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Showing posts from October, 2022

Final Blog Post

    For the tech topic paper, I chose the topic of hardware components of computer systems. This topic interested me as I have loved building and researching computer builds. It has always fascinated me on being able to assemble and create exactly what I want out of a computer versus what some companies assumed I needed. I did my first one about six years ago and since then I have done many for friends and coworkers. It's fun planning the build-out and researching certain components based on the end users' needs. Everyone’s needs change from build to build and component to component. One person may need a high-end graphic build while the other guy may just want something to browse the internet and use basic software. Being able to sort through the different components and know what you are looking for is a great skill to have as there are tons of different options when it comes to hard drives, ram, graphics cards, cases, and processors. In this assignment, I will show how...

Network Security

 Network security is a very important thing when it comes to the world of Information Technology. Without it we would all be at the mercy of hackers and others. In this paper, I will discuss different types of ways that a network can be vulnerable; this includes Dos attacks, phishing, and computer viruses.  Let’s start by discussing a DoS attack and how it can affect your network and/or computer. DoS stands for denial of service. “A Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack is an attack meant to shut down a machine or network, making it inaccessible to its intended users” (What is a denial of service attack, 2022). These attacks utilize a massive amount of information and traffic sent to a specific network IP address. These then overflow the network causing it to shut down. The damage done by this can be huge to a company if it cannot function without its network. Take, for example, I play video games on a well-known platform ran by Blizzard. Blizzard is often hit with DoS attacks, and...

Computers In The Workplace

  For this week's discussion, I chose the telecommunications industry. I chose this one because that is the industry in which I am employed. Computers play a significant role in this industry. Specifically dispatching, taking customer calls, and communicating. Our dispatching system has two ends, one being the dispatcher and the other being the technician on the receiving side. Our dispatcher uses many computer programs to task jobs to technicians and does any communications via Microsoft teams to us if need be. Without computers, we would be where we were about 20 years ago with radios for communication. With our industry comes the excellent task of talking to our customers and addressing their issues. The person that picks up the phone has to use their computer to research the account using a program made for that. Then they have a different program to create a work order for that customer. That then gets dispatched to the technicians to assist the customer. Employees in this ind...

Traveling Through A Network

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  Here are the results from my Ping Tests.    Here are the results from my Trace Routes.        Traveling Through a Network Reflection Essay So for this week's discussion, we will be breaking down how ping tests and trace routes work. The two are somewhat similar but have their differences. The ping test lets you send data via packets to the address that you have selected, and it sends back the allotted time that it took to get there. We use this at my job quite often, considering I work for a large ISP, and we get called out for trouble calls about packet loss. We use the command -t to send a continuous ping so it can gather a larger pool of data. It's quite simple if you are sending 100 and get back 90, you have a 10% packet loss. Trace Routes are a little different than ping tests. A traceroute gives you the path that your packet is traveling. When you have this data, you can see where there is any drop-off and where it was when this happened. This ...

Documenting a Day

     Thanks to this assignment, I could really dig into these applications and try them out in detail. I was able to see which I would prefer to work with versus one that I may choose not to. In this essay, I will compare the functions of Word processors, Spreadsheet, Presentation, and database applications and the disadvantages and advantages of each application.             The functions of each of these applications vary from application to application. Word has a ton of options at your fingertips as far as how you want something to be typed and processed. It also gives you the assistance with the editor and word count functions. Excel, to me, is a data processing application that you can input statistics and have them formulated for you automatically, pending the formula you use. This is great for business applications and anywhere you may need to produce numbers. PowerPoint is an excellent tool for office use as its primary purpose ...

App Critique

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F or t his week's discussion, I chose to review what our family loves to use: the Chic Fil A App. We use this app quite a bit as it is intuitive and well-made. Besides, who does not like their food waiting on them when they get to a restaurant instead of waiting? Mobile apps for restaurants have exploded recently, with places like Mcdonald's, Chic Fil A, and Taco bell using them. Everyone else seems to be trending on the same path.  Usability      The app is very user-friendly and easy to use. When you launch the app, you are taken to a login page if you are not logged in. Once logged in, you are greeted with a big welcome and often free rewards such as sandwiches, drinks, or desserts. You then have the choice of dining in or take out. The best part of the app is that we can go in and sit at a table, then order our food and simply put our table number there, and they bring it directly to us. This bypasses the long line that restaurants typically have. Design  ...

Using Scratch

      For this week’s assignment, we started utilizing a web-based program called Scratch. This was a neat assignment where we got to lay out some small programming information to make something come to life. In this assignment, I will explain my experience, difficulties, and insights while using scratch.       My experience using scratch was very positive. I watched the intro video on how it worked and hopped right into making my program. It is very intuitive and well laid out, so you can go right to work after watching the how-to. The possibilities that you have with this program are very extensive, with all the different options for commands at your fingertips.     I personally only had one or two difficulties with the program. The animation for steps did not want to work right on the build screen, but after you made the script, it seemed to flow for me. The other difficulty I had that I cleared up was when I went to sav...