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CompTIA A+ Full Course for Beginners - Module 1 - What does an IT Specialist do?
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howy folks welcome to module one of the
full compa A+ course as you can see this
first module of the course is called
what does an IT specialist do for those
of you new to the channel or this course
this course is based on the 1,200 series
version of the course but you can
however also use this version of the
course to study for the previous 1,100
series version or the 1,300 series
version when it eventually gets released
since the content well is usually about
95% the same between these courses now
folks this 1,200 series version of the
course will once again consist of a core
one and a core two we have the 2 120-
1,21 now that is also known as the core
one as I'm sure you guys know by now and
then of course we've got the 220
d122 which is also known as the core two
both of these get fully covered in this
course if you don't know yet and if
you're wondering how many modules this
course consists of well folks it
consists of 22 modules in total there
will be a dedicated video for each of
these 22 modules and since I'll be
covering a whole module in each video
some of these videos will be a bit long
folks they will usually be about 1 hour
long sometimes 2 hours depending on the
topics in that specific module and the
end of the day we will be covering
everything in each module so if you're
preparing for the official A+
certification exams you are in the right
place folks now folks for your
convenience each video will also have
timestamps added into the video
description so if you may be looking for
something specific in a module or maybe
you just want to revise on something
specific like a specific topic well the
time stamps of it to make your life
easier it takes forever to put those
into a video folks so by all means
please feel free to use them and then
Folks at the end of this course playlist
I will also be adding a couple of
dedicated custom practice question
videos for you guys to test your
knowledge on what you've learned in this
course and also to see if you're ready
to set for the official comp A+ exams
all righty folks let's talk about the
agenda for this first module of the
course each module consists of various
sections and obviously each module will
have a different amount of sections now
today's module consists of only two main
sections the first main section we'll be
diving into today is called the hero of
problem solving yes I kid you not that's
the actual name of that section the
second main section we'll be covering in
this module is called the
troubleshooting methodology now this one
folks is especially important if you're
planning writing the exam you can expect
multiple questions about this the exam
anyway folks if you haven't done it
already do your homie here a favor and
show this video and this channel some
love by giving it a like you will not
just be helping me in this video but
you'll also be helping other people that
are studying for the A+ exams by giving
this video a like you'll be getting it
in front of more people that actually
needs it people that don't necessarily
have money to pay for courses like this
you'll be helping a lot of people out by
doing so and then of course if you'd
like to know when the next modulus
course goes live or any have my other
content for that matter Maybe consider
subscribing otherwise you might miss it
all right folks now that we have all of
that out of the way let's go dive into
[Music]
section all right folks the name of this
first section in case you folks don't
remember the hero of problem solving man
I can't say that of a straight face I
don't know what comp you was thinking of
that name but all right we'll go for it
now guys in this first section the first
thing we're going to be talking about is
the role of an IT specialist what
exactly does an IT specialist do now
some of you guys might have a more or
less idea but do you really know so one
of the first things you need to know
about IT specialist guys is they this
could be you are in charge of managing
computer systems this could be a small
computer system this can be a large
computer system and this small/ large
concept applies to everything else I'm
about to mention to you guys on this
list as well so when I say a small
computer system this could be a small
office home office environment which we
refer to as a Soho s o ho this could
literally just be like five or 20
machines and your job as a technician
would be to go and manage those 20
machines give the users what they need
so if they need a machine of certain
specs your job would be to give the
machine that meets those specs your job
would be to make sure these machines are
up to dat your job would be to make sure
these machines are secure now managing
your computer system folks can also be a
medium or a large size environment so
this could very well extend to hundreds
if not thousands of computers so there's
going to be many cases this is the more
likely scenario where you will be one of
many technicians managing an environment
that consists of hundreds if not
thousands of computers now usually
because of how many these computers are
it's simply not feasible for you to go
and walk up to every machine and go and
do stuff manually nope instead in those
environments we have softwares that Aid
us with that now unfortunately this
course is not about those softwares but
in case you're curious that would be
things like Microsoft inun it'll be
things like Microsoft's configuration
manager just to name a few you get lots
of software out there that allow use an
administrator to manage these devices
you can see what devices people have you
can see the specs of those devices you
can see what operating system they've
got installed build wise addition wise
you can see the software they've got
installed updates and drivers they've
got installed you can see the security
they've got on those devices now never
mind seeing folks you can do you can
install or uninstall software updates
and drivers you can go and enforce
certain security requirements like
forcing us to have bit Locker encryption
you can force them to have a strong long
complicated password you can force them
to geographically speaking be in a
certain location it extends well beyond
lots of things but in short folks
managing a computer system is just you
making sure people have what they need
in a nutshell now folks another role of
the IT specialist is managing Network
systems so that would be installing the
physical network cables installing the
network switches the routers installing
the firewalls also managing and
configuring these routers switches and
firewalls it is to go and create things
like vlans if you know what a VLAN is if
you don't know what a VLAN is don't
stress that does get covered in the
course later on it is to go and
configure subnetting also if you don't
know what it is it gets covered later in
the course so the point here is it's for
you to go and create and establish a
physical Network and or a digital
Network in a company environment to
maintain that environment so if
something goes wrong for you to have
enough knowledge and skill to be able to
troubleshoot that environment now the
role of an IT specialist also includes
resolving things resolving things like
computer hardware related issues or
software related issues now to be able
to do this guys you need to know and
understand the troubleshooting
methodology something we are going to
cover today in this specific module so
stay tuned for that so the
troubleshooting methodology in a
nutshell is just the steps one would
take to go troubleshoot an issue for
yourself or a user now obviously this
issue could be hard related or it could
be soft related now resolving these
issues you need to have a certain level
of experience it's not just about
knowing what the troubleshooting
methodology is you need to have
experience with experience as soon as
the user starts mentioning the symptoms
they're experiencing you'll already have
a fairly good idea of where to start
troubleshooting it's not just going to
be a guessing game think of this as
going to your doctor now when you go to
your doctor doctor guys and you start
mentioning the symptoms you're
experiencing usually because of
experience you'll oftenly the doctor
will already know what's wrong of you
you will have no idea but they will
already have a very good idea simply
because of their experience they've seen
this enough times they've been around
the block a couple of times if you want
to put it like that and obviously that
allows them to identify a problem a lot
quicker it allows them to identify your
illness a lot quicker just like you will
eventually be able to identify the
illness that someone's computer is
experiencing think of yourself as a
computer doctor I know it sounds
ridiculous but that's basically what you
guys are going to be one day you are
going to be a computer doctor and by the
users mentioning to you what symptoms
their computers are experiencing due to
your experience you'll often know what
the problem is without even testing it
you can already start suggesting a
couple of solutions to these guys it's
pretty crazy now the role of an ID
specialist folks is also establishing
computer networks so very much the same
as man man in computer networks now
establishing computer networks never
mind installing the physical cables and
switches and routers and stuff like that
it's also the digital configuration of
networks never mind vlans and subnetting
this could literally be for you to go
and set up VIP address of a computer so
if you go and set up the IPS of one or
more machines or devices that could be
seen as establishing computer networks
this includes but also extends to things
like wireless network folks you will
from time to time have to go and create
what we call wireless networks you'll
have to go and set up the SS IDs you'll
have to go and set up the wireless
passwords possibly something like a Mac
falter if you know what Mac filtering is
guys and then lastly folks the role of
an IT specialist is to help people help
employees or to help customers now this
sounds very easy on paper but let me
tell you this is probably going to be
one of the hardest parts here very often
I've hired the employees in my life guys
it sounds very easy to do that but often
one of the very weirdest things I look
for on someone's CV or their resume is
to see if they have any experience when
it comes to working of customers this
could literally be someone like a waiter
or a waitress now that obviously has
nothing to do with it but what I see is
somebody that has worked with difficult
users difficult customers because we
know you're going to get some of those
customers that are completely
unreasonable completely rude they'll be
so rud to the waiter or the waitress
even though they haven't done anything
wrong now obviously those Waiters is and
waitresses they've learned to deal with
these difficult customers not to swear
at them not to yell at them to apologize
and say sorry so we're going to do our
best we're going to see how we can fix
this so that's what I see when I hire
someone and they mention on their CV or
the resume that they've worked as a
waited or a waitress guys this is just
an example by the way so I see this as
someone that's got experience with
working with difficult people and that's
definitely a skill you're going to have
to have when it comes to working in it
you're going to have users customers
clients the employees which are going to
be completely crazy unreasonable just
plain rude of you at times and all you
can do is well you can't swear at them
you can't yell at them all we can do at
times is just apologize even though we
know it's not their fault this might be
them just being incompetent but we can't
say that we can think it but we can't
say that so yeah guys it's a lot easier
said than done really it is anyway folks
something else I want to talk to you
about you know when it comes to it
Specialists and what they do that would
be the skills and the abilities that
someone would need to have when they
want to become an IT specialist this
will be someone like yourself so what
are these skills and abilities and guys
keep in mind what I'm showing you on my
list today is not everything these are
simply the main ones you need to know
for the A+ course and for the A+ exam so
the first one is problem solving
probably one of the most famous ones and
one of the most obvious ones so for you
to be an IT specialist you need to be
able to do some problem solving you need
to be very good at problem solving and
to be able to do that one of the things
we will go and use is the
troubleshooting methodology there I go
again mentioning the troubleshooting
methodology something we have not
covered yet it's coming up in the second
section this video but you will need to
know the troubleshooting methodology and
using those guidelines if we want to
call it that you will be able to go and
do troubleshooting and you will be able
to go and do problem solving you will
know what question to ask the user or
the customer or the client you will know
what symptoms to look for you will know
what tools to go and use you will know
where to start looking what to do and
what not to go and do other things you
guys need to know with regards to skills
and abilities is communication now that
might sound silly to you guys but it's
not guys communication is a very
important skill to have an it as an IT
specialist it actually includes a lot of
things so communication is for you to
tell the customer the client or the
employee what's going on imagine for a
moment you are taking your car to the
dealership I know it sounds unrelated
but hear me out you're taking your car
to the dealership maybe it's just for
the routine service now when you go back
later that day to go and fetch your car
from the dealership for its routine
service suddenly you get told oh we saw
your brakes were done so we changed your
brake pads we changed this and we
changed that now isn't that going to
tick you off if they go and change and
fix all kinds of things without your
permission especially if they start
billing you for this you were planning
for a routine service which you know
maybe it's under a service plan you
might not even have to pay anything in
but now they go and fix and change all
kinds of things and now they want to
build you for afterwards that is just
very bad customer service it's very bad
communication now wouldn't it be nice
that if the car is on the lift they
phone you and say dear sir or Madame
your car is on the lift as we speak we
see your Brak pads are finished while
it's on the lift would you like us to
change the brake pads or would you like
to do this at a later time and I might
say you know what bro I haven't gotten
paid yet I'm only getting paid next week
I don't have the money right now but
thank you for informing me I'll do it
next week that is good communication
skills now an it it refers back to the
same thing should you see something
wrong on someone's machine their
firewall their environment whatever this
is it's a good idea to inform the
customer the client or the user of what
the cheese is going on I used to work
for a company I'm not going to mention
my name because I signed ndas and all
that kinds of stuff but I used to work
for a company and every day with all the
tickets I had open I had to go and phone
those customers or those companies the
next morning so the next morning 8:00 in
the morning when I'm having my cup of
coffee I had to phone each and every one
of these customers and companies to give
them an update whether they want it or
not some companies didn't care some
people really appreciate it so it's just
to phone him saying sir ma'am your
ticket is still open I have done the
following I'm going to do the following
next we don't know what the issue is yet
but we suspect it's going to be this we
suspect it's going to take another two
hours it's just to give them an update
as to what has been done what are we
going to be doing next and what the
expected ETA is very important to give
companies and customers U an update as
to what is going on I mean wouldn't you
like to know what's going on in your
machine can you imagine you are this
user put yourself in the shoes of that
user now there's something wrong with
your machine you send this machine in
for repairs but now you've got no idea
how long it's going to take or what they
will be doing wouldn't it be nice if
they found you maybe during the course
of the day saying Hey listen sir or
ma'am we have done the following on your
machine it doesn't seem to be the
problem um we're going to do the
following steps next this should take us
about 2 hours uh we suspect your
machine's going to be ready in about 2
hours but if not we will phone you 2
hours just to give you another update
wouldn't that be nice for folks if you
received an update like that that's
exactly the idea here communication is
key guys so if you're working for a
company that works for many other
companies that just looks professional
and you are going to get more customers
in the end of the day professionalism is
key here guys now speaking of
professionalism that brings us to
customer service now as you can see
communication and customer service have
a lot in common also something I would
look for on people's TV so somebody once
again mentioned they were a waiter or a
waitress just using as an example guys
obviously not limited that but if
somebody mentions to me on their CV or
their resume that they have been a
waited or a waitress I see that as good
customer service this person has skills
when it comes to working with difficult
customers so when you have a customer
yelling at you swearing at you all you
can do is just apologize say apologize
for the inconvenience you're
experiencing we will get on it so
imagine yourself working at a computer
store it's a normal computer store this
could possibly even be in a mall
somewhere guys you get a customer or a
client that brings in the machine into
the mall into a little store in the mall
and now this machine is broken now you
fix the machine maybe it's perfectly
fine now the next day they bring back
the same machine that you've already
fixed I kid you not it's going to happen
and what will often happen is when they
bring it back it'll be the exact same
issue in other words the user is the
problem not the computer and they will
yell at you they will swear at you
insult you of whatever else you know
they can think of here now end of the
day you cannot yell at the customer you
can't say Hey you are the problem and
you know say all kinds of mean words
that I'm not allowed to say Here on
YouTube you can't say those things all
we can do is say Sir ma'am I apologize
for the inconvenience let me have a look
at it now on that note guys
unfortunately you are going to get
people that's going to take chances they
will try and get a freeb fix here so
usually when you fix a machine a little
bit of off topic here we make them sign
for it it's a document that they signed
that the machine is working you show
them that it's working and on this
document it says what was wrong with the
machine and what was done to fix the
machine you also make them sign and
acknowledge not just that it's working
but that they've seen that it's working
and if they come back at that machine
afterwards and say oh it's broken again
or ever since you worked on his laptop
this doesn't work or that doesn't work
because they will try that stunt with
you then you can pull out that document
that says uhuh look here you've signed
and acknowledged that the machine wasn't
a working condition when you received it
uh you will get those people that's
going to try their luck from time to
time all right folks and then the fourth
thing I'm going to mention to you guys
here is attention to detail as an IT
specialist you need to have an eye for
detail you need to be able to spot
things that the average Joe does not
spot this can be small things can be big
things often this will be small things
things that are out of the ordinary so
let me mention an example here let's say
a user says my machine machine does not
want to start now obviously that can be
anything for a person to say my machine
doesn't start the list is longer than a
Christmas list of what it could possibly
be it could be anything but now they're
going to mention a couple of symptoms to
you again and that's obviously now where
experience comes in as well never mind
attention to detail they might mention
that when they start a machine it starts
fine it runs about 10 minutes maybe 15
minutes and then it just shuts down on
its own completely randomly when they
try and press the start button again
right afterwards nothing happens the
machine does not want to start but if
they leave it for about 20 minutes 30
minutes or so and they try again
suddenly it magically starts again and
then it just idles for another 10 or 15
minutes and then it just shuts down on
itself what could this possibly be now
that folks is an overheating issue just
an example the machine obviously gets
too hot they've got these safety sensors
built into them and if it gets too hot
to avoid any potential damage the
machine shuts itself down automatically
a lot of cars these days actually have
the same sensors built into the engines
if it detects the engine gets too hot
it'll kill the engine and only after
it's cool down properly enough will'll
allow you to start the engine again this
is to prevent damage to your engine and
the same can be said about your computer
if it detects that your machine is
getting too hot it doesn't know why it's
getting too hot but if it gets too hot
it's going to shut down the machine
automatically and you will not be able
to start again until the sensor detects
that that's cool enough to start the
machine safely again so but the user
just telling me all of those things I'm
I already know that it's overheating
that's me paying attention to detail but
it's also a little bit of mix off well
experience so you're going to have to
look for small little details this could
be something small on a motherboard
could be small on the network maybe it's
something you have to go and spot in an
event log somewhere but attention to
detail will often allow you to solve
problems that other people cannot solve
guys a fifth thing I want to mention to
you guys as analytical reasoning you
need to be able to think on your feet
here do not think like the customer or
the user think like a technician think
of the troubleshooting methodology that
we mentioned earlier the one that we're
still going to discuss later in this
video so you need to think like a
technician if the customer for example
mentions my machine doesn't want to
start now once again that could be
anything but if they mention my machine
does not want to start ever since
yesterday afternoon it was working
perfectly fine yesterday but this
morning it doesn't so now we already
know something happened between
yesterday afternoon and this morning now
using your analytical reasoning you will
be able to think of things like you know
what maybe it's an update let me first
go and check if it's not an update and
if you see there was a couple of updates
that took place chances are very likely
that one of those updates is the culprit
or if the user tells you that yeah last
night there was a storm taking place and
that kind of stuff as well that could
also possibly be the cause for all we
know there was a lightning strike there
was a power surge of s short somewhere
along the power line and that caused the
power supply of your PC to kick the
bucket you know we never know so that is
analytical thinking guys analytical
reasoning you need to think out of the
box here have the ability to think out
of the box think logically of what could
have caused something and where to start
your troubleshooting so if the user is
unable to tell you anything that's
useful I would start to do obvious
things start checking all the monitoring
things on the machine go into Event
Viewer for those of you that don't know
what Event Viewer is it shows you logs
of what happen on this machine go into
your V view if the machine is still able
to start go and check all the logs of
the machine if the machine is not able
to start maybe go and test each part
individually start with the power supply
because that's normally the most likely
culprit if that doesn't work change
something else and then change the next
part and then the next part you start in
a logical order until you find a culprit
and then another ability your skill
folks is time management this is
actually a very important skill not just
in it but in a lot of careers actually
so time management is very important in
a lot of fields so if you are for
example in the intern or if you're on
some sort of learnership program and
your show laid up for work that already
tells the potential employers a lot
about you it tells them that you're not
serious it tells them that you are not
professional that you don't want this
job necessarily so if you always show up
in time for you know appointments for
work for whatever this might be or even
a little bit early not too early
otherwise you look too eager and it also
looks unprofessional maybe about 10
minutes early maybe 15 minutes early
that's not too eager but also looks
professional so if this is a maybe your
just your job maybe it's a visit you
have to go to at a site or a client
whatever the case might be don't be late
be on time preferably be there 5 10
minutes or even 15 minutes ahead of time
it looks more professional when you do
that and in the event of you being
unable to you know meet this obligation
you know the time you've agreed to phone
your work or phone the client and let
them know you're going to be late so if
you are on your way to your client and
let's say you get stuck in traffic there
was an accident on the freeway or
whatever the case might be phone the
customer phone the client tell him sorry
sir I apologize for the inconvenience
I'm stuck on the freeway there seems to
be an accident here can we reschedule or
um is it fine if I'm coming half an hour
later because there an accident on the
highway and often you will find that
these people are actually very gracious
if you tell them why you're going to be
late you know if you tell them hey it's
an accident on the freeway then they
might actually be fine with that because
that's life guys that's something is
completely not within your power you
know it's it's something you have got no
control over that's just called life I
guess and if you tell them things like
that a lot of times they'll be fine if
you coming half an hour or an hour later
at least they can go and do other things
then it's going to be very
unprofessional though they expect you
there a certain time let's say 8:00 in
the morning and they wait and they wait
and they wait you only rock up half an
hour or an hour later that's very
unprofessional man put yourself in that
person's shoes here you are waiting for
someone that's supposed to be there at
8:00 and you wait and you wait now it's
halfast 8 eventually it's 9:00 and the
person is still not there and you
haven't heard a word from them now that
is very unprofessional that is going to
get your blood boiling but if you
expecting this person 8:00 and maybe
slightly before 8:00 the person phones
you and tells you sorry I apologize I'm
going to be late I'm stuck in traffic at
least you know now now you can go and do
something else in that time and you know
more or less when this person is going
to arrive guys so time management is key
if you are busy working on something as
well it's always a good idea to tell the
customer how long you think it's going
to take and to try and keep to that
schedule as well so that also falls
under customer service and communication
skills so a lot of these skills actually
kind of sort of integrated one another
something you might have noticed by now
so if you think you're going to be late
with a project you know maybe you're not
going to finish on time so if you said
you're going to be down at 4:00 and you
start seeing okay you know what Shucks
this is not going to be finished at 4:00
I'm only going to be finished around
6:00 tell the customer the client sir
ma'am I apologize but so far it does not
look like I'm going to be done by 4:00
so far it looks like I'm going to be
about an hour or two hours late at least
once again they know so time management
is key try and keep the deadlines you
specify for yourself so what I would
suggest on that note guys is always
specify a longer period than what you
think something's going to take so if
you're fixing something or
troubleshooting something and based on
your experience if you noce something's
going to take an hour tell the customer
or the client it's going to take an hour
and a half or 2 hours that way if
something happens you know something
unforeseen you've got a buffer so if you
told the customer it's going to take 2
hours but you know it's going to take an
hour and now it actually takes an hour
and a half it's still going to be half
an hour earlier than what you told them
meanwhile it's half an hour longer than
what it's supposed to actually take but
you told them two hours and you took an
hour and a half so according to them you
look like sunshine you look like a
rainbow you look amazing because you
said 2 hours
but you finish this in freaking an hour
and a half so to them you look amazing
but they don't realize that actually you
took longer than what you were supposed
to so do not tell them it's going to
take an hour if it is going to take an
hour always give yourself a little bit
of buffer room folks otherwise when the
poop is the fan you've got absolutely no buffer
buffer
whatsoever all right and then folks
collaboration as a technician you are
not going to be a lone wolf you will
need to work with other people from time
to time sometimes these other people are
going to be fellow technicians or
Engineers so you're going to have to go
into a company a server room a firewall
and you will have to work in conjunction
with a team of other ID people this
could be at your company so if you are
the it for a company chances are very
likely you're not going to be the only
it person there you're going to be in
charge of something specific that's
something specific might have two or
three people working on it so you might
be in charge of let's say the firewall
but maybe on this company's firewall
there's two or three people working on
it just because of the sear amount of
work so there's a very good chance
you're not going to be alone in your
department there's a very good chance
you're not going to be alone in it at
your company you need to know how to
work with other colleagues you need to
know how to go and share information
them help them and have them help you
there's no such thing as somebody in it
that knows everything and that includes
myself guys I might have a lot I've got
more than two decades experience not
just in training but also in the field
but just because I know a lot does not
mean I know everything there's a lot of
things out there that I don't know and
I'm not ashamed to mention that that
applies to everybody that's called being
human folks if you tell me you know
everything I know you're lying there's
no such thing so know your limits
whenever you get to something you don't
know how to fix it or maybe you've never
worked on that something specific you
should not be ashamed to ask for
assistance I used to work for the
engineering company and sometimes I
would go out to a client and I'll be
able to fix the problem completely on my
own other times I would go out to this
client I've got a fairly good idea what
the problem is but the device I've got
to go and configure it on I've got no
experience on doing that so maybe it is
a firewall or a switch I've got to go
and do configuration on now I've got
experience on valls and switches but you
get many Brands you get many models
maybe this actually was really the case
I used to be a very experienced Cisco
professional but now maybe today the
device I've got to work on is is an HP
it's slightly different I don't have
experience of HP I've only got
experience of Cisco so I know what needs
to be done I just don't know how to do
it on this specific make and the
specific model so what I'm going to do
is I'm going to ask my colleagues who's
got experience of HP I'll plug myself
into the device and I'll have them
remotely connect to my laptop and then
have them configured after I give them
instructions on what I need done and
then later that same afternoon you'll
find that other technician just assisted
me I've could to assist them now now
they need assistance of a Cisco device
they know HP I know Cisco so today they
helped me with HP now I'm going to help
them with Cisco so it's a classic case
if you scratch my back I scratch your
back there is no such thing as somebody
knows everything so when I need their
help they help me when they need my help
I help them we share and exchange skills
and information so collaboration folks
is really going to make your life easier
the quicker you learn to work as a team
the better and then folks creativity as
9y person you need to be creative
sometimes now when I say creative I
don't mean you're going to have to go
and draw a picture guys we're not going
to go and draw or paint a picture you
are going to have to be creative in a
sense of ideas you're going to have to
come up from time to time so to give you
an idea I had this client once that had
a section their Network that kept going
down and up down and up so it will be on
and off on and off so it was weird it's
all the same people about approximately
five people in the same section of the
building so I thought okay what do these
guys have in common they're network
cables so I went into the roof thinking
it maybe it's a rat or something chewing
on the cables it turns out it was not it
turns out their network cables were
lying over a power cable a very huge
power cable this power cable is as thick
as my arm now for those of you that
don't know what this means it means that
power cable gives off something called
Emi electromagnetic interference that is
something you guys will learn about
later in this course it's not in today's
module that is a topic later in the A+
of course now power cables is one of
many things in life that give off Emi
electromagnetic interference now when
you've got network cables near something
like a power cable that gives off Emi
it's going to cause the data to get
corrupt so the users are experiencing
those symptoms where the connection goes
on and off on and off and when they
download something huge it keeps failing
it's very annoying so to solve this
problem you would need to use a cable
that's immune to Emi or at least
somewhat IM MMI something like a
shielded twisted pair you don't have to
worry about what that is right now that
gets covered later in the course or
fiber optic cable coaxil cable there's
quite a few cables out there that's
immune to Mi once again this gets
covered later in the course don't worry
about that in today's module it gets
covered later in the course now usually
like I said the solution would be to
swap the cable with one that's immune to
Emi now we could do that but I would
have to charge the customer labor I
would have to charge them for the cable
I have to go put in so what I did was I
just took a bunch of tin foil you know
kitchen tin foil that you would find and
I wrapped the cables in that kitchen tin
fil and I grounded it and guess what the
problem stopped so instead of having to
go and change all those cables those
approximately five cables that would
have costed a customer an insane amount
of money in a sense of having the cables
replaced and the labor and all that
involved instead of doing that I asked
them do you have a kitchen they said yes
do you have kitchen tinf fall in your
kitchen they said yes I was like can I
have some because it's very affordable
they gave it to me I went into the roof
wrapped the cables so approximately a
couple of meters in this kitchen thin
foil obviously doing that on its own is
not going to work so I had to ground it
I grounded it and guess what problem got
solved the Emi interference stopped or
at least stopped enough for the problem
to go away I didn't even bother charging
them for that so sometimes in life guys
you're going to have to be creative it
could be a physical solution like the
one I've just given it to you it could
be a digital solution but sometimes
you're going to have to get creative of
an it for something to work all right
guys and then one of the more obvious
ones when it comes to skills and
abilities is hardware and software
knowledge that's basically just skill
and experience I suppose so as time goes
by you guys are going to gain more and
more experience on both Hardware as well
as software the more experience you gain
just like that doctor we spoke about
earlier then you'll see when people
start mentioning symptoms to you you'll
kind of already know what the problem is
or what the problem could be without
even seeing this object you know this
software hardware and without even
troubleshooting it so if they mention to
you for example the machine just keeps
shutting down after 10 minutes or 15
minutes if they leave it off and um
let's say leave it off for 10 or 15
minutes and then it you know try again
then it starts back up you will know
that that's a heat issue going forward
that's called experience it's your
knowledge now nobody just woke up
magically one morning and knew all of
this stuff guys you're going have to
learn this stuff you're going to have to
go and work with the stuff in the field
and that that happens guys we all start
at Rock Bottom including myself it's not
just going to happen in one day there's
a very famous saying out there and that
is Rome was not built in a day couldn't
be more true this is not just going to
happen overnight guys so by you
attending this course of mind or a
course of somebody else and I'm
practicing this stuff in the real world
you will eventually gain this knowledge
after a couple of months or a couple of
years the more you do this the quicker
you're going to learn the stuff guys and
obviously at the end of this course if
you feel like you don't remember 90% of
what you've learned that's complete
normal guys that's called being human so
don't stress about it everybody goes
through that so if you let's say by the
end of module 22 you realize oh shucks I
only remember like 10% or 20% of what
was discussed in this course that is
normal you'll see as soon as you start
going through the questions and stuff
some of that information is going to
come back to you you'll be like oh yeah
remember now it's going to come back to
you maybe not all of it but is going to
partially come back to you so don't
stress about it too much folks all right
guys and then one last skill or ability
I want to mention to you guys before we
conclude this section of the video This
is the end of the first section that
will be Network knowledge so just like
of hardware and software as time goes by
you're going to gain Network knowledge
this can be done via attending courses
like the network plus course Cisco
courses w we courses but usually Network
knowledge is gained by while just
shadowing your peers and working on
stuff so the more you work with the
stuff the the more Network knowledge
you're going to gain and that's
obviously requirement for a proper IT
specialist if you know Hardware software
networking then you'll be able to
troubleshoot stuff a lot quicker and a
lot easier and you're not going to waste
your customer or your client's time it's
just going to make you look more
professional unfortunately like I said
so many times before already in this
video Rome was not built in a day guys
do not feel frustrated if you don't
remember everything it's going to take
some time guys all right folks we've
reached the end of the first SE
before we dive into that second section
uh there's a game I would like to play
with you guys I normally do this with
most of my course videos so if you're
new to the channel you'll probably have
no idea what I'm talking about but for
those of you that's watched my course
videos before you'll probably know
what's about to happen so normally what
happens is I'll give you either a code
word or a code phrase and the idea is
for you to go and make a sentence Down
Below in the comment section using that
code word or that code phrase now now
why this is fun is because anybody
that's just randomly going through the
comment section somebody that hasn't
actually watched the video yet they'll
probably get very confused man yes
you'll get normal it questions there too
but if they see someone everybody
talking about some word or some phrase
they'll probably wonder what the heck is
going on here what are all these people
talking about and until they actually
watch the video and get to this point in
the video they won't know what the heck
is going on so only people that's
actually watch the video up until this
point we'll know what the heck is going
on so it's a bit of a an inside joke if
you will
so today it's not going to be a word but
it's going to be a phrase I'm going to
give you the phrase is the it Monster
stole my cookies now you can either go
and type the phrase as is down below but
it's usually more fun if you go and
rephrase it in a way be creative of it
but please stick to YouTube's rules
don't swear don't say anything mean we
don't want the YouTube popo on our case
here so you're welcome to other go and
type it as is or you can go and rephrase
it but basically comes down to the it
Monster St m cookies now this is going
to be very confusing because if you say
it especially if you put the word it in
capital letters that could look like you
mean the word it you know that movie it
or ET you know it phone home or ET phone
home you know so you're definitely going
to be confusing people down below so
feel free to go and do it down below you
don't have to but if you are going to
have fun of it guys all right folks
let's move you into the second main
section this video and this video only
has two remember that the second main
section is is the troubleshooting
methodology now this concept guys this
huge topic has been in A+ for a very
long time almost all the previous
versions of A+ always had this is a
topic and they always asked this a lot
in the exam this is a topic normally
gets hammered on in the A+ exam now is
this topic still in the 1,200 series of
the exam yes absolutely it is com
themselves have confirmed that this is
still in the exam however a couple of
changes when it comes to this topic
being exam so this topic guys consists
of six steps you need to know in the
past you used to have to know what all
six steps are you needed to know in what
order they go and you needed to know
what each step entails so usually in the
past they would tell you user one has
done the following blah blah blah and
based on what they say in the exam you
need to know where this user is
currently in the trouble shooting
methodology and then they will ask you
what is the next step that you or the
user has to take place so if you for
example figure out oh this user is
currently at step three then you need to
know what step four is and then you'll
obviously go and answer that in exam now
apparently according to Coma I can't
confirm this just yet because the exam
is not released yet I'll have to go and
check it myself but according to Coma
apparently you no longer need to know in
what order the troubleshooting
methodology is you still need to know
what the six steps are you still need to
know what each step entails but you're
are not going to be required to know in
what order the steps have to take place
anymore in the new A+ exam that's what
coma says now I don't trust them on this
so I'm going to tell you guys to rather
you know be prepared let's rather know
what order this happens in as well just
to be on the safe side I do not want you
guys to be in the examiner situation
where Oopsy Daisy now suddenly com
changes their mind again and now you
need to know what the order is but you
never really St for that because well
coma said it's no longer requirement and
as we know coma likes to go and change
their mind whenever they feel like it so
I don't trust them in that sense so
let's rather know what the six steps are
like in the old days let's know what
each step entails and let's know in what
order these steps go so I'm going to
teach it like the old school way then we
know we're safe and if they happen to
change their mind then well we're not
going to care because you guys know it
anyway now folks with the
troubleshooting methodology the main
thing we're going to be talking about
here as they call it in the past is best
practice methodology the correct way of
doing it so the coma troubleshooting
model folks follows as follow follows as
follow try saying that five times fast
the first step folks is to identify the
problem there's going to be six steps in
total guys so I'm going to give you guys
a very simple scenario for this so we
can go through each step now so let's
imagine someone says the machine does
not want to start I'm going to give you
guys that scenario we've got a pretend
pretend user he or she says their
computer does not want to start now like
I said earlier in this video if someone
just tells us the machine doesn't want
to start the list of things that can
cause that is infinite guys it's a very
very very long list of things that can
cause someone's machine not to start now
step one would be to identify what the
problem is now how do we go about doing
that you ask well guys to identify the
problem one of the most common ways
would be to ask questions
normally we ask open-ended questions not
Clos ended questions you can ask those
too but open-ended questions probably
going to be your best bet here if you
don't know what the difference is an
open-ended question guys is will you
force the user or the customer to give
you more than just a onew answer so if I
ask you a question and all you can say
is yes or no there will probably be a
close in that question it's just a
one-word answer like a yes or a no or
affirmative that kinds of stuff but if I
ask you something along the lines of in
your opinion sir or ma'am when last
would you say this machine worked
correctly you know or I'm going to
phrase this question is such a weird
funky way where I'm going to basically
Force the user or the customer to give
me more than just a one-word answer now
by asking the user openend questions
preferably multiple questions you can
often establish what the problem is or
what the problem could potentially be
and that's because of your experience
once again so if I ask the customer when
last did your computer work and they say
well it was working fine yesterday
afternoon I turned it off I went home I
came to the office this morning and it
does not want to turn on all right now
to them it means nothing but for us
we've got a time frame now we know
something happened between yesterday
afternoon and this morning now if I was
still able to log into the machine I
could obviously go and check the event
logs in Event Viewer now in this
scenario we cannot start the machine
even so we cannot go and do that now
maybe you're lucky maybe the customer
will mention some extra stuff without
even realizing it kind of like when you
go to the doctor once again they might
mention once again ever since that storm
we had last night you know or ever since
that storm yesterday afternoon now this
morning my P doesn't want to start to
them it means nothing but to you that's
a gold mine of information to you it
means that this might be a potential
power search that took place maybe the
lightning struck the power line
somewhere along the line and now there
was a power search the power search
knocked out the power supply maybe
something more but it's usually just the
power supply that kicks the bucket and
uh that is your suspicion is that the
power supply has now kicked the bucket
we call that the PSU for short power
supply unit that's a little boxy you
find inside your desktop case where you
plug the power cable into by the way in
case you guys don't know more on that
later in the A+ course that's probably
going to be in module two or module 3
somewhere so that's me identifying the
problem step two folks is to establish a
Fe the now I kind of accidentally did
that already so my theory based on what
the user says is that I think there was
a power search they mentioned there was
a storm yesterday so I think there was a
lightning strike somewhere along the
line it probably hit the power line
somewhere there was a power search and
it most likely broke something in the PC
most likely the power supply so that's
my current theory it's not confirmed yet
so step three is to test that theory of
yours there's many ways you can go about
this now considering mine is about a
power supply there's quite a few ways I
can do this I can either go and take out
that power supply that I suspect is
faulty and then put a new one in or a
working one in one that I know for a
fact is working you'll find that often
we technicians won't even completely put
a new one in I'll just disconnect the
old one can of just leave it there
inside the case take a new power supply
just have it dangling outside the case
just plug it into the various components
like the motherboard and the CPU and
maybe your hard drive and stuff like
that graphics card just plug I'm just
going to have it dangling outside the
case it's just to test if the machine
actually turns on plug a power cable
into that other power supply now and if
the PC starts well there you go Fury
confirmed if it does not start well then
you know you're incorrect your Fury
you've got to start all over again by
step one and step two now now folks for
the purpose of this demonstration let's
assume the theory was confirmed after
I've plugged in that other power supply
now the new one or the temporary one the
PC does start ah Theory confirmed now if
your theory is confirmed under step
three you would move on to step four
folks which is to establish a plan of
action you might say hey let's just go
and replace the pass play no it's not
always that simple guys if you are
working as the inhouse it for a company
then chances are you might be able to go
ahead and just change this power supply
because normally you'll have a couple of
spare ones lying around or your job is
just to get users back up and running as
quickly as possible but what if you are
for example a computer store somewhere
maybe a computer store in a mall and a
customer brought their PC to you or what
if you are an IT company that goes out
to various businesses and companies like
that and you realize what the problem is
can you then just go ahead and willingly
change the power supply no you cannot
because there's going to be additional
costs involved here guys so if I'm a
computer store or I'm a technician from
one company that goes out to other
companies there's going to be costs
involved I now need to contact this
customer client or user and tell them
sir ma'am I figured out what the problem
is the problem appears to be your power
supply and then you tell them what the
next course of action will be you tell
them you're going to replace this or fix
this now power supplies is always
quicker and better and cheaper and safer
to go and replace them so in this
scenario I'm going to tell the customer
sir ma'am I figured out the problem here
is your power supply I'm going to have
to replace the power supply that's going
to be the quickest the easiest and the
cheapest solution here you give them a
rough cost estimate as to what it's
going to cost preferably accurate but if
you can't give them an accurate one just
give them a rough one and then you tell
them how long it's going to take to fix
this issue of theirs so you give them a
cost breakdown and you give them a Time
breakdown the customers wants to know
what they're in for it's once again the
same as you taking your car to the
dealership now while it's at the
dealership they realize there's
something very seriously wrong of it now
instead of them just fixing it wouldn't
it be nice if they phon you first and
say sir we've realized there's a problem
in your car this is what the problem is
this is how much it's going to cost to
fix it and this is how long it's going
to take to fix it then you can decide
whether you have the money to do this
and whether you've got the time to wait
that long so it's just called good
customer service it's customer service
it's communication skills it's just
being professional it's a lot of skills
that's actually being tested there in
that in that specific pointer guys so
under establishing a plan of action you
inform the customer what the problem is
you inform them what the solution will
be you inform them how much it will cost
if there's a cost involved and you
inform them how long it's going to take
if there's a time frame involved now
once you get the green light to go ahead
to go and fix this and after you fixed
it that would be step five we're moving
into now guys verify full system
functionality now I don't care how many
times you've done this in your life you
can tell me oh but I've done this a
hundred times in my life I don't care we
don't assume as technicians I don't care
if you've done us a 100 times or a
thousand times you taste that machine or
whatever this is that you just fixed
test it verify that it's working once
you verify that it's working because
remember we are human we do make
mistakes and sometimes even though you
might not have made a mistake something
else just happens maybe there's a weird
bug or a weird glitch or something weird
that just went wrong and now you think
it's working you give it back to the
customer or the client or the user and
then it doesn't work and you make a fool
of yourself it's going to make a fool of
you you're can to look unprofessional
you might potentially lose some business
heck you might even get sued in some
cases so let's not assume let's verify
once you verified you get the customer
to see this so like I said earlier we
don't trust the customers it's always
the one you least expected from so once
you've confirmed the machine is working
or whatever this is you tell them hey
look it's working you show them that
it's working you make them sign for it
that it's working so on this document
they sign on Val you will often mention
what the initial problem was you'll
mention what steps you took to fix this
and what ended up being the final
solution or the final problem and all
that and then you mention that that the
customer has confirmed that it's working
and you make them sign for it just in
case they want to turn around afterwards
and say you didn't do this or you didn't
do that or ever since you've worked on
this machine this doesn't work or that
doesn't work it's just to cover your
behind now folks the last step in the
troubleshooting method ology step six
not all companies and technicians do the
last step but you do need to know this
for the exam and it still actually does
help you quite quite often in real life
that would be to document your findings
so once you finished everything in the
customers out of your face or users out
of your face document your findings so
you'll find some companies might
actually force you to do this the
companies I worked for did not force me
to do this I just did this on my own on
my own account just to help myself out
so whenever I had a problem which was
something I knew you know something I
seen a lot times I know what the
solution is I would ignore it but if I
had a problem I faced which was a very
new one or a very weird and rare one and
I'm concerned that I might forget what
the problem was and what the solution
was I would document that on my own
personal notes and then one day six
months or 12 months later if I see that
same weird problem again chances are I'm
not going to remember what the exact
issue was chances are I'm not going to
remember what the exact solution was and
I can now refer back to my notes and I
can fix this problem a lot quicker and a
lot EAS easier that's one of the reasons
why companies actually make people do
this so it's in case something goes
wrong so they can go back through those
notes of yours to see where we went
wrong it can also be used by interns
learnership programs for research
purposes and you know the end of the day
I think the mo the most important thing
to mention here is if you ever face that
same problem again you might remember oh
hang on I've had this problem before but
you might not remember what the exact
issue was and what the exact solution
was now you can go through your findings
in that previous problem and you can see
oh yeah that's right the problem last
time was X Y and Z and the solution was
ABC now you know you're going to be able
to fix this a lot quicker a lot easier
and you're going to end up looking a lot
more professional for it all right folks
we have finally reached the end of
module one of the compa A+ course we
still unfortunately have a whole 21 more
modules to go before we've covered the
whole A+ course I know I know it's a lot
of content guys but today we are
covering a whole freaking course here
guys and it's completely for free so
please give this video a like if you
haven't done so already I do put a lot
of effort into these videos for you guys
and if you'd like to know when module 2
goes live please consider subscribing
guys now guys before we disappear just a
shout out and a thank you to all the
supporters of this channel um those of
you just clicking on the thanks button
you know below the video if it's
available in your country those of you
buying me a milkshake or a coffee by the
way all this information is available in
the video description down below so if
you'd like to support the channel in
some sort of way you can find that in
the video description down below um it's
right there with the time stamps and all
that as well so thank you guys those of
you making PayPal donations thank you
very much there's a nice big list of all
the PayPal donors and then the most
important ones here guys the patreons
there's hundreds and hundreds and
hundreds of patreons but unfortunately
most of them are not on this list
because they don't want to be on this
list so if you become a paid patreon on
my patreon on the list is in the video
description down below too by the way I
will normally ask you do you want to
have your name on this list and if you
say yes I'll ask you what name you want
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remain anonymous which is what most
people prefer don't know why but most
people prefer to be anonymous now guys
if you'd like to join my patreon the
link is in the video description down
below there I normally have additional
extra material over and above what is
available on YouTube so feel free to go
and check out my patreon as well please
lastly folks for those of you that don't
know the channel does have a Discord
server that's going to be the very last
link in the video description so if
you're check in the video description
the very last link the channel does have
a Discord server it's called free IT
training alternatively you can just run
a search for it so if you are in Discord
server at the bottom left if you click
there on the search or find if you're
want to search for free IT training
you'll find it as well free IT training
it's a community of it people such as
yourself such as me studying for A+ n+
Security Plus as well as many other
courses so if you've got any questions
you can ask them there and there bound
to be someone that's going to be able to
answer you including myself or if you'd
like to assist other people or you just
want to show off you can also go and
join the server for that so it's a
basically a community of like-minded
people doing the same thing so feel free
to go and check that out as well it's a
free community so why not all right
folks I will see you in module two of
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