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IT Support Fundamentals

7 min read

Table of Contents

Modules 1 - Introduction

IT support mindset - computing technology, it’s about people

  • Logic gates NOT, AND, OR, XOR, NAND, XNOR

Module 2 - Hardware

Common CPU → Intel Core i7, AMD Athlon, Snapdragon 810, Apple A8 Always ensure that is CPU compatible with Motherboard

2 Major type of CPU

  • LGA Socket - pins coming out of the Motherboard
  • PGA Socket - pings coming out of the processor CPU has 32 bit or 64 bit architecture

For numerical accuracy → Decimal nomenclature < Binary nomenclature

KB → 1,000 bytes
KiB → 1,024 bytes (Kibibytes)

Common power adaptor → 2.1 AMPS 500W enough for Desktop computers

VersionSpeedActual Data Transfer Speed
USB 2.0480 Mb/s35-40 MB/s
USB 3.05 Gb/s300 MB/s
USB 3.110 Gb/s1.2 GB/s

DC (Direct Current) - one direction AC (Alternating Current) - back and forward directions

Common voltages → 110-120 VAC (voltage of AC), 220-240 VAC

Power Supply → 20-24 pins to connect wires

System on chip (SoC) BYOD - Bring your own device, policy of permitting

Types of Cables

  • Plane Old Telephone Service (POTS) - telephones, dial-up, alarm systems
  • Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) - RJ-45
  • Cable Internet
  • Fibre-optic Cable - long-distance, higher speed, ISPs
  • Punch Down Blocks - quick and easy way to connect wiring

4-pin Molex - Fan speed

How Devices work with CPU

I/O devices → drivers (BIOS), which is stored in a tiny chip called ROM → CPU

UEFI - Unified Extensible Firmware Interface POST - Power On Self Test

Display Monitors

  • LCD - Liquid Crystal Display
  • LED - Light Emitting Diodes
  • IPS - In Plane Switching (Touchscreens)
  • Twisted Nematic - low, fast fresh rates
  • VA - Vertical Alignment
  • OLED, AMOLED - Inorganic mini LEDs (mLEDs)
North Bridge

High speed communications: RAM, PCI Express, video cards, high bandwidth devices

South Bridge

Lower bandwidth communications: SATA drives, USB ports, audio interfaces, network connections

SATA: Serial AT Attachment, that is a computer bus interface for storage devices

Module 3 - OS

How OS works

User Space
- Apps
↕
Kernel Space
- Process manager --- memory optimisation
- Memroy manager
- File manager
- I/O manager
↕
Hardware - drivers - for e.g. keyboard, headphones

Metadata - Owner, date, …

Time slice - allocation for CPU to process (works with pages) Kernel creates processes

Shell

Most remote accessed with CLI, not GUI everytime. Bash - Born Again Shell

Module 4 - Networking

Logs - record event system

flowchart TB
Computer --> BIOS_or_UEFI_then_POST --> Boot_Devices -.-> bootloader -.-> OS -.-> Kernel_userspace_systemprocessses

Networks

IP - right address, TCP - delivers ICANN - Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

When you type an address in browser, DNS looks IP and search address

IPv4 - 32 bits IPv6 - 128 bits NAT - Network Address Translation

Security

COPPA - Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act

Module 5 - Software

  • PowerShell (.ps1) - Built on .NET platform and used for automating system management on Windows.
  • Batch Scripts (.bat) - Simple tasks, calling a set of programs on startup
  • Visual Basic Script (.vbs) - Old and replaced by PowerShell.
  • Shell Script (.sh) - executing programs on Unix systems on BASH, Bourne Shell, KSH, C schell

Application software, system software, firmware (permanently stored on computer component) Script is interpreted by CPU

Module 6 - Troubleshooting

Ask right questions Shrink the problem to focus on a scope Ask what you mean it’s stop working, when, and how. Your time and your user time is important

you’ll encounter the same issue over and over again Don’t rely on auto-pilot Gather data so you understand the issue - don’t reply

Always find the root cause you gonna need passionate | problem-solving (tools | resources) | Communication (Knowing their needs)

Twist your styles on different situations because you will meet different types of people - build a trust in communication - ask your manager to know approach and restrictions of the company Great Customer Service

  • Empathy - The action you take by looking at it from their perspective is what empathy all about.
  • If your tone is Friendly and curious - users have more positive experience

Great Success

  • Exhibiting empathy
  • Being conscious of your tone
  • Acknowledging the person you’re talking to
  • Developing trust with the user

Instead of going awkward while troubleshooting (on call/text/email), say “I gotta research on this issue, would you mind waiting 5 mins?” Builds more confident between you and the user Say sorry for repeative questions.

Interaction

When user asks so many questions while you troubleshooting, say “I’d be happy to answer all of your questions, but I wanna look up for this now. Your questions will be wrote down so I won’t forget!”

Dealing with Difficult Situations

Take a deep breath, look around for people who are more engaged with you that pays attention. Ask yourself why you’re heated up, and calm down.

User get frasturated with same questions over and over again. why the calender app doesn’t open? it doesn’t just load when you press to open or not syncing?

Try to pause before you speak for 5 to 10 secs, ask your why the user talking over me? or did I miss anything? then think about what you want to say.

Tickets System (Documentation)

You need to document your works to remember how you did:

  • It keeps the user in the loop
  • Helps you audit your steps in case you need to go back and see what you did.

Update documentations (concise as possible — they are technical, not short story)

Documentation should be straight, clear problems, questions, specific steps. Ticketing or bug system:

  • User entry: question
  • Support specialist entry: specific troubleshooting process to manage them

Technical Interview

Make your Resume (first introduction to the company) clear to read and strong fit for job apply. Read carefully the Job Description

Simplified breif summary of your all experiences Created acccounts, deleted accounts --- Administered and maintained all user accounts

Action Verb + specific task + quantifiable point

Also add personal projects that you’re interested.

Make your online presence Professional

Always pretend you’re in an interview — makes you confident and can say more out loud.

Practice with non-technial people — practice to break down complex topic into simple and explain with basic terms.

Try explaining the same concept in different ways — allows for natural conversation

Creating Your Elevator Pitch

A short description about yourself like meeting in elevator

What, where, looking forward

“Hello! I’m Martin, I’m in my first year at NiT University, studying Diploma in Computing. I enjoy learning about security and helping in Networking though I’m still inexperienced, so I’m looking forward to putting my tech skills into practice by working as an Security Operation Analystic after I graduate.”

Having a good problem-solving strategy is more important than knowing all the answers --- say how you’ll research the solution if you don’t know.

Be prepared to explain a concept when you choose over another. Take notes, break down concepts.

Good Night Sleep

  • Be yourself, be fully present to your interviewer.
  • Also an opportunity to ask the interviewer to ask for things you care about.

In secnarios — get the pirorities right.