IT Support/HelpDesk Fundamentals - 9 Topics in one course!

Explore computer hardware and operating systems, focusing on desktop and mobile systems. Identify the four major operating system developers: Microsoft, Linux, Apple, and Google, and desktop, server, and mobile categories.

Explore the six essential computer components—motherboard, CPU, storage, RAM, network, and power supply—how they connect, common issues like overheating and power surges, and storage types.

BIOS and UEFI firmware wake up hardware, load the operating system, and manage boot order, legacy boot, virtualization, and network power management.

Understand how an operating system coordinates hardware, loads applications as processes with unique PIDs, and runs services (including antivirus) boot-to-shutdown, with control shifting from BIOS/UEFI to OS.

Turning off and on clears running code by killing processes, releasing CPU and RAM, and starting fresh; if issues persist, restart app, service, or OS, or consider uninstall and reinstall.

Compare Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and Chrome OS, including editions, upgrades, and support lifecycles, and understand open source nature and Linux distributions for IT support.

Learn about operating system related work in IT support, including operating system installation, base image deployment, user application assistance, and Windows troubleshooting, with cross-checked validation using SpiceWorks, Serverfault, and StackOverflow.

Recap core computer components—cpu, storage, ram, network, power supply—and BIOS/UEFI and operating system concepts, and complete a brief hardware and OS detail activity to map your own machine.

Explore how computers talk over a local network and the wider internet, visualize network operation, and design a small office network while learning about Mac and IP addresses.

Explore the roles of mac addresses and ipv4 addresses, including static versus dynamic ip, private versus public ranges, and the loopback 127.0.0.1 concept for local network communication.

Understand how network addresses and devices coordinate packet delivery through routers, switches, MAC and IP addresses using a clear street-level analogy.

Configure a modem/router, assign a private IP and subnet (192.168.1.0/24 with 255.255.255.0), and learn how the gateway helps differentiate local subnets from external networks.

Configure your router as a DHCP server to assign IPs from a defined DHCP pool (192.168.1.2-192.168.1.200) with subnet mask, gateway, and DNS settings.

Connect the router to an unmanaged switch, learn how the switch builds a MAC address table and ARP table, and how DHCP assigns IP, subnet mask, gateway, and DNS.

Learn how DNS resolves domain names to IP addresses, allocate ports for browser requests, and transmit packets through the network, with notes on NAT, port forwarding, firewall, and DNS caching.

Explore how tcp ensures reliable communication with acknowledgements and retransmissions, while udp enables speed for streaming and dns without errors; compare three-way handshakes to udp session setup.

Understand how nat translates private ip addresses to a router's public ip, records sender info in a nat table, and uses port forwarding to map external ports to internal devices.

Explore stateful firewalls that allow outbound traffic and return responses on the same port, contrast with stateless firewalls, and note port forwarding and NAT in securing connections.

Review core networking concepts including MAC and IP addresses, private/public ranges, subnet masks, gateway, DHCP, MAC tables, ARP, DNS, ports, packet flow, NAT, port forwarding, firewall, and router route tables.

Learn how routing uses a route table to forward packets between subnets via gateways, with MAC addressing and ARP, illustrated by an office router and firewall rules.

Compare the OSI and TCP/IP network models by detailing layer functions to enable interdevice compatibility. Visualize each layer with the Chrome-to-Google interaction to reinforce understanding.

Recap key network concepts, including routes and the OSI seven-layer and TCP/IP four-layer models, and complete a home network mapping activity.

Explore the different types of servers and their business functions, including identity and access management, domain controller, print server, application server, DNS server, DHCP server, file, and web servers.

Define what a server is and its role in handling requests, identify common server types (file, dhcp, dns, authentication, web, application), and note the importance of reliable hardware.

Explore common server terms like 1u/2u rack servers, terminal servers, and thin clients, and introduce domain controllers, Active Directory, Group Policy, and identity and access management.

Explore Windows server versions, Linux server roles, and Mac OS server add-ons, highlighting mainstream and extended support timelines and their use in organizations.

Recap common server types, explore group policies and their objectives, and study an identity management software beyond Windows Active Directory, concluding the servers section before moving to printers.

Explore popular printer types: inkjet, thermal, and laser, and learn installation through USB and network setups, plus essential terms like print spooler and print queue for troubleshooting.

Explore how inkjet, laser, and thermal printers differ in printing methods, components, and costs, including ink cartridges, toner, fusing, and the impact of non-genuine toners on warranties.

Explore usb and network printer installation, driver setup, and sharing, plus dhcp ip assignment and network printer benefits for flexible, multi-computer printing.

Trace the print path from application to printer, showing how the print spooler queues jobs, uses first-in-first-out scheduling, and signals when the printer is ready.

Learn common printer work in IT support, including installation and setup. Troubleshoot issues like offline printers, print queues, memory errors, and flashing beeps or red lights.

This recap covers inkjet, laser, and thermal printers, plus USB and network installation, the print queue path, and hands-on activities to install and manage printers.

Explore virtualization fundamentals, including hypervisors, guest OS, and type 1 and type 2 architectures, and examine technologies like VMware Workstation, ESXi, Hyper-V, Oracle VirtualBox, and Xen used in cloud computing.

Explore how virtualization creates a software layer between hardware and operating systems, enabling multiple guest operating systems on physical machine via a hypervisor, with drivers interfacing to the virtual layer.

Compare type 1 bare metal hypervisors installed on hardware with type 2 hosted hypervisors within the host OS. Examples include VMware ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V, Xen Project, and Oracle VirtualBox.

Discover virtualization benefits, including reduced hardware to manage, portable operating systems across hardware, improved hardware utilization by consolidating servers, and easier management via hypervisor software.

Recap virtualization concepts by defining virtualization, hypervisor, guest OS, Type 1 and Type 2 hypervisors, and host OS, and guide hands-on activities installing Oracle VirtualBox and a guest OS.

Explore the core VoIP concepts, including VoIP, SIP, RTP, hosted VoIP, and on-premise VoIP, and understand what VoIP is and how it works. Learn why organizations use VoIP.

Contrast telephone exchanges with VoIP, which relies on internet connections and SIP and RTP protocols. VoIP devices connect through servers, converting signals between digital packets and analog phones when needed.

Explore how VoIP setups use ATA adapters or VoIP phones, connect via DHCP, and register with a SIP server using usernames and passwords over ports 5060/5061.

Explore how the SIP protocol manages voip signaling and how RTP carries voice, covering call setup, incoming calls, and hang-ups.

Explore hosted and on-premise VoIP configurations, showing how VoIP phones connect globally, keep numbers, and how on-premise setups maintain internal calls when the ISP faces outages.

Explore how VoIP lowers costs by up to 60–70%, scales easily, and delivers high-definition voice, while noting internet reliability and power dependence as key concerns.

Explore the VoIP landscape by comparing major server vendors such as Asterisk, Elastix (open source) and 3CX (paid), and key phone manufacturers like Yealink, GrandStream, and Cisco, noting regional popularity.

Recap the core VoIP terms, including voice over internet protocol, session initiation protocol, and real time protocol, and contrast hosted versus on-premise VoIP.

Learn backup and disaster recovery concepts, including backup software, restore, and recovery point and time objectives. Build a business and disaster recovery plan to safeguard data and maintain operations.

Explore how to install and configure backup and disaster recovery software, compare full and incremental backups, set scheduling and storage locations (onsite, offsite, cloud), and perform restorations to minimize downtime.

Define RPO and RTO to determine backup frequency and restoration speed, guiding a business continuity and disaster recovery plan.

Explore leading vendors in the backup and disaster recovery market, including StorageCraft, Veeam, Acronis, and Macrium, with Macrium offering a free option to try.

Review backup and disaster recovery terms, including backup, restore, RPO, RTO, the BDR plan, and backup software; complete the activity installing Macrium Reflect and backing up to an external drive.

Explore cloud storage services and how they serve business data storage needs, including cloud storage, cloud storage client, and in sync.

Learn how cloud storage works, including a cloud storage location and a client, syncing files to the cloud, web console access, and multi-device synchronization across desktop and laptop.

Benefit from auto and secure backup across desktop, laptop, and cloud. Access files anywhere with internet and enable collaboration through syncing with business cloud storage access controls.

Compare cloud storage vendors like Dropbox for business, OneDrive for business, and Google Drive, and explain SharePoint Online's manual upload process and its function as a content management system.

Recap cloud storage: a storage location in a data center, cloud storage client, and in-sync updates; complete the activity to create an account, install the client, and compare provider capabilities.

Tailor security to a business’s activity and impact on customers; identify risk, assets, threat, threat agent, likelihood, and the CIA triad to design effective security policies.

Explore how a small clinic's network protects patient data by identifying assets, vulnerabilities, threats, and risk, then applying router and firewall protections, strong passwords, updates, and user training.

Explore the CIA triad—confidentiality, integrity, and availability—and how it informs security policies, access control, data backups, and ongoing hardware maintenance and software patching.

Recap key concepts: assets, vulnerabilities, threats, threat agents, likelihood, impact, and risk. Explore the CIA Triad—confidentiality, integrity, accessibility—and home network activity, including checking default passwords and identifying click bait links.