This week you will learn about computer hardware and operating systems. Lesson one presents computing fundamentals such as types of devices, their benefits, their internal components, and peripheral devices. Other hardware you will learn about includes printers, display devices, and port types, along with their connectors. In lesson two, you will be introduced to operating systems for the devices you learned about in lesson one. You will learn how those operating systems implement files and folders and the basic operations you can perform on them.

This module has three lessons that cover the basics of software, web browsers, programming languages, and database fundamentals. The first lesson addresses software applications, where you learn about the differences between open-source and commercial software, software versioning, file formats, and components of web browsers. In the second lesson, you will explore some basic programming concepts. In the third lesson, you investigate databases, where you compare and contrast different types of database storage and manipulation.

In this two-lesson module, you learn about networking and storage. Lesson one focuses on networking, where you investigate concepts such as comparing and contrasting types of networks’ topologies, the cables used to connect devices to a network, and the common ports those cables use. You learn about network connections and how to adjust network settings in Windows. In lesson two, you are presented with types of local storage devices compared to hosted storage and sharing and how to troubleshoot storage issues.

In the two instructional lessons in this module, you will be introduced to some fundamental concepts in cybersecurity. First, you hear about the confidentiality, integrity, and availability triad and then about intellectual property and confidential information. Then you will learn about types of threats, breaches, and attacks. You will explore password management, access control, authorization, and single-sign-on authentication. In lesson two, you will learn about safe browsing practices such as application ecosystem security, plug-ins, extensions, and toolbars. You will also learn about public browsing risks, safe browsing techniques, and virtual private networks.

Cloud computing is the topic of this module. In lesson one, explore the characteristics, benefits, models, infrastructure, virtualization, and storage for cloud-native applications. In lesson two, you learn about cloud-computing emerging trends and practices. Some of those trends include the hybrid-multi-cloud, containerization, microservices architecture, serverless computing, and the development of applications specifically for the cloud, also known as cloud-native applications.

In the first lesson of this module, you will test your knowledge and the skills you’ve acquired in this course. This module contains a 20-question graded final examination focused on the content of this course. In lesson two, you may choose to learn about troubleshooting and ticketing systems. This is not a required lesson for this course, but the content will provide you with an overview of troubleshooting and ticketing systems, enhancing your knowledge of IT Fundamental concepts.