Computer Repair & Help Desk for Beginners

Learn to perform general maintenance with disk cleanup to reclaim hard drive space, remove temporary files, manage the recycle bin, and improve system speed.

Learn to use hard disk tools to check for file system errors and to optimize or defragment drives, including removable ones.

Enable the recycle bin as a desktop icon, locate it with the bottom-left search box, and use common icons for drives and recovering deleted files.

Explore how the task manager shows processes, memory, and performance; learn to end processes and manage startup items to speed boot, with antivirus and spyware protection.

Learn to use task manager to see what runs on your computer, monitor performance and memory, and manage startup programs by enabling or disabling items that launch at startup.

Speed up your system with disk cleanup, empty the recycle bin, and use the task manager to monitor processes, startup items, and memory usage, noting virus or hard drive issues.

Master saving data and selecting drive sizes from megabytes to terabytes. Compare flash drives, external hard drives, and solid-state drives to balance space and speed.

Learn the difference between flash drives and external hard drives, their common storage capacities, and how to access and check space using file explorer, drive letters, and properties.

Navigate through folders to locate the hard drive, open the user folder, and back up key folders such as desktop, documents, music, pictures, and videos to an external drive.

Learn how file history backs up files to an external drive or network location, restore previous versions, and use WD Backup or Seagate Dashboard for regular backups.

Explore how cloud storage lets you access files anywhere with services like Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, and OneDrive. Learn encryption in transit and at rest, plus two-factor authentication.

Explore how to identify flash and external drives, understand gigabytes, navigate key folders like desktop, documents, pictures, videos, favorites, and bookmarks, and learn what the cloud is.

Explore computer hardware with a focus on input and output devices, including keyboard, mouse, monitor, and printer, and learn how to distinguish input from output to troubleshoot and explain systems.

Explore essential computer hardware, including motherboards, network cards, sound cards, and video cards, and learn how these components connect and affect device performance.

Discover how memory, RAM, and hard drives differ, and how processors, motherboards, power supplies, and video cards influence system performance and hardware compatibility.

Install and manage drivers to keep hardware functioning, including sound, display, network, and USB components; Device Manager (Windows key plus X) lets you view details, vendor information, and update drivers.

Explore vendor diagnostics to test hardware such as the hard drive, video card, and network card on HP and Dell machines, and learn how to access these tools during boot.

Explore different web browsers including Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, and Google Chrome, understand their roles on Windows systems, and learn why keeping multiple browsers helps troubleshoot issues.

Explore advanced browser options to search, view recent sites, and adjust privacy settings, helping you troubleshoot issues across Internet Explorer, Firefox, Edge, and Chrome.

Learn to use the browser address bar and search bar to find information online. Identify major search engines like Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and X, and spot ads.

Describe Microsoft Office as a suite including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook, with Office 365 options and one-time alternatives, plus basic repair steps.

Learn how add-ins extend Office programs and how to disable problematic add-ins in Word 2016 or 2013 by navigating file, options, and add-ins.

Discover office alternatives to Microsoft Office, including LibreOffice, OpenOffice by Apache, and WPX Office Suite, which support word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations while remaining compatible with Word documents.

Learn essential Windows shortcuts, including creating folders with ctrl+shift+n, renaming, and copy-paste with ctrl+c and ctrl+v, plus quick Notepad search and multi-method paste.

Install AdBlock Plus for Firefox from addons.mozilla.org by clicking add to Firefox and install to block pop-ups and improve browsing, and learn its features and how to use it.