Category: Windows Update

How to prepare for Comptia A+ certification exam

Paul

If We Can Dream It...

 

Can You do it?

This is probably the first time you’ve come to this class and you’ve seen what is going to be like.   You sweating and worried you’re going to not get your certification.   This is what most of you are thinking at least to a point.  I can see those blank faces and those stares.  CompTIA isn’t going to be easy, in fact, most you will probably have to do it at least twice to get the certification.  I am sure it isn’t going to be fun, and we will see people get sick over trying to pass the certification.  Just like everything else, if it was easy there would be so many more people doing the jobs that we wanted.  You’ve seen the economy and the need for CompTIA A+ certification, if you haven’t go do some basic research or looking for your self what field you will be going into and what you are trying to accomplish in your academic studies.  Is it for the dream job, or is it just because you want to be able to talk about how good you are.  If you’re that guy, you might want to learn to be more humble and know that it’s not all about the certifications.   Now for the rest of US that are looking for a serious career in IT and having that CompTIA A+ certification, you don’t know there are resources out on the web to help you to even make sure you are even ready to take the final test to get that A+ that you’ve been wanting since you started this journey.

CompTIA (Computing Technology Industry Association)

When it comes to understanding technology, we’ve been doing it forever it might seem.  It however is still relatively new area that has developed over the years.  I can remember a time when just having a computer was a big deal.   I can even remember a time when having a TV was like the biggest thing in the house.   You’d go to work and say, Yea we watch “So and so” and be able to brag about having that TV to your coworkers.  Boy am I showing my age.  There are people who have seen students pass and even fail in courses just like this and I don’t want anyone to fail the exam.   This is where I am going to impart to you my wisdom, ack there’s my age again.   I’ve seen a lot and that might be saying a lot but this isn’t going to be as difficult as you are thinking or even worrying.   If you’ve seen the video an Core 1 Test Objectives Video and not at least thought about what you will do to prepare for this exam, Then your either over sure of yourself or not here to take the exam, either way this is probably not going to phase you.

Web Resources

Now what can you do to prepare for this exam?  This is probably what you are thinking or wanting to at least know if you haven’t already thought about it.  Here is what I am going to show you some great ways to get ready for the exam.  This isn’t a complete list and it by far isn’t going to be anything that I haven’t at least looked at and even thought about doing.   It however will probably make it so much easier for the time when you are going to want to take the test again or maybe it will help you get that certification the first time around.   If you really try, you might be see a certification in your hand by the end of all this.

  • Check out the CompTIA Website (https://www.comptia.org/home)  — CompTIA have some great pretest exams and will help you know where you might need to work on even more to pass the exam.
  • IT Pro TV (https://www.itpro.tv/)  — If you haven’t checked out this website, you really should.  They have some great free videos to help you prepare to take the exam.  If you are wanting to go farther than that, this this is a great resource to keep you getting those certifications.
  • Professor Messer Free Videos on the A+ Certifications

Here are some sites Practice test exams for the CompTIA A+:

These are few sites that I know from just doing my research in this area and being that I like to listen to podcasts.  I’m always listening to a lot of InfoSec and there’s an exam for that also.   Either way, if you’re truly serious about passing the exam, you’d be nuts not to at least look at these places and search even more for other resources that might even help you even more.   Just remember, you’re not in this alone.  You’ve got your friends, family, and even teachers rooting for you to pass this course and other courses.  That’s what they are here for to help you get the education that you need to get that job you are wanting or dreamed about.   Even I have seen teachers help those who are struggling, just to see them pass the course.   All the teachers here are available to help you if you just remember to ask for the help, if you ask them.   Happy Monday and hope every succeeds in the field you are looking to get into.

It’s hard getting a computer technician job

Paul
Photo by: Michal Jarmoluk on Pixabay

Trying to get a job in 2021

Even I have been trying to get a job in the computer field the last few weeks because I want the experience but most of the time they require 2 or 3 years of experiences.   This is ridiculous because most people don’t even have that for entry level jobs.   Then You try to get jobs that looks good on the Indeed or other job posting sites and then you get into the interview and they are will to pay you less than you could be working at McDonalds or even Target.   They are willing to pay you 12$ or 14$ dollars an hour.   My Goodness why did I get the education if I could go back doing what I did last year.

People want to work

There is a fallacy going around saying “People don’t want to work“, I say yes they do but you aren’t wanting to pay them for their talents or their expertise.   Here’s the way I see it, if you are going to tell me I have to get a pay cut just to get the experience that I know I already have than what’s the point in accepting a job that will keep me poor?   These are the types of jobs in the job market.   I have tried to know my worth and know that when I finally get hired onto a job, I will have the pay I deserve for my hard work going to college to get those technical certifications.   This is where recruiters will realize that the people who will fill those jobs are going to not want to work or do as a good as a job as those who are being paid for their talents.

People aren’t motivated or lazy

It has been said many times that if you want a job, they are out there and you just don’t want to work but I say comment is wrong in so many ways.   People went through a year lockdowns and social distancing and the fear of Covid19 for so long.   People have rethought about what actually has meaning and what they are willing to accept and not accept.   I can understand people who don’t want to work in the fast food industry.  You get those really mean customers who will call you names or even spit in your face just because you made mistake.   I get that part, that is one place where it will always be difficult to fill those positions.   Workers now know what makes them feel like they have meaning or a connection in life.  Please just stop saying comments like this because it doesn’t help the situation out with people getting a job.

Hire ME!

I throw this out to anyone who might want to say people are lazy and unmotivated.   If you really have a job that I can do in the computer technology area.   Please send me an email and let me know, I’ve been applying to everything that looks good on Indeed, Monster, and Zip recruiter so I haven’t had any luck yet.  I challenge you to prove me wrong.   I am looking just like every other computer technician for local jobs but If I have to do a remote, I will be more than willing to do that also.   I will say I can only work part time, 28 ish hours is the max, until January but after that I can and will work full time.

How to use Oracles VirtualBox on Windows 10 (Step by Step Guide)

Paul

What is VirtualBox?

That is the first question you should be asking your if you are wanting to use it.   VirtualBox is a way for anyone to play around with other operating systems like Windows 11,  and yet I didn’t like it enough to even think about playing around with it on a Virtual machine.  You can also install different Linux operating systems to get yourself used to the Linux OS.  Either way, the long term’s of using VirtualBox is vastly better than you can imagine.  You can try new Operating system and see how they will do with what you might be interested in.   This will be a how to on Windows 10 because that’s what I am using but I have already talked about doing it on Linux  and installing Windows 10 on it.  If you’re curious about doing it the other way around that would be a good start.

After Installing VirtualBox in Windows 10

What’s the first Step in installing an operating system.  You either need the USB version or If you have a DVD of the operating system you want to install that will also be good.   Each way is not to hard to do while using VirtualBox.   First part of this is to initialize the Virtual System.

You’ll want to click the NEW button and you’ll be lead to this screen.  Give it any name you would but most will say something like MacOS, Linux, Or Windows (xp, 7, 10, 11) because you would basically like to keep track of that when you start using the Virtual machine.

VirtualBox is pretty intuitive when it comes to which operating you will be installing so when you name it the right Operating system.  You should see the version and type change down below to reflect the type of operating system parameters you’ll need to use the Virtual machine.

Dedicating the memory

You’ll want to dedicate a certain amount of memory to be use with VirtualBox so you can have enough to run the virtual operating system and not be sluggish.   If you have 16 gb or more of memory than you can easily divide it by 2 if you are just going to do one virtual machine at a time.  The Minimum I would recommend to use with a Virtual Machine is 4 gb but that is just a personal opinion.

Create a Virtual Hard drive

This is simply the easiest part of the creating the virtual machine.  You can have use as much as you like or as little as you like depending on your situation.  I usually give mine at least 10 gb or more depending on which operating I will be installing.  The more space you give the less you will have to use on your local hard drive so if you have another drive you want to use so as to not fill up your C: drive that would be preferable.

You’ll want to create a VHD or a VMDK but I rather like just useing the Virtual Hard Drive selection because it makes it so much easier for me.

This is where you should say Fixed size, so it doesn’t use up so much space that it will create a problem for you later on.

If you’re unsure of how much to use just keep it where it is.  Most of time when you are just checking out a operating system you will not need to much space to test it out.  All you have to do now is Create the Virtual Hard drive and you’ll all setup for the next part.

Installing the Operating system

The next step is to tell tell VirtualBox which ISO you will be using to install into the virtual machine.  You’ll want make sure the new machine you just created is turned blue by click on it and then hitting the settings key on VirtualBox dashboard.

Finally you’ll want to hit the little disk drive at the top right and add a new ISO you are wanting to use for the virtual environment.

Simply hit the ADD button and navigate to where you downloaded that ISO and use that then click choose.  Once done then you are all set on this part of the setup.

Don’t forget about how the cores

This is not a big issue but sometimes might help with running the Virtual Machine by checking to see how many cores you might want to use with the new operating system.  This is however just something I’ve found to speed up the virtual machine.   If you have 2 cores you can obviously only use 1 but if you have more than 2 cores it can be nice to use a few more cores to make the system a little bit more responsive.

You are all set

This part is obviously the hard part is to just hit the start or double clicking on the virtual machine you want to make it execute.   Either way sit back and play around with what you can do with the new operating system and install it on to the virtual hard drive and you’ll be good to go.  Once you install, you can go back to the storage selecting in the settings and remove the ISO to prevent it from loading again.   In some cases it will so just go back and remove the ISO from the drive and you can just enjoy playing around with whatever system you want to explore.

Why I uninstalled Microsoft Windows 11 Preview build?

Paul
Windows 11 — Isn’t the great!

I reinstalled Windows 10 and Deleted Windows 11!

I don’t know about everyone else but after my week long expedition into Windows 11, I just couldn’t handle the speed issues of the Windows 11 and the encryption.   I know it isn’t worth my time after all that to down grade to Windows 10 but I I felt it wasn’t going to get any smoother than that.  I also would of had to have deleted the partition anyways since it was locked to secure boot and UEFI.  I really didn’t want to try to convert it back to MBR.   I got my trust Windows 10 DVD and started it up and found the partitions I wanted to delete and then I reinstall Windows 10.   I will say that after wiping the hard drive and reinstalling Windows 10, and turning off all the Encryption crap and just booting into Windows has seen my load times go back to normal.

Windows 11 Problems

First off the main problem I had with Windows was the need to encrypt the Hard drive and I was using a NVME which should of been way faster than a standard SSD or Hard drive to boot up.   That wasn’t the case, I’d see the swirling load screen on my system for several seconds and then it would finally boot.  Due to the encryption that Microsoft says is required to run Windows 11, it just doesn’t cut it for me.   Even playing games like Minecraft was screwy and that isn’t even taking up that much memory at the most 2 GB or if you know how to do it 4 GB.   I’d play with Minecraft and the system would take forever to load up the next part of the map or even play Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and It wouldn’t be sluggish there also.

The Start Menu

This was something that was just annoying, I think Microsoft wanted to look like an Apple device and bring the apple guys over because of the look.  I can’t understand why you would prevent people from reverting back to the old Windows 10 setup.  I can only wonder what people will do to find out what they are running and if it will actually be a good idea to keep the start menu in the middle of the screen.  Some people have these really long screens and it might help them.  I personally would like to move the taskbar anywhere on the outside of the screen, top or maybe right or left of the screen.  You wouldn’t be able to do that either.   Which will make people really mad.

I can’t see this being all about security

It just can’t be about viruses and malware or even the recent months of ransomware attacks that have been happening in the past year, due to the Covid19 situation around the world.  I have talked about how Windows will ultimately fail and we will see virus writers come up with some good viruses and malwares to compromise the Secure boot and even the TPM that is trying to be forced to be used by Windows.   I am sure it isn’t over, and if Microsoft isn’t going to change, we’ll see people leaving left and right to go to operating system that are much less restrictive and more open such as Linux.  In the end, I went back to Windows 10 because of the speed and performance, and I am not even thinking about Windows 11 until I find out what they will require when the system is finally released.   This will be a big deal to some but me, I am not interested in the so called security features of Windows 11.

 

Some advice for new computer technicians

Paul

Computer network technician training offered in Vancouver

We can’t do this alone!

This is the most important idea that you should understand. Most computer technicians think that they have to do it alone when it comes to problem solving an issue.  It is because  no one can ever know how to fix every possible problems that may arise.   Those are the times we should ask question and ask for help from other technicians.   This will help you even more than you might imagine because some other technician might know how to solve the issue or problem that you are having.    We might never really understand what someone else might know.   This also includes customers, because what one customer might not know another one might.

Research is everything

Sometimes even other technicians might not know what is causing the problem.  So use everything at your fingertips.   Don’t underestimate the power of word search in Google, Bing, and Yahoo.  It isn’t like one search engine is better than another.  Each search engine has some information that some others might not have.  Don’t just use one but should always use all of them.   Sometimes one search engine will not have the answers, so I will always go and check out two or more search engines for a possible fix for the issues.

You will have angry customers!

No one tells you this but no matter how nice or good you are, you’ll have those angry customers. You should be prepared to deal with them. I say this with some experience, no matter what you’ll do for a customer there will always be those who know nothing about computers and then get mad at you for some reason or another. You’ll need to learn to be patient with an angry customer. Learn to come up with ways to alleviate the stress or anger from the customer. My go to phrase when a customer is angry or stressed is “Here’s what I can do for you . . . “.   If you tell the customer that you can do something for the customer even if it is something small, it helps with making the customer feel like they are being heard.   Also learn to active listen to the customer and make sure you hear what they say by repeating back to them the problems they are having.   Also sometimes the customer is going to just need to vent and be angry.  Technicians should learn to just be there for the customers.

Computers will break!

This is the next thing you will learn being a technician, that no matter how careful you are going to be with a computer, You’ll break a system just by doing something you’ve done a billion times.   If it can be broken, it will be broken.  Murphy just likes to make people’s life harder, and we will always have those days.   I can say with certainty that no one will ever be perfect at solving problems or fixing the issues.   I’ve seen motherboards break or CMOS fail at the most unusual times.  So you should be prepared to always apologize to the customers or say your sorry and make it right, even if it’s not your fault.   Sometimes customers will want to feel like they are important to you and that helps keeps the customers coming back.

No technical jargon

No matter how much you know or think you know, keep the technical jargon to a minimum with customers.   Most of them aren’t even going to know what you are talking about if you don’t relate the problem to the customer.  I can remember several times when I heard someone tell a customers about a command or hardware and the customers eyes just glaze over because they just don’t understand.   Only tell the customer what they need to know, if it’s a customer error, teach the customer and try to prevent them from creating the problem again.

I’ve been in the computer world a long time and I am sure the old and new a like will agree that these are some valuable tips for those who might be interested in being a technician.  Nothing I’ve said here will stop angry customers but it might help.   What’s some things you’ve learned to help with customers not getting angry or make the customer happy?  I’d love to here what helped you with customers and I am sure others will too.