Practical Help Desk

Course Overview

This course is designed to introduce students to the world of IT and equip them with the fundamental skills and knowledge to work as a Help Desk Analyst/Technician or to provide the prerequisite foundational knowledge suggested to take more advanced courses.

The course covers key topics like the function of IT in modern businesses, how computers actually work down to the bits and bytes they use, how to troubleshoot and repair desktop and laptop computers, how operating systems work and the foundations of computer networking.

In addition to the core topics and lessons, there are over 7 hours of hands-on labs including setting up and installing your own virtual machines, administering Linux and Window environments, troubleshooting network issues, performing remote support, and setting up your own self-hosted ticketing software.

The course wraps up with a capstone project where students are walked through how to set up and administer their own Windows Active Directory environment which is designed to mimic a real work environment.

Key Topics

• Intro to IT
• Intro to Computing
• Desktop Computer Components and Repair
• Installing, Replacing and Troubleshooting laptops
• Operating Systems
• Virtualization
• Windows
• Linux
• Networking
• Security
• Remote Support
• Ticketing
• Windows Active Directory

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this course, it is a true beginner level course and all skills and knowledge required will be taught in the course.

System Requirements

To get the most out of this course and follow along with the labs, there will be times where two virtual machines (VMs) need to be run simultaneously. If resources are limited, you can run one VM at a time and follow along with the course. Below are the recommended (ideal) specifications. Feel free to adjust based on your own system's limitations, but these specs will ensure a smoother experience with the course labs.

• Processor: 64-bit 2.0 GHz or higher processor
• RAM: At least 8 GB (ideally 8-12+ GB) to efficiently run multiple VMs.
• Disk Space: 80-100 GB of free storage. SSDs are recommended for better performance.
  

Who Should Take the Practical Help Desk Course?

This course is designed for students who are either looking to begin a career in IT or security or are early on in their career. It was designed to provide the core skills and knowledge required to start working at an entry level help desk job.

It also serves as a solid foundation of the requisite knowledge suggested for more advanced courses in the TCM Security Academy such as the Practical Ethical Hacking course or SOC 101.

Student Testimonial

"I had an interview with a company today for a help desk position. They absolutely loved that I had a home lab built, and that I had some experience with a ticketing system like peppermint.

They asked me some of the exact questions you outlined in the ticket interrupts, and were impressed with my answers.

I just got off the phone a few minutes ago, and they have offered me the position!

So let me be the first of many (hopefully) that thank you personally for putting together the course and helping me get a job."