Computer Hardware and Software

Course Description

Computer Hardware and Software presents proper preventative and corrective maintenance procedures for computer systems. It covers basic installation and functioning of Windows operating systems along with an introduction to Linux, and students install and use applications including spyware removers, anti-virus software, and software firewalls. The course prepares students for the A+ Software Exam.

Within the SCNS taxonomy, CET is the Computer Engineering Technology prefix and the C suffix marks a combined lecture-and-laboratory course. Daytona State publishes the related unsuffixed CET2154 at 4 credits with a $10 lab fee, offered fall, spring and summer.

⚠ Two divergences to be aware of on this number

• Suffix: CET2154C and CET2154 are distinct SCNS numbers. Under Rule 22 the suffix is part of the course number and equivalency does not cross it. The Daytona entry is reliable evidence about content; the suffix indicates a formally integrated lecture-and-laboratory structure.
• Title: the statewide inventory carries this number as "A+: Computer Operating Systems" while Daytona State titles it "Computer Hardware & Software". The description settles the substance — it is weighted toward operating systems, software installation, and the A+ Software examination, which matches the statewide title more closely than the local one. Read the description, not either title, when judging equivalency, and confirm with the receiving institution.

Contact hours are derived from the prefix's four-credit C-form family. Daytona State's closest subject analogues — CET1171C and CET1172C, Computer Service & Support: PC Systems — are both published at 4 credits and 90 hours, and this course is priced to match.

Learning Outcomes

Required Outcomes

• Describe computer system components and their functions.
• Perform preventative maintenance on computer systems.
• Diagnose and correct common hardware faults.
• Apply a systematic troubleshooting methodology.
• Install and configure Windows operating systems.
• Describe the Windows boot process and startup troubleshooting.
• Manage users, groups, permissions, and file systems in Windows.
• Use Windows administrative and command-line tools.
• Describe Linux fundamentals and the shell environment.
• Perform basic Linux installation, navigation, and file management.
• Compare operating systems and select appropriately for a purpose.
• Install, configure, and update application software.
• Install and configure anti-virus and anti-malware software.
• Configure and test a software firewall.
• Identify and remove malware from an infected system.
• Describe malware types and their propagation.
• Apply operating system hardening and patch management.
• Configure backup and recovery for a client system.
• Configure basic network settings and diagnose connectivity problems.
• Manage device drivers and peripheral configuration.
• Apply safe handling practice, including electrostatic discharge precautions.
• Document work performed and communicate with end users.
• Apply professional conduct and data privacy expectations in support work.
• Prepare for the CompTIA A+ software examination.

Optional Outcomes

• Configure virtual machines for testing and recovery.
• Perform data recovery from a failed system.
• Describe mobile device support and configuration.
• Describe scripting for support automation.
• Describe imaging and deployment at scale.
• Prepare for the CompTIA A+ hardware examination.

Major Topics

Required Topics

• Computer system components
• Preventative maintenance
• Hardware fault diagnosis
• Troubleshooting methodology
• Windows installation and configuration
• Windows boot process
• Users, groups, and permissions
• Windows administrative tools
• Linux fundamentals
• Linux installation and file management
• Comparing operating systems
• Application software installation
• Anti-virus and anti-malware
• Software firewalls
• Malware removal
• Malware types and propagation
• Hardening and patching
• Backup and recovery
• Network configuration and diagnosis
• Drivers and peripherals
• Electrostatic discharge and safe handling
• Documentation and user communication
• Professional conduct and privacy
• A+ software examination preparation

Optional Topics

• Virtual machines for testing
• Data recovery
• Mobile device support
• Scripting for automation
• Imaging and deployment
• A+ hardware examination

Resources & Tools

• The programme's laboratory and its isolated network — the only place you can lawfully practise most of this. Use every scheduled hour and every open-lab hour.
• Virtualisation software — VirtualBox is free, VMware Workstation Player is free for personal use; a home lab of virtual machines costs nothing but disk space.
• Kali Linux and the SANS SIFT Workstation — free tool distributions for security testing and forensics respectively.
• Autopsy and The Sleuth Kit (sleuthkit.org) — free and open-source forensic tools used professionally, not merely for teaching.
• NIST Computer Forensics Tool Testing programme (cftt.nist.gov) — free tool validation reports; the reference when you need to defend a tool choice.
• NIST Special Publications, especially SP 800-86 (forensic techniques in incident response) and SP 800-61 (incident handling) — free, authoritative, and directly examinable.
• CISA (cisa.gov) — free advisories, guidance, and free training resources.
• MITRE ATT&CK (attack.mitre.org) — free; the standard framework for describing adversary behaviour, and increasingly expected knowledge.
• TryHackMe, Hack The Box, and OverTheWire — lawful practice environments, with free tiers; the right place to practise offensive technique.
• CompTIA and Cisco Networking Academy materials — aligned to the certifications employers ask for.

Career Pathways

• Information security analyst — SOC 15-1212; consistently among the fastest-growing occupations.
• Computer network support specialist — SOC 15-1231; computer user support specialist — SOC 15-1232.
• Network and computer systems administrator — SOC 15-1244.
• Digital forensics examiner — in law enforcement, in corporate investigations, and in consulting firms.
• Incident responder and security operations centre analyst — a large and growing entry route into security.
• Electrical and electronics engineering technologist or technician — SOC 17-3023, for the digital design pathway.
• Embedded systems and FPGA development — a specialised, well-paid pathway from the digital design sequence.
• Florida's defence, space, and simulation sector — the Space Coast, Orlando's simulation and training cluster, and Tampa's defence presence all hire heavily in these areas, and many roles require U.S. citizenship and a security clearance.
• Public sector and law enforcement — state and county agencies, and federal offices with a large Florida presence.
• Healthcare, financial services, and hospitality IT — all large Florida sectors with substantial compliance-driven security demand.
• Consulting and managed security service providers.
• ⚠ Many security and forensics roles require a clean background — criminal history, and for cleared work significant unresolved debt or foreign contacts, can be disqualifying. Find this out before investing in the pathway.

Special Information

⚠ Support work is where most IT careers begin — and the non-technical half decides how fast you leave it

• Nearly everyone in this field starts on a help desk or a bench, and the people who move up quickly are not usually the most technical — they are the ones who communicate well and document properly.
• Troubleshoot systematically, not by intuition. Reproduce the fault, identify what changed, form one hypothesis, test it, and change one thing at a time. Swapping parts until it works teaches you nothing and frequently introduces a second fault.
• Ask what changed. Most faults follow an update, an installation, or a physical move, and the user usually knows even when they say they do not.
• Back up before you begin any repair that could touch data. Destroying a user's data while fixing their machine is unforgivable and it happens constantly.
• Document what you did, so the next person — frequently you, in six months — is not starting from nothing.
• Explain in the user's terms. Condescension and jargon are the two complaints users actually raise, and both are avoidable.
• You will see private data. Do not look, do not discuss it, and know that in a support role your discretion is what earns access.
• Electrostatic discharge damage is real and cumulative. Strap up; the component that fails three weeks later was damaged by the technician who did not.

⚠ Certifications carry real weight in this field — more than in most

• Information technology and security hire on demonstrated capability, and certifications are the common shorthand for it — frequently appearing as hard requirements in job postings and in government and contractor roles.
• Foundational: CompTIA A+ (hardware and operating systems), Network+, and Security+. Security+ in particular satisfies a widely cited U.S. Department of Defense baseline requirement, which makes it valuable in Florida's substantial defence and contractor sector.
• Networking: Cisco CCNA remains the recognised entry credential.
• Digital forensics: EnCE (EnCase), ACE (AccessData), CCE, and the SANS GCFE and GCFA. The SANS credentials are the most respected and by far the most expensive — employers frequently pay for them, so raise it at interview rather than self-funding.
• Security management: CISSP is the senior standard but requires several years of documented experience; SSCP is its practitioner-level counterpart and is reachable earlier.
• Time your certification to your coursework. Sit the examination while the material is fresh — pass rates fall sharply the longer graduates wait.
• Certifications expire. Most require continuing education and renewal, so plan for the ongoing cost.
• ⚠ A certification is not a substitute for the degree, and the degree is not a substitute for certifications. Employers in this field commonly want both, plus evidence you have actually built and broken things.
• Build a home lab and document it. Virtual machines cost nothing, and a candidate who can describe what they built and what went wrong interviews far better than one who lists courses.

⚠⚠ Authorisation is the line between a security professional and a defendant

• Never access, scan, or test a system you do not have written permission to touch. Not a friend's network, not your employer's without authority, not a "harmless" port scan of a site you use. This is the one rule in this field that carries criminal consequences.
• Federal exposure: the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act criminalises unauthorised access to a protected computer, and "exceeding authorised access" has been read broadly.
• ⚠⚠ Florida exposure is separate and additional: the Florida Computer Crimes Act, Chapter 815, Florida Statutes, makes offences against intellectual property, computer users, and computer equipment punishable under state law independently of federal law. A student who assumes only federal law applies is wrong.
• Curiosity is not a defence, and neither is intent to help. Discovering a vulnerability and testing it without authorisation is an offence even when you meant to report it.
• Use the lab. Your programme provides an isolated environment precisely so you can practise techniques that would be unlawful elsewhere — build your own isolated lab at home too, and keep it off the production network.
• Get scope in writing before any authorised engagement — systems, addresses, times, techniques permitted, and who to contact when something breaks. A verbal "go ahead" protects nobody.
• Stay inside scope once you start. Following an interesting path onto a system not covered by the authorisation is where legitimate testers get into trouble.
• Responsible disclosure has a process. Follow the vendor's or organisation's published route, and do not publish details before it has been addressed.
• ⚠ Rule 11 applies. Computer crime, privacy, and disclosure law changes; verify current law and take advice rather than relying on a course guide.

How Florida course levels affect transfer

The first digit of an SCNS number denotes the year of offering, not transferability. Courses at the 1000 and 2000 levels transfer transparently between Florida public institutions, and 3000 to 4000 is unproblematic since both are upper division. The boundary that actually matters is 2000 to 3000, where lower-division credit generally cannot satisfy an upper-division requirement.

⚠ That boundary is live in this prefix. Daytona State offers CET courses at the 1000, 2000, 3000 and 4000 levels, the upper-division ones forming part of a bachelor of applied science. A 2000-level CET course does not substitute for its 3000- or 4000-level counterpart even where the subject matter overlaps — compare CET2880C/CET2881C (Data Forensics I and II, lower division) with CET4860/CET4861 (Introduction to and Advanced Digital Forensics, upper division). Confirm with an advisor which lower-division courses feed the BAS.

CET2154C is a combined lecture-and-laboratory course, published here at 4 credits and approximately 90 contact hours. Daytona State publishes the related unsuffixed CET2154 at 4 credits with a $10 lab fee, offered fall, spring and summer.

⚠ Both the suffix and the title differ from the statewide inventory entry — see the note above, and confirm equivalency with the receiving institution. Related: CET1178C (A+ Computer Hardware Service) and CET1179C (A+ Certification Software).