TOTAL: CompTIA A+ Core 2 (220-1102) Course + Practice Test

CompTIA creates IT certifications that cover topics such as how to build and fix computers or how to secure businesses from internal and external threats. Every major IT manufacturer is part of CompTIA. The CompTIA A+ certification is a popular entry point for people looking to work in IT. The certification requires you to pass two exams, the Core 1 (220-1101) and Core 2 (220-1102), but requires no experience or study (though, as Mike points out, study is good!)

Certifications power the IT industry. CompTIA A+ is the de facto entry point for IT techs, the first certification you should get. It provides a common language for people in IT, and prepares you for work in the industry.

In this episode, Steve walks through how to take the CompTIA A+ exam, including the at-home and in-person options through Pearson Vue.

The Core 2 (220-1102) exam covers four big subject areas: operating systems, security, software troubleshooting, and operational procedures. Steve dives into the sub-objectives in this episode, providing an overview of what you need to know for success on the Core 2 exam.

In this episode, Steve describes the CompTIA A+ exam process, plus explores a good strategy for prepping for the exam. Schedule the exam first! The pressure will have you hitting the books or videos in no time!

Steve shows you how to use this video course alongside the CompTIA A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide, Tenth Edition. He also shows you helpful hints about the videos.

Technical skills are only part of what makes a great tech. Techs must also possess professional communication skills to ensure users get the support they need in using their systems to get their work done. This is the first of two parts that cover the communication skills every tech needs to provide this level of support.

Knowing what to say and how to say it is a start, but good communication takes practice. Until you get a chance to try this out in the real world, the next best thing is seeing these skills in action.

Not every client interaction can be pleasant and knowing how to deal with difficult customers is a key soft skill that you will need to master. The wrong response can and often does make the situation worse. In this video we will learn how to effectively communicate with particularly difficult customers and examine some phrases that you can immediately use in similar encounters.

As much as we need to protect our computers, we must also protect ourselves in our work environment. Good techs understand how to use anti-ESD tools, protect their fingers, and employ proper lifting technique.

Before we get hands-on with any component, we always want to make sure we follow a few simple safety procedures. Let’s take a moment to talk about some common hardware concerns and operational procedures that will be critical to ensuring your success as a PC technician.

We use computers to get work done via programs called applications. Another program, called the operating system, supports the applications, hardware, and storage devices inside our computers.

All operating systems provide security through user accounts. User accounts define what a person can or cannot do on a system. Every operating system also has some form of Superuser that has complete control over all other users on that system.

Why is Microsoft Windows so dominant on desktop systems? Features such as domains and active directory are so popular that even macOS and Linux systems have built-in tools to access Microsoft Windows networks.

While you can expect to see Linux and macOS questions on the test, the large majority of the CompTIA A+ exam covers the Microsoft Windows operating system. The modern Windows OS comes in two primary versions, Windows 10 and Windows 11. Let’s pull them up side-by-side and look at the similarities and differences between each.

macOS is the equivalent of Windows on Apple computers. Although it’s a completely different operating system, macOS and Windows actually have a lot in common.

The free and popular Linux OS is taking over the world, though it’s still rare on desktops. Linux’s customization via distributions is perfect for IoT devices, routers, servers and even desktops.

Electrical power from our grid is imperfect. Sometimes it provides too little or too much power. We use tools such as surge suppressors and uninterruptible power supplies to protect our PCs.

Today’s computers often use multiple mass storage devices. It’s critical that the system boots from the right device. Boot order is handled via the system setup.

We organize physical storage into logical subdivisions called partitions. Partitions serve several critical functions beyond just storing our data. Specialized partitions support virtual memory, boot, and recovery functions.

Master boot record (MBR) partitioning is the oldest way to partition mass storage. All operating systems still support MBR, so it’s important for techs to recognize its limitations.

Globally unique identifier (GUID) partition table (GPT) partitioning is more modern and used by all operating systems today. It’s important for a tech to understand the benefits of GPT as well as how to use it.

A file system organizes data stored on mass storage devices. A tech should have a good understanding of multiple file systems, why they are used and how to troubleshoot them.

There are many file systems available for different systems, purposes, and type of storage. It’s important to know the difference between files systems such as NTFS, ext3, FAT, and HFS+.

File systems are created through the processes called formatting. There’s a number of different ways to format mass storage and a good tech knows how to do this for the most common file systems.

Dynamic disks are unique to the Windows operating system. Make sure you understand why Microsoft uses dynamic disks and how to configure spanning, striping, etc.

A brand-new system doesn’t have a bootable drive with an installed operating system. In this episode you will go through the process of setting up an initial drive and installing an operating system using bootable media.

Microsoft’s Storage Spaces feature provides a superb tool to configure many different RAID configurations on any Windows system. A good tech knows which types of RAID it supports and how to set them up.

Securing mass storage is a critical aspect of system security. Make sure you know the many ways a system’s mass storage can be encrypted.

Mass storage devices need ongoing maintenance to ensure optimal operation. Windows systems have automated tools to optimize performance and to check drives for bad areas.

Why are there USB Type-A and USB Type-B connectors? Why do modern systems still provide older USB connectors when the latest USB perfectly supports older devices? It takes a good understanding of the USB standards to see how and why.

Video conferencing software has changed the way we work, especially with more and more companies moving to remote and hybrid workplaces. This episode gives a quick demonstration of Microsoft Teams and its screensharing function.

There are important differences between Windows 10 Home, Pro, Pro for Workstations, and Enterprise. This episode reviews the versions and feature differences.

There are important differences between Windows 11 Home, Pro, Pro for Workstations, and Enterprise. This episode reviews the versions and feature differences.

A PC can only boot from a bootable drive. A mass storage device with a working OS installed on it is one kind of bootable drive. But what if there’s no OS installed, or the installation is broken? No problem! Just pop in a bootable device such as the OS installation media, or a bootable diagnostic toolkit. If you don’t have one, you can make your own with a spare optical disc or thumb drive, an ISO image file of the bootable media, and a program to burn the ISO file to your media.

There’s more than one way to install Windows and a good tech understands all of them. Additionally, it’s important to perform a few pre-installation tasks to make sure your system will work with your desired version of Windows.

The job isn’t done the second the Windows installer finishes. There are several steps that must take place after the Windows operating system is installed to get the system up to speed and ready to work.

Linux is a fantastic open-source and free operating system that anyone can download and use. Let’s discover how to install and update this wonderful OS.

Upgrading macOS is simple. Follow along with Mike Smyer in this episode to find out how to upgrade to the newest version of macOS.

The Task Manager has lots of information about services, processes, applications, and users. It gives information to help you monitor, manage, and control what’s running in order to maximize the performance of your machine.

The Control Panel is a large collection of applets that are used for updating system settings, dealing with hardware, and troubleshooting. This episode explores the basics of the Control Panel in Windows.

Windows Settings has a number of options to change, update, and customize the OS. You can find settings for System, Devices, Network and Internet, Accounts, Gaming, and more.

Windows is all about customization, and that flexibility extends to the administration of the machine as well. With the Microsoft Management Console (MMC), we are able to create specific templates that include only the needed administrative tools for the machine or task at hand. Let’s get familiar with MMC and create our own custom framework for managing our PC.

The Registry is the primary repository for everything about your Windows system. The Registry is rarely accessed directly, but, when necessary, we use the Registry Editor utility to do so.

macOS has a number of tools you can use to configure, secure, and streamline your operating system. This episode covers the most important tools you’ll need to know for any macOS device.

The Microsoft NT File System (NTFS) enables fine control of multiple users accessing resources on a single computer. To do this, every person accessing a single computer must have their own user account. Windows also has groups which combine users with common resource needs.

Every version of Windows has some utility to create, maintain, and remove users and groups from a system. Local Users and Groups gives the most granular settings, but for quick setup you can always add and edit accounts in the User Accounts Control Panel applet.

NTFS permissions are powerful and a bit complicated to those unfamiliar with them. You can apply permissions for files or folders to user accounts (although it is considered better to apply them to groups and add user accounts to those groups).

While macOS and Linux lack NTFS’s fine control of resources, they do still have permissions, and a good tech should understand how they work. Additionally, there are specific tools used to control permissions.

The process of sharing resources using NTFS makes more sense with examples. Certain features (especially Allow/Deny and Inheritance) make more sense when you see the process in action.

NTFS permissions control files and folders, but there are plenty of other resources that need control. Security Policies control factors like logon attempts, printer access, and password length/complexity.

Software updates are crucial to maintaining a healthy system. An unpatched system can spell disaster to a network. Although Windows has made their update process relatively hands-free, there are still some things to take note of. ​

In this episode, Steve enlists the help of Michael "Mac Maniac" Smyer, who walks us through how easy it is to maintain the macOS and its applications. Michael also discusses how to customize login items and the different types of application files.

While Windows is a one-size-fits-all product, Linux is quite different. The whole concept behind Linux is an almost total control over the environment. However, this control brings with it a massive amount of responsibility for patch and application management of the OS.

It’s important to consider hardware requirements and impact to your device, network, and operation before installing any applications. This episode covers these requirements, as well as some tips for using and troubleshooting applications.

Windows has provided many different tools over the years to enable techs (and users) to back up important files. A good tech knows these Windows tools to help their users recover data when things go wrong.

Backing up data in Linux and macOS follows the same best practices as Windows, with a few different tools.

All operating systems provide at least one command-line interface (CLI). While the CLIs differ, they all share certain features and functions.

Navigating around your mass storage is one of the most critical CLI functions. To do it, you’ll need to know about specific commands, their relevant switches, and how directories are structured.

The data stored in our mass storage devices is organized into a large tree of folders (also known as directories). A good tech must understand how to create, delete and move folders.

Within that big tree of folders, the data itself is saved in individual files. A good tech must understand how to create, delete, and move files.

Every CLI provides a complete set of tools to administer our mass storage drives. You’ll find tools to format and partition drives, scan for errors and correct them, and more.

Every CLI provides a basic copy command to move files from one location to another. These basic tools lack special features such as copying entire folder structures. That’s where special “Super” copy commands come in.

All Linux/UNIX operating systems share a unique file/folder permission system, very different from Windows’, which requires careful understanding.

The Windows command line also provides hundreds of tools, and many have nothing to do with managing files, folders, and drives. A good tech should understand commands for manipulating processes and group policies.

The CompTIA exam covers a few more advanced Linux commands. These commands enable some unique navigation.

Scripting is the process of combining a list of commands into text files in order to easily re-run the whole sequence of commands again later. Every operating system has at least two if not more scripting functions to allow a tech to do exactly this.

Every operating system contains interpreters that can read higher-level programming languages. This episode covers three popular interpreters: Visual Basic, Python, and JavaScript.

Scripting can make tedious tasks more efficient, but there are a number of other reasons to use it as well. This episodes reviews the use cases for scripting, what can happen when scripting goes wrong, and a few other helpful tips.