IT Fundamentals & Troubleshooting for Computer Technicians

While working on mobile devices, you will find that there are many components that make up these devices and you will need to know how to replace them when needed.

Even though the screens on our mobile devices might look the same, there are several types of screen types in use that you should know about.

There are several ways to connect peripherals and services to our mobile devices so knowing how to connect these items to your devices is essential.

There are a multitude of accessories that can be connected to laptops, smartphones and tablets. Here you will learn about the most common types in use today.

When our smartphones are not using a Wi-Fi connection at home or at the office, they use a cellular service which allows them to have a data connection from almost anywhere you might be.

Bluetooth is a commonly used wireless connection method that can be used to connect keyboards, mice and headphones to our mobile devices.

If you need to find out what versions of Bluetooth your computer supports in case you are planning on getting some new Bluetooth enabled device, its very easy to find by using the Windows Device Manager.

With everything connected to the internet these days, it makes sense that you will need to know how Wi-Fi works and how to manage your wireless connections.

Knowing how networks work and are configured is an essential skill to know in any IT related field.

All computers on a network will need an IP address to communicate with each other so its essential to know how to configure the addresses and also troubleshoot them when things go wrong.

There are many networking tasks that will need to be performed using the command line. Here you will learn about the most common network commands in use today.

Devices on the network communicate with each other via ports and protocols. Here you will learn what ports and protocols are use for specific network traffic.

There are more devices using wireless networks than ever before and there are many Wi-Fi standard in use today as well as the 2.4 and 5GHz frequencies that you should know about.

If you are on a wireless network and forgot your password or need to find the password for a someone else's Wi-Fi connection, you can easily do so in Windows by using one of these three methods. You can find the Wi-Fi password using the Network and Sharing Center in Control Panel, via the Windows Settings app or by using the command line.

Here are the commands from the video.

netsh wlan show profile

netsh wlan show profile "your SSID" key=clear

If you connect to a lot of wireless access points (hotspots) with your computer, you might have noticed that Windows will save or remember these Wi-Fi connections and keep them on your computer in case you want to connect to them again later. Fortunately, it is easy to remove any saved wireless connection name (SSID) that you no longer want saved on your computer. This way you can only keep the connections that you frequently use.

TCP and UDP are two fundamental protocols in the TCP/IP suite, responsible for transporting data across networks.

There are many devices that are used in networking. In this lesson, we will be covering these devices and explaining what they are used for.

Firewalls are used to keep unwanted traffic from coming into your network or leaving your network. They are an essential tool in any network, even at home.

When working in the IT field, you will notice that there are many server roles that need to be in place for an organization to be able to function properly.

VPNs are used to connect to a network or computer in a different location over the internet and are a very common tool used in the IT field.

DNS, or Domain Name System, is a hierarchical and distributed naming system for computers and services on the Internet. It translates domain names into IP addresses, allowing users to access websites and services using friendly names instead of remembering complex numerical addresses.

DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) is a network protocol that automatically assigns IP addresses and other network configuration parameters to devices connected to an IP network.

There are a variety of tools that can be used to configure and troubleshoot networks. In this lesson, we will be showing you what these tools are used for.

Windows allows you to configure your network settings from multiple places and the Network and Sharing Center has several tools you can use to do so.

You can go to the Windows Settings app and then to the Network & Internet section to find additional ways to configure and view network settings in Windows.

If you are able to see a listing of the devices on your wireless network from your ISP but it does not show the name or model of the device, then you can get some helpful information but looking up the device's MAC address online. This is helpful when it comes to figuring out whether or not that device should be connected to your network.

Here is a link to the website from the video. https://macaddress.io/

Blocking a program from accessing the internet using the command line in Windows is a powerful way to control network activity without relying on graphical tools. This approach uses built-in Windows Firewall commands to create outbound rules that restrict specific applications from connecting to the internet. It's especially useful for IT professionals or advanced users who want to automate network restrictions or manage systems remotely.

Here are the commands from the video:

Add rule

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Block Filezilla" dir=out action=block program="C:\Program Files\FileZilla FTP Client\filezilla.exe" enable=yes

Disable rule

netsh advfirewall firewall set rule name="Block Filezilla" new enable=no

Remove rule

netsh advfirewall firewall delete rule name="Block Filezilla"

Wireshark is one of the most powerful tools for understanding what’s happening on your network. In this video, we’ll explore how to use Wireshark to capture, filter, and analyze network traffic in real time. You’ll learn how to identify communication between devices, view protocols like DNS, TCP, and HTTP, and gain insight into network performance and troubleshooting. Perfect for beginners and IT enthusiasts who want to understand the flow of data across their network and improve diagnostic skills.

Building your own computer can be a great way to learn how all of the components of a computer work together and also how to troubleshoot hardware issues when things go wrong.

Expansion cards are used to add additional functionality to a computer such as extra network ports or a higher performance video card.

The motherboard is the main circuit board in a computer that connects all the essential components, while the CPU (Central Processing Unit) is the "brain" of the computer that executes instructions and processes data.

RAM is the computer's short-term memory, where the data that the processor is currently using is stored.

There are many types of cables used to connect devices to your computer such as monitors and printers.

A computer hard drive is a non-volatile data storage device that uses magnetic storage to store and retrieve digital information.

There are many types of printer in use today such as laser, inkjet and thermal. Its important to know how they work and how to troubleshoot them.

Removable storage devices can include external hard drives, USB flash drives, memory cards and more. Each of these have their own unique uses.

BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) and UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) are both firmware programs that initialize a computer's hardware and load the operating system.

Since there are many types of hard drives you can have installed in your computer, it would make sense that you would want a way to find out what type of drives you are using without having to take the case off the PC and actually look inside to get your answer.

Virtualization is the creation of a virtual representation of a physical resource, such as a computer system, operating system, storage device, or network, enabling multiple users to share the same resources without affecting each other.

Organizations use high end virtualization platforms to consolidate multiple physical severs into fewer servers by running many virtual servers on one physical server.

If you want to get some experience with virtualization at home, using one of the desktop virtualization platforms is a great and inexpensive way to go.

VMware Workstation is a powerful virtualization software that allows users to create and run multiple virtual machines (VMs) on a single physical machine. It provides a robust platform for developers, IT professionals, and power users to simulate various operating systems and environments for testing, development, and troubleshooting purposes. With VMware Workstation, users can run Windows, Linux, and other operating systems simultaneously, each in its isolated virtual environment, enabling efficient multitasking and flexibility. The software offers features such as snapshots, clones, and virtual networking, making it easy to manage and customize VMs to suit specific requirements. Additionally, VMware Workstation supports advanced functionalities like virtualization-based security features, remote access, and integration with VMware vSphere for seamless migration and deployment of VMs across different environments.

Hyper-V is a virtualization platform developed by Microsoft, primarily designed for creating and managing virtual machines (VMs) on Windows servers and desktops. It allows users to run multiple operating systems simultaneously on a single physical machine, enabling efficient resource utilization and workload isolation. Hyper-V provides a range of features, including support for various guest operating systems, virtual networking capabilities, storage management, and integration with other Microsoft technologies such as Active Directory and PowerShell. With its scalability, performance, and robust management tools, Hyper-V is widely used in enterprise environments for server consolidation, development and testing, disaster recovery, and cloud computing deployments.

Many companies use online cloud providers to do things such as store their files and run their applications to save money rather than manage their own internal IT infrastructure.

There are many free online cloud storage platforms that you can use to store your files as well as share them with others.

One important thing to know when it comes to basic IT fundamentals is how to troubleshoot common hardware issues and network connectivity problems.

When a computer hardware component fails, you will find that you need to do some troubleshooting to narrow down which component is causing the problem.

The Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool is a built-in tool that checks your computer's memory for errors that can cause crashes, blue screens, and other problems.

The Windows Event Viewer is a tool that allows users to view and manage logs of events that occur on a Windows computer.

When storage devices such as hard drives begin to fail, its essential to know what tools you can use to help diagnose the issue to fix the problem.

Diagnosing networking and wireless issues involves identifying and resolving problems that affect the connectivity and performance of computer networks and wireless devices.

In this lesson you will learn about the common causes for video and display issues and how to resolve them.

Diagnosing printer issues involves identifying the source of the problem, whether it's hardware, software, or network related, and applying appropriate troubleshooting steps to resolve the issue.

Diagnosing mobile devices involves identifying and resolving software and hardware issues that affect their functionality.

Windows Disk Management is a built-in tool that allows you to manage your computer's hard drives and partitions, including creating, formatting, and deleting partitions.

The Windows Device Manager is a tool that provides users with a centralized view of all the hardware devices connected to their computer.

You may run into a situation where you cannot extend a hard drive volume to use some unallocated space on your drive because there is another partition in the way. Here is how you can get around this problem.

Here is a link to some USB flash drive creator apps.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwdwMLbf_qdbPS-FRnbec9D6qfj4d54aO

The “Not Enough Space” error occurs when attempting to convert a basic disk to a dynamic disk in Windows. This issue typically arises because the conversion process requires a small amount of unallocated space at the end of the disk to store the dynamic disk database. If the disk is fully occupied by partitions or if certain alignment constraints prevent creating this reserved space, Windows cannot complete the conversion.

The CompTIA A+ certification is a vendor-neutral, industry-recognized credential that validates an individual's foundational knowledge and skills in fundamental computer hardware and software troubleshooting and repair. It serves as the starting point for various IT career paths and is considered the most popular and widely sought-after entry-level IT certification.

If you find yourself often booting into Safe Mode, you may want to try out the BootSafe tool which will let you easily boot into the various Safe Mode configurations on the spot or on your next reboot. It will also allow you to enable the older F8 key functionality where you can press F8 while booting your computer to get to the Safe Mode menu.

If you have a process or application that you need to run using the TrustedInstaller, System or Admin rights, you can easily run that process using the free RunX software. It has a GUI (graphical user interface) version as well as a command line version that you can use for scripting etc. You can also add command line arguments in the GUI. You can also run programs as a standard user (de-elevated) to see how or if they will run without admin rights.

Windows Security Identifiers (SIDs) are unique alphanumeric strings assigned to every user, group, and computer in a Windows environment to manage access and permissions. SIDs are used internally by the operating system to identify and authenticate entities, ensuring that security settings and access controls are consistently applied. Each SID is unique within a given security context, allowing Windows to accurately distinguish between different users and groups when managing file permissions, group policies, and other security-related functions.

The Windows Local Security Policy Editor is a management tool that allows administrators to configure and enforce security settings on a local computer. Through this editor, users can set policies that govern various security aspects such as user rights assignments, account policies, and audit policies. It provides control over password policies, user permissions, and security options to help maintain system integrity and protect against unauthorized access. The Local Security Policy Editor is essential for managing security on standalone computers or in environments where centralized group policies are not in use.

In this video, you’ll learn how to enable the F8 Legacy Boot Policy in Windows so you can access Safe Mode and Startup Repair more easily during system startup. Modern versions of Windows often disable the traditional F8 menu by default, making troubleshooting harder when your computer fails to boot properly. This tutorial walks through what the legacy boot option is, why it’s useful, and how enabling it can help you diagnose and fix common Windows startup issues. Whether you’re dealing with boot errors, system crashes, or recovery problems, this guide provides a simple and effective way to restore access to critical recovery tools.

Enable F8:

bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy

Disable F8:

bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy standard

CHKDSK vs DISM vs SFC - The Correct Order to Repair Windows

If you want to check out some additional computer help related videos, then tune in to our YouTube channel where you will find hundreds of videos on a variety of topics.

Be sure to check out our Our Easily Master Microsoft Windows 11 course for additional training.

Check out our IT Troubleshooting & IT Technical Support Helpdesk Bootcamp Course course for additional training.

Check out our Microsoft Windows System & User Administration Fundamentals for additional training

If you are in the IT field, it is a good idea to know how to keep your users, computers and networks secure not matter what your position. If you want to improve your security skillset, you should check out our IT Security Fundamentals for Help Desk IT Technical Support course.