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

4.7
stars
27,275 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

MD

May 23, 2020

A wonderful course of prevention that I learned a lot from,

Using commands with Windows and Linux

How to deploy and install operating systems through the network and Alot

Thanks GOOOOOOOOOGLE

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!

Filter by:

5026 - 5050 of 5,282 Reviews for Operating Systems and You: Becoming a Power User

By Shavon B

Sep 5, 2023

Difficult

By Jeffrey H

Apr 4, 2018

Alright

By Breanna R

Jun 20, 2022

hard

By Carmine S

May 10, 2022

buono

By Jasmin F

Nov 15, 2020

Great

By Rajesh G

Jun 5, 2022

nice

By NZEYINGORO P

Apr 1, 2022

Good

By subramanyam r p

Jun 25, 2020

nice

By Victor F

Feb 12, 2020

nice

By Michael W

Apr 15, 2020

meh

By Daniel T H

Sep 9, 2019

N/A

By Hamid A

Oct 27, 2022

,

By Diyorbek S B

Nov 11, 2023

z

By Divya S M

Oct 31, 2021

3

By Mei Y

Jul 26, 2022

I have stopped taking some classes for this particular course twice, because it was not serving the best interest for becoming an effective power user. It is giving you an overview of what it feels like to be a power user, but the practices are hardly there. I felt particularly weird that after I painstakingly note all the highlights of the classes for each week, the virtual practical was just giving you line by line instructions on how to solve the problems.I guess I don't even have to pay attention of what I learned and just follow the instructions to pass the weekly requirement. This is possibly some of the most important things for someone to handle well when they become a technical support specialist.

For those command lines that requires some BASH basics- I have to take BASH and other classes on Safari(O'Reilly) to bolster my understanding in the area. Every time the instructor tells you "you don't need to know ...", it is actually BETTER for you to know more. I can't remember why I write certain commands unless I understand WHAT they were originated from, why was it there. It was very interesting once I got to know the origins of these commands.

If the presenter is more comfortable at slides and screen recordings being shown while she gives lectures, PLEASE let her do so MOST OF THE TIME. Not everyone is a natural in front of the camera, and it was painful to watch her to stare at the camera and reading the lines that she clearly does not feel comfortable doing so. Every time I realize I have to stare at the video and see her deliver the lines painfully, I became more discouraged to continue the course. She's a natural at sharing her command walk-through, so let her do what she knows the best.

I recommend this class to people who

1) got paid to attend this class;

2) never seen a Command Prompt being shown;

3) just want to know about this, not using this to work towards a serious professional path.

By Dani R

Aug 2, 2020

I've learnt a LOT and the command line prompt is so fascinating. Specially for Linux. I enjoyed plenty to write some words and with those, be able to: navigate through my system and processes, delete, create, write, change permissions, search files, partition disks, format them, read archives, remove, install, update dependencies and programs and so much more!! If I could provide any constructive criticism would be: videos are way too short and abundant. I prefer watching a 20- minute video which explains EVERYTHING I need to know than watching 10 videos of 2 minutes. I hated the supplemental readings so much. It's the teacher's job to teach us. I REALLY don't mind if you give me a hard time or tell me to read a lot of additional info to construct my own knowledge; but in order to do that, you need to teach me the rock-solid basics and show me your passion for what you're teaching. Otherwise, it becomes boring, dull and mechanical, like with Cindy's lectures. It was painful to be in such a slow pace with very easy stuff that could be wrapped in half of the time. Also, for the "most complicated things", like automation or adding a lot of flags for increasing the specificity of the commands, she didn't even explained them. The lectures could be improved if you teach with fun-facts, with simplicity and specificity at the same time, teaching with... energy. Still enjoyed what I learnt here, though.

By Jess B

May 6, 2021

The layout of the contents of this course needs to be reevaluated. Having people learn two different OS system command prompts at once is akin to asking someone to learn two vastly different languages at one time (think along the lines of Japanese and Arabic being learned at once). Now, that may sound a bit drastic, but for those who have no background in the topics whatsoever, it is a monumental task to parse the differences between Linux and Windows commands. Further, the VM for every Windows assessment is extremely difficult to work with due to its small size. This is compounded by several of the assessments lacking enough direction for one to complete a task properly. Please consider regrouping about how the material for this course is presented and how the assessments are administered. It can only help future students struggle less in the course.

By Roberto V B

Feb 18, 2019

The Qwiklab assessments don't work and are a requirement to pass this part of the course...The learning material is straight forward, but without the Q labs assessment working there is no safe place to experiment and actually fully understand how the things that you've learnt are implemented on a computer manually and physically. Hopefully they fix this problem in the future as this is important part of learning and assessing ones knowledge of the work done. It's not acceptable that these assessments are not able to be completed just because someone didn't test whether the Labs work or not. I'm doing these courses not only because its a pre-requisite to my studies, I'm also doing it because its my passion in life. Computers, Design, Programming, its all that I think of everyday...and the fact that these assessments don't work really is disappointing.

By Westin T

Sep 5, 2023

One of the least descriptive, least entertaining classes I've ever taken on Coursera. I understand that the material isn't always the most fun to learn, however it seemed like the majority of this class is just this person talking at you. Very few examples, very little explanation or visual learning, and the supplemental reading along with these lectures does not support how in depth the quiz questions are. The labs also contain very little explanation, more like, "type this, then this, good job!" Would not recommend, but understand it's a part of the overall Google course so I don't know if it really can be avoided.

Better supplemental reading, more visuals to explain the thoughts, and less talking at the camera would honestly help a lot in my opinion.

By Tanner J T P

Apr 16, 2019

These were pretty cool courses that offer a lot of knowledge but the part where that talk about getting you information out to companies to help you start your career is fully true. They send you a survey that you select the companies you would like to share you information with out of they're selection, and that's it. There is no other follow up or anything as far as I've seen but I've been done with the program for workin on four months no with no other leads to helping me start my career. So it's great maybe to help boost a career you're already in but DO NOT TAKE THIS COURSE if you are using it to help START a career. Hope this helps some people out like me looking for a way into the industry.

By Peter O B

Feb 27, 2021

I liked the first two courses a lot, The information there was well presented. This instructor jumps around in topics during discussion, fails to post links she says will be available, and provides a lot of incomplete information. I flagged many of the video clips for this. I really think this section of the course should be remade with someone who is more competent as a teacher. I had to do a LOT of independent research to fill in the gaps. Cindy seems to know her stuff really well, but she's a *terrible* instructor and it would be great if this could be cleaned up to be on par with the rest of the course offerings.

By Brandon W

Apr 30, 2020

Pros- There is a lot of good stuff in between the massive amounts of bleh in this course.

Cons - This course isn't very engaging, and suffers in the lesson the student doesn't have a matching machine. Puts too much pressure on the student during graded assignments, which already take too long to download and some don't even work properly (mostly the Windows ones).

Suggestions - Make more of the course (working) Qwiklabs. The material in this course you don't learn properly if you're not using it yourself. Not all students have either a Windows or a Linux OS, let alone both, and the Labas are there only practice.

By Brian L

Feb 11, 2018

Command Line is a special form of torture. And anyone who says that they like it are clearly masochistic. That being said, the course content was fine. I especially like the parts about permissions and killing rogue processes. But I had a TERRIBLE time with the labs. Not because the content being tested was too difficult; but because the scoring of lab activities consistently had problems. There was big latency lags, finicky VM Instances with the Windows RDC, and many times, I had to start a lab over due to incomplete scoring. What a huge waste of time! It made completing each module stressful and unpleasant.

By George T

Jul 10, 2022

The least stimulating use of your time imagineable. Just hours upon hours of memorizing commands you'll use once and fun facts about technology that'll be obsolete by the time you actually get a job in IT. Don't bother watching the videos, just read the transcripts (assuming they're not riddled with typos, since they often are) since you'll get the same (very little worthwhile) information in 1/20th of the time. This SERIOUSLY needs to get some fat trimmed off, the material can be difficult enough without the course being a massive test of patience.

By Maxwell P

Sep 8, 2023

You better make sure you've got a good memory to get through this course. While the information is basic on operating systems that most people have knowledge of, the quizzes and qwiklab practices are a joke.

You're expected to remember things from weeks ago--assuming that it takes you the full six weeks to complete this course.

the qwiklabs are a pain and the instructions are unclear and a major headache. It took several attempts with tech support to find out what I was doing wrong.

This certificate better lead to some good jobs after all this work.