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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Operating Systems and You: Becoming a Power User by Google

4.7
stars
28,103 ratings

About the Course

In this course -- through a combination of video lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on practice -- you’ll learn about the main components of an operating system and how to perform critical tasks like managing software and users, and configuring hardware. By the end of this course you’ll be able to: ● navigate the Windows and Linux filesystems using a graphical user interface and command line interpreter ● set up users, groups, and permissions for account access ● install, configure, and remove software on the Windows and Linux operating systems ● configure disk partitions and filesystems ● understand how system processes work and how to manage them ● work with system logs and remote connection tools ● utilize operating system knowledge to troubleshoot common issues in an IT Support Specialist role...

Top reviews

JA

Jun 21, 2019

Great course, lots of very challenging and useful information. You'll learn about Linux and some of the inner workings of Windows, plus lots of tools and programs that are really useful. Great course!

BO

Apr 1, 2019

This is my most favorite module module, especially the Linux, which is my all time favorite OS ever enjoy learning, working Programing, and configuring, and will continue enjoying til the end of time.

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3951 - 3975 of 5,428 Reviews for Operating Systems and You: Becoming a Power User

By J L

Sep 3, 2023

Full of valuable information! But could have been even better. I really liked the last lab- it encouraged the exploration of new methods and creative solutions, but there was always the option to go back in the course to reference material as a last resort. I feel like there should have been more of these labs. Perhaps shorter ones allow users to really play around with new commands and refresh older ones that are very often used alongside the new one(s).

Some real-life scenarios, maybe multiple-choice, could be implemented, too. These methods were used in another certification program I've been in (CareerStep, Medical Coding & Billing).

By Sébastien L

Dec 22, 2018

This was good. I enjoyed course #2 much more than the other two so far. Many of the references that are given as "Supplemental Reading" in this course are quite boring considering the vast amount of stuff one could learn. Many topics in those sections are simply useless: I don't care about flags and options available for a command, that's what the built-in help command is for. Otherwise, you can quickly Google your way around. You won't be a power user after taking this course, but some notions are very useful and well presented, such as users and groups permissions, process management and troubleshooting with the help of system logs.

By Dionmy A C D

Oct 7, 2018

Parecerá extraño lo que diré pero ha sido el tema que más me ha gustado y disfruté mis logros; pero a la vez, me ha hecho sentir frustración, impotencia, y en ocasiones, ganas de dejarlo. Me sentía como una pelota de tennis donde Venus Linux y Serena Windows me agarraban a raquetazos tirándome de un lugar a otro o Messy Linux y Ronaldo Windows me daban a patadas y me mandaban de un campo a otro. Era como si estuviera haciendo dos cursos en uno. Pero uds. y los del Qwiklab no dejaban que me diera por vencida. Así que, GRACIAS A UDS. lo terminé.

Realmente preferiría ambos temas impartidos aparte con muchos Lab.

By Omar M

Apr 2, 2021

Excelente material, lo único que se batalla es en las pruebas pues en mi caso el teclado en Windows no encontraba caracteres que se usan en el curso, use teclado en pantalla, y o buscar comandos en el navegador y pegarlos y la ultima practica en Linux esta mal optimizado el área de trabajo una quinta parte de lado izquierdo contra otras 4 partes derecho de la información ojala revisen esos detalles habrá personas que batallaran mucho mas que yo; Nota yo uso opera y la experiencia en las otras practicas si fue buena, pero como los últimos laboratorios me mostraban fallas cambie a Chrome y fue peor saludos

By Cynthia D S

Jul 26, 2020

Excellent material. Excellent content. The only reason I did not give this 5 stars was due to QwikLabs which are an astronomical waste of time. I finally found the problem. I did not need a workaround; the chat people are very friendly and entirely not helpful. Sadly, the problem is a simple one and lies directly with QwikLab and connecting to the Secure Shell. No one at Coursera and no one at QwikLab seems to care. The student is left on their own to try to figure it out on their own. After an astronomical 40 hours, I realized QwikLab's error. Otherwise I would give the course 5 stars.

By Christopher M

Jul 29, 2018

I learned a bunch of new material in this course! I am especially happy with the labs at the end. Finally, a challenging lab. I actually had to use my head and my notes. I find the walk through labs interesting and helpful, but not nearly as much as having to try and figure things out based on what I was taught. My only gripes are the instruction seems to breeze past or gloss over certain details while going through things and there is an awful lot of "suggested reading" of things that probably should be covered. I hope to see more on those things, as promised in the videos, in the next courses.

By Michael L

May 23, 2021

This course is great and you will learn a lot of things. The course is 5/5 on material. However, several portions of the graded tests from the middle onward are broken in ways that require you to fix it yourself. This means if you're not mildly familiar with untaught troubleshooting on your own, that you will end up stuck somewhere here and have no way of understanding why. I think this is unfair for the newbies, and for the extra time it takes and trouble it makes for everyone else. But it is rewarding overall nonetheless even if you don't get extra credit for working around those problems.

By Griffin G

Apr 1, 2021

Much of this course I already knew, though I did learn a few new tricks along the way. However the final was a bit aggravating, as it expects you to do everything in perfect order without any instructions or actual end goals, the only way to find out your actual goals, is to revert to previous labs for a turn by turn instruction and completion, which is time consuming and stressful. If they simply included/refreshed us on what specific goals were needed (i.e. delete the corrupt file, grant write access to all users for super_secret_file) it would be tremendously helpful.

By Justin W

Apr 3, 2019

Check those last two labs(Windows and Linux Logs) for grading errors. I completed all of the assigned tasks, but only received a score of 80% for each lab. I completed both of the final labs a second time, and still only received an 80% score. All of the tasks to be completed in these labs are simple, and I know that I completed everything correctly, as I've been an IT Support Manager for 5 years now, and a Support Specialist for 10 years prior, and have performed all of the tasks in these labs about 300 times. Something is wrong with the Qwiklab grading system...

By Vincent G

Apr 19, 2023

I had tremendous technical difficulties with this course's labs, which were FINALLY overcome. But it's been immensely enjoyable attaining these new skills and knowledge about operating systems. It's been very hard work but alot of fun and tutor Cindy puts this complex material across so amazingly well. I did feel so much was crammed into so short a space but it's very hard to put all this stuff together for newbies. The pace has to quicken at some point and this, half way through the scholarship has to be the point where it happens. Thanks everyone :)

By Todd R

Oct 27, 2022

I got 120 pages of notes after the first three courses in this google IT certificate thus far. I really liked the part where they mention full primary hard drives and their effects on the laptop. I have seen that before. Someone was trying to print and nothing came out. An IT guy mentioned that , so I looked and noticed the customer had a 99% full disk. It was a known problem that the customer did nothing about. He wouldn't listen to IT's advice and they have a standard laptop that everyone gets, so they couldn't do anything special for him.

By Wm. T W

Dec 2, 2020

I enjoyed the class and found that it covered a ton of information (thank the gods for OneNote). My only issue is that is seemed like Linux was often sort of tacked on to the program. We would spend 7 minutes of more going over how to do something in Windows and then Linux would barely get 2.

Now, I realize that some of this is because WIN is so common out there and because Linux can simply be easier to use once you understand some commands, but, if I wanted to learn Linux by studying web sites and trying to work it out, I would have done that.

By Brooke F

Jun 19, 2018

I wish more examples (even if a quick in passing example) as to how some of this stuff will be used, or is important. Having never worked with a virtual machine I still don't know why that would necessarily come in handy when I think about my experience in Corporate America. Overall a lot of really good information but I wish more of the Linux labs were like the last one. I struggle the most with CLI and Bash. Having the chance to use my brain and being guided a bit better to figuring out some of these commands would have been nice.

By Matt M

Jan 19, 2019

Finally, they start to deliver on some of the "we'll talk about that in a later video" that were given out like candy back in Course 1. Not too sure why they chose to use powershell for the windows command-line classes. Surely, it'd be easier to just teach linux and say 'also, most of these commands work in windows powershell'. Also, several of the videos could be combined together. combine creating directories, and files, with deleting and renaming directories and files. Only benefit to breaking them up is a touch of suspense.

By Sandra E

Aug 2, 2020

This course was amazing! So many useful tools in Windows and Linux to troubleshoot problems! Highly recommend taking this course to become a power user.

My only problem, is that I don't own a Windows PC so hands on practice was challenging. If you want the most out of this course, I would STRONGLY suggest to use a Window 10 machine. That way to can play around with the many tools provided for you in this course. Oh! and downloading Linux too! I've been using a Mac to take the course, but I just don't get enough hands on :(

By Connor K

Jun 26, 2023

When I first embarked on this course, I did not realize how intense the material was going to be for me. I knew there was going to be a great deal of challenges for me but I somehow feel in awe that I have completed this course. I felt the material presented was thorough for me to be able to understand and apply for the labs. I will say that it it is not something that you can just skim through at all. You gotta keep yourself in the zone to know what you're being expected to know for any professional career in IT.

By Kingsley O

Apr 4, 2021

Really good course. Using the Virtual Machines for the graded tasks allowed for handson experience especially the last part leading to the conclusion as it pushes you to remember all what had been taught from the preceding modules. Simply fantastic! I find it really good working with the both the CLI and Bash commands on my computers alongside the Instructor. The only part that was really difficult working with was the VMs for windows in the external tool. Overall, it was a very good learning experience for me.

By John O R

May 20, 2020

I would have loved to have given 5 stars but the instructor needs to improve her delivery. There were too many times she should type something in a command line without speaking and then hit enter before I could see what she typed.

I also wished that I had the files on my system that she was playing with in the CL so I could play along with her. (I am pretty sure that I am not the only person who needs to learn this way)

It also would have been nice to been give cheat sheets in a handout for the CL commands.

By Darve H

Feb 15, 2022

I enjoyed the course and the material was well presented. I had a problem with some of the later labs. I could not complete a couple fo the labs because the Powershell would not work for me. Also, the final Linux lab would not score properly for me.

Otherwise, this was a good experience. I have to commend the poor support staff that had to put up with me as I struggle with the lab problems in this course. They were all patient, kind and supportive; even when some of the errors were obviously user errors.

By Cody A C

Apr 18, 2021

Great course, SUPER frustrating scoring on those final 2 tests. It logged my commands and you had to specifically do the Windows test in a specific way for you to get credit. Most of it was done through the GUI where as it would have been more helpful to do it through the shell. Slide modifications the way you can complete the test would be amazing. Also, need to fix the real-time scoring on those tests - as I was shown 10/50 throughout the whole linux test and then I hit end and it says I completed it.

By Yousef S

Jun 29, 2022

Good course 4/5 the reason why I didn't give it 5 stars is because the course didn't briefly talk about environment variables specifically the PATH environment variable and what happens behind the scenes when the shell runs different commands, also it would be beneficial if the course included more info about shell scripting, some elements of this cousrse needs to be updated for example systemctl is used now to manage services, journalctl is used to manage logs, htop is used to manage system resources.

By David B

Feb 11, 2018

Continue to be disappointed with the labs not working properly. It often takes multiple attempts even to log in (Windows labs), and the score card (Windows and Linux labs) frequently doesn't even display a score at all, despite completing the labs successfully. Course material is generally okay though.

It would also be nice if someone involved with the course was involved on the forums. There often seem to be questions, but rarely does anyone from Coursera or Google seem available to assist.

By Rita H

Jan 25, 2022

I appreciate the instructors who taught the class/courses. I will say the qwiklabs has been challenging. It is easy to navigate through qwiklabs for each activity/lesson/assessments. There is a glitch or error message when attempting to submit or enter solutions for the assessments and doesn't go through. I think there is a glitch between the platforms when using windows in qwiklabs. Overall, very informative and I'll say it was the hardest so far from the last two other class/courses.

By KIRAN V T

May 13, 2019

The course as a whole is absolutely informative. Ms. Cindy is no-nonsense to the point instructor.

Her lectures are good and she follows those up with an example. I was recommended this course by my boss, I would recommend it to others too.

I wanted to give 5 but will stick with 4, as in first week lab assessment linux lab instructions are al over the place and a bit confusing. I had to redo it twice to get it right. So since there is no 4.5 i will give a 4.

Keep it up Cindy and Google.

By Victor A L

Sep 13, 2020

Very interesting, and well done videos, my only disappointment is with the labs, specially the ones for windows that had many issues from using power shell (which don't execute the commands) to labs who are slow to show the login info or simply won't credit the points earned when completing a task.

Videos from the instrustor are pretty good an the instructor is awesome. But please work a little bit to improve labs and make them faster and credir points when a task is completed.