- Is there anything to install?
- No. Every lesson runs in your own lab environment that opens in the browser.
- How do lessons work?
- Each lesson has 8 to 10 steps and a short quiz. Early steps show the command to type, later steps give less help; if two attempts fail, the solution opens.
- Can I try it for free?
- Yes. The first three lessons of every course are free.