Course 1: Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to: describe the relationship between hardware and software; describe peripheral devices; distinguish between types of storage devices; identify the main motherboard components; describe how instructions and data are stored on the motherboard; discuss how the CPU works and communicates with other devices; describe hardware and software interaction; identify system resources; outline the steps in booting up a computer; identify the properties of electricity; safeguard a computer system against electrical damage; identify computer cases and form factors; determine power requirements; troubleshoot power supply problems; identify types of motherboards; identify components on the motherboard; assemble a computer; install the motherboard; troubleshoot the motherboard; install peripheral I/O devices; use ports and expansion slots for add-on devices; install and troubleshoot keyboards; install and troubleshoot pointing devices; install and troubleshoot video cards and monitors; describe the different kinds of memory and how each kind works; upgrade and troubleshoot memory; discuss the workings of a floppy drive; manage floppy drives by using commands and Windows; replace a defective floppy drive, and add a second drive; identify various hard drive technologies; organize the hard disk logically to hold data; install a hard drive; manage and troubleshoot hard drives; discuss the basics of SCSI technology and its components; compare SCSI hard drives to IDE drives; troubleshoot SCSI devices; install various multimedia devices; describe optical storage technologies; discuss tape drives; evaluate and install removable drives; describe the use of hardware devices for fault tolerance; troubleshoot multimedia and mass storage devices; explain how a modem works and how to install it; use the AT command set to control a modem; troubleshoot problems related to modems; discuss the role of a PC technician in troubleshooting and maintenance, and discuss the tools used; approach a troubleshooting problem; develop a preventive maintenance plan; use guidelines when purchasing a PC; prepare for assembling a PC; assemble a PC from separately purchased parts. Course 2: Students will be able to: discuss how operating systems work, XP 2000 Windows operating systems, the differences between them and discuss advantages and disadvantages of common non-Windows operating systems; relate an OS to hardware and to other software, and launch an OS application; outline the steps to boot the computer, outline new features of Windows 2000 and describe the basic and dynamic disks, plan and perform the Windows 2000 installation, manage and use Windows 2000 and install hardware and applications with Windows 2000; outline the Windows 2000 boot process, troubleshoot the Windows 2000 boot process and use tools for maintenance, troubleshooting, and performance monitoring in Windows; outline the features and architecture of Windows XP, plan and perform Windows XP installation, customize the Windows XP desktop, manage audio and video, and allow multiple and remote logins under Windows XP, and install hardware and applications with Windows XP; use Windows XP features to secure the PC, view and update the Windows 2000/XP/2003 registry, use tools for troubleshooting and maintaining Windows XP, and troubleshoot the Windows XP boot process; support hard drives and tape backups, identify computer viruses and infestations and protection against them; outline the basics of networking, the different types of addresses used on networks, connect and share resources over a local area network and control a computer remotely; discuss how the OSI model applies to TCP/IP networks, such as the Internet, connect to the Internet using a dial-up connection, connect to the Internet using a cable modem or DSL connections and support some common Internet clients: discuss starting up, using and supporting hardware in the Mac OS, outline the file structure of the Linux OS and usage of some Linux commands, Windows 2000, and Windows XP notebook features and describe power management in notebooks.