IT Hardware Essentials: Desktop Support and Troubleshooting by Pearson

Looking to launch a career in IT support? This course helps you gain essential IT hardware maintenance skills to excel at troubleshooting and desktop support by exploring ports, cables, hardware, peripherals, and more. Begin by reviewing how to work with common ports and cable types, including video ports, USB, Thunderbolt, Ethernet, and power cables. Discover how cable converters and adapters are used to connect different hardware components. Check out the inside of a desktop computer to understand RAM, hard drives, graphics cards, and wireless adapters. Find out how to use built-in tools such as device managers to manage and update drivers. Review key components of internal and external storage devices.

Learn how to diagnose and fix common issues related to power, connectivity, usability, and hardware compatibility with CPUs, memory, graphics, and storage. Equip yourself to be able to read device status indicators, identify problems, and update firmware. Review how to troubleshoot a wide range of peripherals including printers, speakers, microphones, keyboards, scanners, webcams, and conferencing tools. By the end of this course, you will be prepared to support computer systems, solve hardware and device problems, and apply critical thinking techniques, whether you’re starting or continuing as a help desk technician, IT support specialist, or the office’s go-to troubleshooter.

Learning objectives
Identify common physical ports and cable types used in desktop and mobile devices.
Differentiate between various cable converters and adapters to support hardware compatibility and connectivity.
Describe the internal components of a desktop computer, including CPU, RAM, storage drives, and expansion cards.
Install and upgrade desktop hardware such as memory, hard drives, graphics cards, and wireless adapters.
Use system tools such as Device Manager to manage, update, and troubleshoot software drivers and connected devices.
Explain the functions of internal and external storage devices and how to choose the appropriate solution for different use cases.
Apply diagnostic steps to troubleshoot common hardware problems including power failures, connectivity issues, and hardware compatibility conflicts.
Analyze system requirements to determine compatibility between components such as processors, memory, graphics cards, and storage devices.
Interpret hardware status indicators and use troubleshooting tools to identify device issues.
Evaluate the benefits and risks of firmware updates and decide when and how each should be applied in a support environment.
Diagnose and resolve issues related to peripheral devices including printers, scanners, webcams, speakers, and input tools like keyboards and mice.
Apply best practices for the setup, maintenance, and support of common peripherals in both office and remote work settings.