Final Reflection Looking back at everything I’ve learned in TEC101, I can see how much my understanding of technology has grown. At the start, programming in Scratch felt like a puzzle game, and now I can see how those same problem-solving skills connect to real languages like Python. I also learned how apps are designed and how important usability and security are in the tools we use every day, like the ChatGPT app I reviewed. Working through assignments like Documenting a Day and Traveling Through a Network helped me understand the everyday side of technology. Word processors, spreadsheets, presentations, and databases each have their place, and they all come together to make school, work, and even personal life more organized. Ping and traceroute showed me that something as simple as loading a website is actually a detailed process, and those same tools are what IT professionals use to figure out where problems happen online. The posts on Computers in the Workplace and Network Secur...
Network Security One of the biggest things I’ve learned in this course is how important it is to keep information and systems secure. Whether it’s personal data or military operations, one small security issue can cause huge problems. Two of the most common threats today are computer viruses and malware/ransomware . Ping as an Attack Before I get into the bigger threats, I also learned that even simple tools like the ping command can be misused. Hackers can send so many ping requests at once that it overwhelms a system, slowing it down or shutting it off. This shows how even basic commands can turn dangerous if used the wrong way. Computer Viruses A computer virus is a program that spreads by attaching itself to files or software. Once it’s inside a system, it can slow down performance, delete data, or even steal information. What makes viruses tricky is that they can spread quickly just by opening an infected file or plugging in the wrong USB drive. The damage can range from an...