Introduction to PC Troubleshooting
Don't
spend your hard-earned cash on expensive PC repairs! The vast majority of the
problems people experience with their computers are completely avoidable, and
most can be solved with nothing more than a few minutes of your time. Intro
to PC Troubleshooting takes you step by step through the typical hardware
and operating system problems encountered by technicians, teaching
troubleshooting techniques to decipher any problem, and giving you the skills
you need to solve them. Once you've mastered the basics, the course launches
into some of the more advanced and nasty problems that crop up in the PC,
teaching you how to diagnose and fix those problems as well! Finally, Intro
to PC Troubleshooting shows you how to maintain and optimize a Windows PC.
So what are you waiting for? Let's troubleshoot - and fix - some PCs!
To enroll in this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
Requirements:
Internet access, E-mail, and the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser, and a computer equipped with any Microsoft Windows 95 or better. You will also need access to one or more computers that do not contain any data you consider sensitive.
Syllabus:
All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two
lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course. You do
not have to be present when the lesson is released, but you must complete each
lesson within two weeks of its release.
A new section of each course starts on the second or third Wednesday of each
month. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space
the start date for each course at least two months apart.
| Week One |
| Wednesday - Lesson 01 |
| Learning how to troubleshoot PCs can save you money
and reduce your stress when something goes wrong. Before you can
troubleshoot, though, you need a basic understanding of the PC. In our
first lesson, I'll introduce you to the most common devices that you'll
find on a PC. By the time you finish this lesson, you'll be able to
recognize the monitor, keyboard, mouse, and many of the ports you might
use to connect devices to the computer. We'll finish out the lesson with
a discussion about basic care and maintenance of printers, and how to
keep power to the PC safe for the delicate circuits inside your system.
|
| Friday - Lesson 02 |
| Now that you're familiar with the basics, let's take
a peek behind the curtain. In this lesson, I'll take you on a tour
inside a PC and show you the parts that make the system tick. I'll
introduce you to important hardware, such as the CPU, RAM, and storage
devices, and I'll explain how they all play together. Along the way,
you'll learn the terminology you'll need to "talk the talk" of a PC
tech, and maybe even impress your friends. |
| Week Two |
| Wednesday - Lesson 03 |
| A PC isn't of much use without an operating system to
give it function. In this lesson, we'll discuss the various popular
versions of Windows from yesterday and today, including Windows 9x,
2000, XP, and Vista. You'll also follow the process a PC goes through
after you press the power button, learning the steps that go on behind
the scenes, and becoming familiar with the important files Windows needs
to start. |
| Friday - Lesson 04 |
| An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, or
so the common wisdom goes. In this lesson, you'll learn the secret to PC
troubleshooting: preparedness. I'll teach you how to use the
software tools that will help you recover a system when there's a
problem, and other tools that may help prevent some problems from
occurring in the first place. Then we'll walk through the process of
backing up important data, such as personal documents and e-mail
messages, and you'll learn how to use these backups so you'll be
prepared when the inevitable happens. |
| Week Three |
| Wednesday - Lesson 05 |
| Your PC may come with a standard set of devices, but
you're not limited to just those. PCs enable you to add more devices for
increased function and flexibility. In this lesson, we'll explore the
technologies that make this expansion possible. You'll learn how devices
use configurations called "system resources" to communicate with the
computer. Since device installations don't always go as smoothly as
anticipated, I'll also show you how to troubleshoot installation
problems and conflicts that can prevent a device from working. |
| Friday - Lesson 06 |
| Computers need power to function, so you need to
understand power supplies and what you can do to ensure your system
always has the clean and steady power required to do its job. In this
lesson, you'll look at the PC's need for power and ventilation. You'll
learn how to identify and replace a bad power supply, as well as how to
keep your computer cool and well ventilated, and what can go wrong if
you don't. We'll round out this lesson by learning how to be
environmentally responsible when storing and disposing of computer
equipment. |
| Week Four |
| Wednesday - Lesson 07 |
| What good is your computer if it can't remember
anything? In this lesson, we'll take a look at system memory, or RAM.
First, we'll identify the various types of RAM and the technologies
behind them. From there, you'll learn how to install RAM in a system and
recognize common errors you may run into along the way. Then I'll take
you behind the scenes where you'll have a chance to see how a PC knows
what it has "under the hood" and how it uses BIOS to help the CPU
communicate with all the devices in the computer. We'll wrap up the
lesson with a tour of the System Setup Utility. |
| Friday - Lesson 08 |
| One of the most common PC problems occurs during the
startup and shut down processes. To understand what's going on, you need
to know what should happen during a normal startup and shut down, so
today we'll go through them step-by-step. Then we'll discuss some of the
issues that may occur during those processes, and I'll show you have to
resolve them so you never have to stare at a "Starting Windows" message
for multiple minutes again! |
| Week Five |
| Wednesday - Lesson 09 |
| In this lesson, we'll take a look at the system's
mass data storage—the hard drive or drives. You'll learn what a hard
drive does, and how using swap files and disk caching can help things
run smoothly. Along the way, I'll teach you the benefits of regular
maintenance with utilities such as Disk Defragmenter and Error Checking.
You'll also see how to protect data from catastrophic failures—always a
bonus. |
| Friday - Lesson 10 |
| The Windows operating system is just like a car—with
a bit of tweaking and fine tuning, you can keep it running fast and
efficiently. In this lesson, you'll learn how to optimize Windows and
keep it streamlined. We'll also take a look at the various options that
Windows offers that enable you to customize it to your own tastes and
needs. |
| Week Six |
| Wednesday - Lesson 11 |
| Anyone who's used Windows for any length of time has
experienced the dreaded Blue Screen of Death—where statements like
"General Protection Fault" and "Fatal Exception" sit on your screen
surrounded by information that might as well be written in Greek. In
today's lesson, I'll give you the scoop on the different types of errors
you might see and what they mean. Then I'll show you some methods that
can help you isolate and identify the errors so you can eliminate them
and get back up and running again. |
| Friday - Lesson 12 |
| The Internet is everywhere. You see it at work and in
homes—and you can even access it at many coffee shops and parks. In this
lesson, we'll delve into the world of the Internet and explore some
common Internet issues. You'll learn what you need to access the
Internet, and look at how to troubleshoot connectivity problems,
optimize your browser settings, and handle pop-ups and spyware. |
To enroll in this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
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