How do I brush up on my IT skills?

[MoonMail]

I've always felt that my A+ was nowhere near as comprehensive as it should of been. Is there anything I can study to get a more indepth feel for working on machines, removing malware and doing installations? Or should I just take a refresher course on things?

 

Thanks guys, I appreciate the help.

[David H. Lipman]

What are your objectives ?

• Database administration
• Domain administration
• Computer forensics
• Ethical hacking
• Penetration testing
• Network protocols and Routing
• Help desk
• Web site administration
• Distributed computing

 

 

[MoonMail]

I'd like to focus more indepth on system recovery and deployment. Focusing on manually removing malware, improving performance and understanding the registry for example. I'm also looking for resources on distributed computing and capacity planning.

 

Thanks for taking the time to help, I appreciate it.

[David H. Lipman]

To understand malware means to understand an operating system in-depth and malicious activity.  That all begins with a good foundation in programming starting with machine code and ending with interpreted and compiled languages.

CompTIA A+ only concentrates on hardware and a little on networking.  For understanding distributed computing and capacity planning you'll need to understand computer technology and thus a Baccalaureate in Computer Science is suggested.

[exile360]

Learning scripting of various types can also be helpful.  I've often used Batch/command line scripting and other tools for diagnostics, repair, as well as basic malware removal functions in the past.  Here's a few references you might find helpful:

https://ss64.com/
https://commandwindows.com/
https://www.computerhope.com/batch.htm
https://www.computerhope.com/reg.htm
http://www.robvanderwoude.com/batchfiles.php
http://www.commandline.co.uk/
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2008-R2-and-2008/cc754340(v%3dws.10)
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-xp/bb490890(v=technet.10)
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/alt.msdos.batch.nt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environment_variable#DOS_and_Windows
http://www.robvanderwoude.com/batchstart.php
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_DOS_commands
http://www.netikka.net/tsneti/info/tscmd.php

It also couldn't hurt to learn some PowerShell now that it's become more prominent in recent Windows OS releases (and tends to be far more versatile and powerful often times than standard CMD/batch tools).  MS has some good references on some basics with PowerShell and you should be able to find info around the net.

It's also a good idea to learn the various tools of the trade.  Things like MS Sysinternals library of utilities, which can come in quite handy for tons of different purposes, including systems administration as well as basic and advanced system software and hardware diagnostics, malware detection and removal and troubleshooting of all sorts of issues related to Windows.

[alice_123]

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