Week 9: System Management

This week the focus of the class was on the practices of system management.  These practices include hardware management, power management, system performance, and system security.  In my studies and personal experiences, I have practiced and utilized many of these techniques on my own personal computers. Hardware management deals with topics such as managing device drivers for operating systems such as Windows, Linux, and OS X.  This is usually accomplished using various management tools such as device manager (for Windows).  This week put a special emphasis on device driver roll-back and how to deal with incompatible drivers.  We also explored the various control panel programs available with the three main operating systems (Windows, Linux, and OS X) and how they are used to manage and configure the system resources.  Power management options were also discussed this week.  New features such as Advanced Configuration and Power Interface have been added to operating system functionality to help promote green computing standards.  Various system performance practices such as system tuning and system monitoring play a large role in the health of personal computers.  The operating system provides a variety of tools and snap-ins to help monitor and fine-tune system resources and performance.  Perhaps the most important topic discussed this week was system security.  This includes disaster recovery, mal-ware protection, and fault tolerance.  I learned a great deal of new information about the security aspect of system management including fault-tolerance and backup practices used by many corporations to protect their data.  I also learned more about the RAID configurations.

This week the material and homework were not very difficult to understand.  In fact, I learned a great deal of new information that will be very useful in the future.  The only real challenge was that we had to cover two weeks of content in one week due to the cancellation of class due to the weather.

System management is a very important topic to learn if one wishes to enter the Information Technology field.  It is also a good topic to learn for any computer user.  There are many malicious threats on the Internet today and users need to learn how to protect themselves from such threats.  Data protection and system performance are very important within the corporate world.  Business often operates at the speed-of-light which means quick and reliable access to corporate data for decision-making is very essential for the survival of many corporations.  As Information Technologists, we are obligated to ensure that this is data is readily available when and where it is needed.  These techniques can also be used to manage and protect personal systems which may contain personal information.

Week 10: Registry

This week in class, the Windows registry was introduced and discussed.  I have had my run-ins with the Windows registry with varying degrees of success.  I generally try to stay away from the registry unless absolutely necessary due to my inexperience using it.  I am afraid of messing up my computer and having to reload everything from scratch.  This week has helped me gain a better understanding of the Windows registry and how it functions.  The registry basics were presented in class this week which include registry structure, registry editors, registry backup and restoration, and registry resources.  We also learned how to manipulate, remove, and add keys to the registry that set different configuration options for the system's hardware and software.  We learned about the different values that can be stored within the keys such as string and binary values.  We learned about the different registry editors available for manipulating the registry and how to use them to do so.  Finally, we learned about the security features included to protect the registry from malicious attacks and accidental manipulation.

The content of this week was not difficult to understand.  In fact, I learned a great deal of new information about the registry and its functionality.  The main problem I encountered this week was my fear of corrupting the registry of my virtual machine rendering it inoperable.  This fear is a result of past mistakes I have made in the registry due to my inexperience.  The material this week has given me a better understanding of the registry and has eased my fears a bit.

The registry can be a very valuable and powerful tool for system customization and security.  The registry is often used to enforce security and business policies within most corporations.  Therefore, it is important for Information Technologists to become comfortable using the registry.  When given the proper respect, the registry can be an Information Technologist's best friend.  Learning how to safely manipulate the registry can also get rid of several annoying Windows quirks or enable some useful features.  I can use my new knowledge of the registry to safely improve my own personal computers. 

Week 8: Application Installation

Application installation was covered in class this week.  While this topic is not new to me, there were some new aspects to the topic that I had not been presented before.  In particular, I learned a great deal about the architecture of the Windows 7 operating system.  We learned about the function of the environment subsystems and the executive services.  Aside from operating system architecture, we explored several of the operating system components and tools used to support legacy applications such as DOS, 16-bit, and 32-bit versions.  The .NET framework was also discussed.  This framework supports many .NET applications which rely on it for operating system services including security, memory management, and exception handling.  We learned about several methods for installing/uninstalling software applications including the preferred methods for each.  Deployment methods for software applications used by corporations of all sizes were also presented as well as were some of the tools and techniques provided by the operating system developers.  We also received a great deal of hands-on experience installing and uninstalling various software applications on our virtual machines.

This week was not as much challenging as it was time-consuming.  The homework assignment was to install and uninstall various software applications used within the corporate world on our virtual machines.  We also were assigned to locate and install all the updates available for Windows 7 and Office 2010.  While this homework was not difficult, it was very time-consuming.  One major issue I encountered was when I was almost done with the homework, I realized that I was almost out of disk space.  With several large updates still remaining, I realized that I needed to repartition my hard drive in order to allow for all the updates to be installed.  This meant I had to essentially start over again on the homework after I re-sized the partitions of my hard drive due to the fact that I had to uninstall all the applications that I had stored on my other partitions.  Other than this the week went pretty smoothly.  I did have some issues with one of the questions on the quiz.

Application installation and uninstallation is a very important skill to master within the Information Technology field.  With all the different versions of hardware and software available for corporations to utilize, it is important to have the knowledge and skills to foresee any compatibility issues that could be encountered by mixing these two.  It is also important to expose oneself to the various types and techniques used for application installation and uninstallation.  Lastly, it is very important to have good research skills so that if a compatibility issue does arise, the proper resources can be accessed to resolve the issue at hand.  Aside, from the corporate aspect, application installation and uninstallation is also used a great deal when working with one's own personal computing devices.  I will use much of the information presented this week to help improve the status of my own personal computers.

Week 7: Network Resources

This week in our class, we covered networking and network resources.  This is a very challenging subject for me due to my lack of previous knowledge and experience in the field.  In my college studies, I have always had an interest in networking and have wanted to take a course in networking.  I am currently enrolled for the Networking Essentials course for next quarter.  I do have a very basic knowledge of networking and networking resources, but this is mainly limited to small, peer-to-peer personal networks.  Therefore, this week I was given a taste of the resources and techniques used in the networking field.  Topics covered included many networking fundamentals including network types, configurations, and topology.  Many of the hardware components required for constructing a network were also introduced and discussed.  We learned about several of the components used for addressing network resources including IP address and MAC address.  Network communication protocol such as TCP/IP were introduced and discussed including the different layers included within the OSI model.  We explored how to troubleshoot networks using several tools provided by many network operating systems.  Many of these tools are available free for download.  Our assignment for the week was to research the differences between the Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS) and the Domain Name Service (DNS).  This activity helped me gain a better understanding of name resolution and what each service does to accomplish this task.

As I stated before, I have had little exposure to networking and its practices.  In general, networking can be a difficult subject to understand unless it is put into practice.  Therefore, this week was a bit of a struggle for me.  There was a lot of information presented this week which made it hard to keep up.  I found myself having to reread several sections of the handouts for the week in order to understand the material.  The research paper we were assigned helped me clear up some of the confusion I had about DNS and the basic functionality of the internet.  The quiz for this week was also more difficult than usual.

Networking is the heart and soul of the Information Technology field.  Without it, IT would not have a very large footing within the world.  Let's face it, without networking, information sharing in the world would be much more slow and difficult.  In other words, networking is critical for corporate success in the modern era.  In my professional career, having networking knowledge and experience will be vital for my success.  With many corporations relying heavily on networking for information sharing, having this knowledge will help provide job security for me.  I can also use much of this week's information in my daily computing practices including troubleshooting and diagnosing network problems.