GOOGLE IT SUPPORT

Technical Support Fundamentals

W1: Introduction to IT Support - What is IT?

IT =Information + Technology / technology + PEOPLE =>

solutions to a better world

IT is essentially the use of digital technology, like

computers and the internet, to calculate, to store and
process data into useful information.
 Ada Lovelace
A computer is a
device that stores
Charles and processes data
by performing
Babbage
calculations
Digital Logic + How to count in
BinaRy - Computer Language -
Binary - the base 2 numeral

system
(1s & 0s=binary digits)
Bit - smallest storage unit
- stores 1s and 0s
Byte - a collection of 8 bits
- stores one character: ,,a”, ,,B” or
,,%”
https://www.asciitable.com/
Abstraction - In computing, we use abstraction to make a very complex
problem, like how to make computers work, easier to think about. We do that by breaking
it apart into simpler ideas that describe single concepts or individual jobs that need to be
done, and then stack them in layers. E.g. Error message 404-Page not found

A computer can be cut into

four main layers: hardware, operating
system, software, and users.
 Desktops are just computers that can fit on or under
our desks: a monitor, a keyboard, a mouse, and a
desktop PC (unitate) + webcam, speakers +printer =>
physical components (HARDWARE)
Desktop PC components: connectors, the power outlet,
the common ports. Ports are connection points that we
can connect devices to that extend the functionality of
our computer: a port to connect to a monitor, and a few
ports to plug your keyboard and mouse.

Week 2 - Intro to Computer Hardware

 DESKTOP’s components
The CPU (32-bit or 64-bit) or central processing unit (procesorul), which is covered by this heat sink. You could think of the CPU as the brain of our computer.
The CPU does all the calculations and data processing (3.40 gigahertz is 3.4 billion cycles per second). It communicates pretty heavily with this component right
here, RAM or Random Access Memory. RAM is our computer's short-term memory. We use this component when we want to store data temporarily.
When we want to store anything in long-term memory, we use this component here, the hard drive. The hard drive holds all of our data, which can include
music, pictures, applications. (cache = easier to store recently or frequently used data)
The motherboard (placa de baza)- the body or circulatory system of the computer that connects all the pieces together.
The power supply -sursa de alimentare, which converts electricity from our wall outlet onto a format that our computer can use.

The External Data Bus or EDB - It's a row of wires that interconnect the parts of our computer
When you send a voltage to one of the wires, we say the state of the wire is on, or represented by a 1. If there's
no voltage, then we say that the state is off, represented by a 0. This is how we send around our ones and
zeroes. The EDB comes in different sizes, 8 bit, 16 bit, 32, even 64.

The Memory Controller Chip or MCC. The MCC is a bridge between the CPU and the RAM. Finds the instructions for a certain
program and sends it to the CPU;
The Address bus. It connects the CPU to the MCC, and sends over the location of the data, but not the data itself. Then the MCC
takes the address and looks for the data. And then data is then sent over the EDB.
Fastest way to get data: Cache is smaller than RAM, but it let's us store data that we use often, and let's us quickly reference it.
More on COMPONEnTS
The BIOS (UEFI) is software that helps initialize the hardware in our
computer and gets our operating system up and running.Our
motherboard stores the BIOS in a special type of memory called, the
read-only memory chip, or ROM chip.ROM is non-volatile, meaning it
won't erase the data if the computer is turned off.
Devices use programs to tell the CPU what to do: services or drivers.

CPU + Heat Sink

Thermal paste is used to better connect our CPU and heat sink.

RAM inside your motherboard

Hard Drive (hard disk): SSD SATA or HDD + SATA cable

PSU - power supply unit - sursa de alimentare cu energie electrica

Case fan

Case cables

Graphics card - placa video

WEEK 3 - Operating Systems
An operating system is the whole package that manages our computers resources and lets us
interact with it. There are two main parts to an operating system, the kernel and the user
space.

a. Kernel - main core of the OS - operating with hardware and manages our system
resources.
b. User space (everything outside the kernel): system programs, users interfaces
etc.

2 Desktop OS - Windows + Linux + ChromeOS

Mobile - iOS/Android

Remote connection - SSH or VPN

SSH server:

a. Win - Putty/PowerShell
b. Linux - OpenSSH

The alternative is using an SSH authentication key. SSH keys come in a set of two keys called
private and public keys. You can think of them as actual physical keys to a special safe. You
can use one key to lock the safe, but it won't unlock it. The other key can then only unlock the
safe, but not lock it. That's basically how public and private keys work. You can lock
something with the public key, but you can only unlock it with a private key and vice versa.
This ensures that whatever is in the safe is available to only those with the public and private
keys.

VPN - It allows you to connect to a private network like your work network over the Internet.
Think of it as a more sophisticated SSH with a lot more setup. It allows you to access
resources like shared file servers and network devices as if you are connected to your work
network.
 The KERNEL’S PARTS
The kernel does file storage in file
management.Files are managed by the file
system.

Process management is another feature of the

kernel. (computer’s multitasking capability).

Memory management - Our kernel optimizes

memory usage and make sure our applications
have enough memory to run.

The last important function that a kernel performs

is input/output or I/O management. This is how
our kernel talks to external devices like disks,
keyboards, networks, connections, audio devices,
and more. I/O management is anything that can
give us input or that we can use for output of data.
If you've ever saved a file to disk, click the mouse
button, or use a microphone when video chatting
with a friend, you've got the kernel's ability to
manage I/O to thank.
Kernel functions
kernel works by handling files, managing file
storage, juggling all the different processes
running on our computer, and allocating
memory. It also figures out what the most
efficient method of transfer is and it tries its
best to make sure our data doesn't have
errors during process.

Win -> NTFS file systems

Linux -> EXT file systems.

We write data to our hard drive in the form of data blocks

A process is a program that's executing, like our Internet browser or text
editor. (time slice)
User Space
There are two ways that we can
interact with our OS, with a shell or a
graphical user interface.

To watch this video, you probably used

a GUI. Clicking icons and navigating
menus to open your web browser and
navigate to the Coursera website.
People usually recognize a device or
product based on its GUI.

Windows GUI + Windows Powershell

Logs &The Boot Process
Logs are files that record system events on our computer.
Just like a systems diary our computer will record events like
when it was turned on, when a driver was loaded and even
when something isn't working in the form of error messages.

Event Viewer => Windows Logs

The BIOS/UEFI is a low-level software that initializes our

computer's hardware to make sure everything is good to go.
So next, the BIOS/UEFI runs a process called the Power On
Self Test or POST. The POST performs a series of diagnostic
tests to make sure that the computer is in proper working
order. Next, depending on the BIOS/UEFI configuration, a
boot device will be selected. Devices that are attached to our
system, like hard drives, USB drives, CD drives, et cetera are
configured in a certain boot order. The devices will be checked
in this order and the computer will search for what's known as
a bootloader. The bootloader is a small program that loads the
operating system.
Virtual machines
A virtual machine is just a
copy of a real machine.

Virtual machines use

physical resources like
memory, CPU and storage, but
they offer the added benefit
of running multiple
operating systems at once.
Create a file - win /Linux
For Win

- Find a location for your

file
- Click right - New Folder
- Rename your folder

For Linux

- Open your Linux

distribution -
Ubuntu/Linux Mint/ Gentoo
etc.
- Use the command:

Make directory -mkdir

mkdir numele-fisierului-dorit
Week 4 - Networking
The Internet is the physical connection of computers and
wires around the world. The Web is the information on the
Internet. Networking is a specific branch of information
technology (IT) and is one of the fastest-growing areas of
IT. It involves the processes of building, using and
maintaining computer networks – including hardware,
software and protocols – so that multiple computing
devices can share data.The Internet is composed of a
massive network of satellites, cellular networks, and
physical cables buried beneath the ground. We don't
actually connect to the Internet directly. Instead, computers
called servers (applications) connect directly to the Internet.
Servers store the websites that we use, like Wikipedia,
Google, Reddit, and BBC. These websites serve content.
The machines that we use, like our mobile phones, laptops,
video game, consoles and more, are called clients (a
hardware or software unit that access a service available on
a server). Clients request the content, like pictures,
websites, from the servers. Clients don't connect directly to
the Internet. Instead, they connect to a network run by an
Internet service provider or ISP: Digi, Telekom etc.Basically,
all the other networks in the world, together, they form one
giant network of computers called the Internet.
Networking
When you send or receive data through a
network, your computer needs to have both an IP
and a MAC address.

An IP address is your house address, while the

MAC address is the name of this recipient.

An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a

numerical label such as 192.0.2.1 that is
connected to a computer network that uses the
Internet Protocol for communication.An IP address
serves two main functions: network interface
identification and location addressing.

A media access control address (MAC address) is

a unique identifier assigned to a network interface
controller (NIC) for use as a network address in
communications within a network segment.
How data package travel
Networking Hardware A computers connect to a few
different devices that help organize
our network together:
There are a lot of ways you can connect
computers to a network: ● A router connects lots of
● through an Ethernet cable, which lets
different devices together and
you physically connect to the network helps route network traffic;
through a cable. On the back of the
desktop we worked in the previous ● Switches and hubs - help data travel;
lessons, there's a network port that
you plug your Ethernet cable into.
● Another way to connect to a network is
through Wi-Fi, which is wireless
networking: like mobile phones, smart
televisions and laptops. We connect to
wireless networks through radios and
antennas.
● through fiber optic cables to connect
to a network. This is the most
expensive method since fiber optic
cables allow greater speeds than all
the other methods. Fiber optic gets
its name, because the cables contain
glass fibers that move data through
light instead of electricity.
Language of the The Web
Internet/Internet
Protocols
● The Transmission Control Protocol
● the Internet Protocol

TCP/IP

The Internet Protocol or IP, delivers our packets to the right computers. => IP
Addresses . The Internet Protocol helps us route information.

The Transmission Control Protocol or TCP, is a protocol that handles reliable

delivery of information from one network to another.

DNS acts like our Internet's directory

and lets us use human readable words to
map to an IP address. The computer
doesn't know what google.com is. It only
knows how to get to an IP address. With
DNS, it's able to map Google's IP address
with google.com. Every time you go on a
website, your computer is performing a
DNS lookup to find the IP address of the
website name you typed in.
IOT - Internet of Things
Week 5 - Software
Programming is coding in a programming language.
Programming languages are special languages that
software developers use to write instructions for
computers to execute.

Recipe for computing:

A compiled programming language uses human

readable instructions, then sends them through a
compiler.

Wikipedia source:

Compiler, computer software that translates (compiles)

source code written in a high-level language (e.g., C++)
into a set of machine-language instructions that can be
understood by a digital computer's CPU. Compilers are
very large programs, with error-checking and other
abilities.

Programming languages are automating software.

Types of Software
Firmware is software that's
permanently stored on a computer
component.=> the BIOS

The BIOS helps startup the hardware

on your computer and also helps load
up your operating system.
Installing software:

● Go to software’s official download page

● install according to your computer’s settings e.g.
64bit version;

Updating software - check for update’s on software’s

site/in Apps&Features;

Uninstalling software:

● Search on your computer for Apps&Features;

● Find the software you want to uninstall;
● Click on uninstall + OK
Installing, Updating and
Removing Software in
Linux
Check if a program is installed: Installing software:
dpkg -s (package manager for
Debian/Debian-based systems -status) - Get package info first:
Command:
dpkg - s namesoftware
sudo apt-get update = to download package
dpkg --info - to examine archive files
information from all configured sources
- Download app/software:
Update a software/package: sudo apt-get install numesoftware
sudo apt-get install -f =
Uninstalling software:
download the latest version of your
desired application from an online sudo apt-get remove numesoftware
software repository pointed to by your
sources
WEEK 6 Troubleshooting +
Tipps in IT Support