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Google · on Coursera

Operating Systems and You: Becoming a Power User

Beginner English Professional CertificateFREE
SkillsOperating systemsWindowsLinuxCommand lineUser managementFile systems

Is this course right for you?

Our take
The operating-systems course of Google's IT Support Professional Certificate, and a genuinely practical one.

Good for: Practical Windows and Linux skills for a starting IT-support role.

Skip if: You are already an IT professional or want advanced system administration.

It builds job-ready skills across both Windows and Linux — navigating and configuring the systems, and managing users, files and processes — the everyday competence an IT-support role actually demands. It's hands-on and beginner-friendly, pitched at people starting an IT career, so it's not aimed at existing IT professionals or anyone wanting advanced system administration.

It's best taken as part of the full certificate rather than alone: one Coursera subscription (about $49/month, financial aid available) covers the whole programme, and it's that complete Google IT Support certificate — well recognised for entry-level IT roles — that carries the weight, not this single course (as of 2026).

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About this course

Operating Systems and You: Becoming a Power User is the OS-focused course of the Google IT Support Professional Certificate. It builds practical, job-ready skills across Windows and Linux: navigating and configuring both operating systems, working from the command line, and managing users, permissions, files, processes, and packages.

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Instructor

GC
Google Career Certificates
Coursera instructor

Built by Google Career Certificates as part of the Google IT Support Professional Certificate, designed and taught by Google's own IT professionals for people entering the field with no prior experience.

Frequently asked questions

Yes. It is one of the courses in Google's IT Support Professional Certificate, sitting early in that sequence after the technical-support fundamentals. You can take it standalone for the operating-systems content, but it is designed as part of the fuller certificate aimed at preparing people for entry-level IT support roles, building toward the later networking and system-administration courses.

Yes. It teaches you to work confidently with both Windows and Linux operating systems — navigating the command line, managing files, users, and processes, and configuring systems — since IT support professionals need to handle both. That dual coverage is a strength, giving you practical power-user skills across the two operating systems most workplaces rely on, rather than just one.

Yes. It assumes no prior operating-systems expertise and builds practical skills from the ground up, aimed at people starting toward IT support careers. It gets genuinely hands-on with the command line, which is new territory for many, but the pacing suits beginners. It is part of a certificate designed specifically to take people with no IT background toward employable support skills.

Yes, you can audit it on Coursera to watch the videos at no cost. The graded labs and assessments and the certificate need a subscription, with financial aid available. Since the hands-on assessments are part of what makes the Google IT certificate valuable, the paid track is worth considering if you want the full experience rather than only the lectures.

As a single course within the certificate, it typically runs several weeks at a few hours a week. The full Google IT Support certificate is designed to take around six months at a modest weekly pace, so this is one chunk of that — quicker if you already have some computer comfort, longer if the command line is entirely new.
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