In this lab we learned how to use packet tracer by creating a small (not sure if network is the right word) network, and tested the connectivity within the network by pinging. Some instructions I found helpful were the ones we used in this lab. I'm not going to put them here because I talk about them below when I answered the questions. I also think that the intro course we signed up for to get a skills for all account might be helpful just to understand the basics. If I have time I might check it out. I didn't run into any problems with this lab aside from doing the first part twice because I couldn't find where I had saved the file on my computer so I just quickly redid it and it was fairly simple.

In the lower left corner of packet tracer there's a menu that has little pictures of computers, a lightning bolt, a motherboard, a file, etc. If you click on those a smaller menu will pop up below it. So deploying the switches you would click on the first box on the top menu labeled "Network Devices", then click on the "switches" option. Next to the two menus a little sliding list of devices pops up and you choose which switch you want from that. To deploy the PCs you do the same thing you just click "End Devices" in the first menu and choose PC from the sliding list.

To connect the devices with cables you navigate to the menu in the lower left again, click on the thunderbolt and choose the kind of wire you want. Then you click on the first device, choose the port you want the cable to go into, then click on the second device and choose the port on that device.

To access the command line on a Packet Tracer PC you click on the PC you want. Then you navigate to the "Desktop" tab on the top. Then you click on 'Command Prompt".