CompTIA A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide, Eleventh Edition (Exams 220-1101 & 220-1102)

count them. Here's my typical contact in a day. My smartphone alarm clock awakens me in the morning. I use either a Windows or Mac OS desktop to check the morning news and my email by connecting to other computers over the internet. At the gym, my smartwatch keeps track of my exercises and my heart rate. The computer in my car handles navigation and traffic reports for my daily commute. At the office, I'm literally surrounded by dozens of computing devices because everyone has a desktop or a laptop computer, a tablet, a smartphone, plus any number of wearable devices. Behind the scenes, these devices constantly interact with and offload work to a wide array of online services. Someone needs to set up, secure, manage, maintain, and troubleshoot all of these devices. Because you're listening to this book, I'm guessing that you are that someone. You're going to need a lot of knowledge about many systems to be a modern personal computer technician. A modern PC tech, therefore, works with many devices running many different systems. Almost everything uses networking to interconnect, and a PC tech makes these connections happen. Note, this book uses the term personal computer and the initials PC generically to refer to any kind of personal computing device. PCs here mean things that techs interact with, can set up, and repair. This book teaches you everything you need to know to become a great tech. It might seem like a lot of information at first, but I'll show you how each system functions and interacts so you learn the patterns they all follow. At some point in the process of listening to this book and working on computers, it will all click into place. You've got this! Along the way, you'll pick up credentials that prove your skill to employers and clients. The rest of this chapter explains those credentials and the steps you need to take to gain them. CompTIA A-plus certification. Nearly every profession has some criteria that you must meet to show your competence and ability to perform at a certain level. Although the way this works varies widely from one profession to another, all of them will at some point make you take an exam or series of exams. Passing these exams proves that you have the necessary skills to work at a certain level in your profession, whether you're an aspiring plumber, teacher, barber, lawyer, or PC tech. If you successfully pass these exams, the organization that administers them grants you certification. You receive some piece of paper or pin or membership card that you can show to potential clients or employers. This certification gives those potential clients or employers a level of confidence that you can do what you say you can do. Without this certification, either you will not find suitable work in that profession or no one will trust you to do the work. Modern PC techs attain the CompTIA A-plus certification, the essential credential that shows competence in the modern field of information technology, IT. A fancy way of saying computing technology plus all the other stuff needed to connect and support computers. CompTIA A-plus is an industry-wide, vendor-neutral certification program developed and sponsored by the Computing Technology Industry Association, CompTIA. You achieve this certification by taking two computer-based exams consisting of multiple choice and performance-based questions. The exams cover what technicians should know after 12 months of hands-on work on personal computing devices, experience obtained either from a job or as a student in the lab. CompTIA A-plus certification enjoys wide recognition throughout the computer industry. To date, more than 1 million technicians have become CompTIA A-plus certified, making it the most popular of all IT certifications. Who is CompTIA? CompTIA is a non-profit industry trade association based in Downers Grove, Illinois. It consists of over 20,000 members in 102 countries. You'll find CompTIA offices in such diverse locales as Amsterdam, Dubai, Johannesburg, Tokyo, and Sao Paulo.