Windows Operating Systems

You need to install a copy of Windows 7 onto a PC with no current operating system. Which boot methods are acceptable to begin this installation? (Choose all that apply.) A. PXE B. CD-ROM C. USB D. Internal hard drive E. DVD

A, C, E. Windows 7 can be installed from three sources: PXE (over the network), DVD, or USB. Windows 7 does not come on CD-ROM. In this instance, the computer has no operating system, so the internal hard drive is not bootable.

A user wants to ensure that their hard drive is encrypted for maximum data security. What are two commands you can have the user type into the Run box to see whether the BitLocker Drive Encryption Service is enabled? A. SERVICES.MSC B. PERFMON.EXE C. COMPMGMT.MSC D. BLDES.MSC

A, C. There are several ways to see what services are running and to enable and disable services. They include the Services MMC, Computer Management, and Task Manager. Performance Monitor does not show running services, and there is no BLDES.MSC.

One of your technicians needs to use the Task Manager utility. What are two ways she can open Task Manager? (Choose two.) A. Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete and then click Task Manager. B. Press Ctrl+Shift+T. C. Press Ctrl+Alt+T. D. Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc.

A, D. Task Manager lets you shut down nonresponsive applications selectively in all Windows versions. There are three easy ways to get to Task Manager. You can press Ctrl+Alt+Delete and click the Task Manager button or option, you can right-click an empty spot in the taskbar and choose it from the pop-up menu that appears, or you can press Ctrl+Shift+Esc.

You have a Windows 7 Professional computer set up in a workgroup, and you need to perform some routine management tasks on it. Which of the following can you configure through the Computer Management MMC? (Choose two.) A. Hard drives B. File permissions C. Windows Firewall D. Shared folders

A, D. The Computer Management MMC allows you to configure several aspects of your computer. It includes Task Scheduler, Event Viewer, Shared Folders, Performance Monitor, Device Manager, Disk Management, and Services and Applications. You can't set file permissions; those are configured through Windows Explorer. You can enable or disable Windows Firewall, but it's configured through its own utility.

You want to create a backup of your Windows 8.1 system configuration so you can restore it in the event of a system crash. What should you create? A. Restore point B. System restore C. Windows backup D. Shadow copy

A. A restore point is a copy of your system configuration at a given point in time. Restore points are useful for when Windows fails to boot but the computer appears to be fine otherwise or when Windows doesn't seem to be acting right and you think it was because of a recent configuration change. Restore points are created in the System Restore utility.

A Windows 7 computer in your office is being used as a file server by the sales team. There is a folder on the D: drive named DailyReports where the sales team files their reports. The D: drive is now full. What is the easiest way to provide more capacity and not disrupt access to the folder? A. Mount a new hard drive as a subfolder in DailyReports. B. Extend the D: partition so it has more room. C. Add another hard drive and create an array for the D: drive. D. Split half of the data from the D: partition into a different partition.

A. By mounting a drive, you can map a folder or subfolder to empty space on another hard drive or partition. For example, if the computer has a second hard drive with a partition that has space, you can create a folder there and then mount it as a subfolder of the DailyReports folder on the D: drive.

Microsoft offers users free access to a cloud-based storage account. What is the name of that service? A. OneDrive B. WinCloud C. Shadow Copy D. Microsoft Cloud

A. CompTIA refers to this as two words (One Drive), but Microsoft refers to it as one (OneDrive). Either way, it is the online/cloud storage account that comes with your Microsoft account. You can save files there from applications or move them there (and back again) using File Explorer (previously called Windows Explorer). There is a limited amount of storage given to each account for free, and you can purchase more as you need it.

You are preparing to install Windows 8.1 on a computer with a solid-state drive (SSD). What does Microsoft recommend you run to optimize performance on this drive? A. WinSAT.exe formal B. WinSAT.exe prepop C. WinSAT.exe moobe D. WinSAT.exe media

A. Just as Windows 8 can run from USB, internal, and external drives, it can also run on solid-state drives (SSDs), as long as they meet the standard minimum requirements for size (a minimum of 16GB, in this case). Microsoft recommends that WinSAT.exe formal be used to optimize Windows for the SSD. The command reduces the number of write operations that Windows makes.

The ability to have a Windows taskbar appear on multiple monitors was introduced with what version of Windows? A. Windows 8 B. Windows 7 C. Windows Vista D. Windows 8.1

A. Multiple monitors have been available with Windows for some time, but not until Windows 8 has it been possible to have a taskbar appear in each monitor.

You have a Windows 7 workstation, and you are planning system configuration changes. Which utility allows you to make a backup of your system configuration before making these changes? A. System Restore B. Windows Backup C. BitLocker D. OneDrive

A. Restore points are created in the System Restore utility. A restore point is a copy of your system configuration at a given point in time. Restore points are useful for when Windows fails to boot but the computer appears to be fine otherwise or when Windows doesn't seem to be acting right and you think it was because of a recent configuration change.

Your manager has a laptop running Windows 8.1. She wants to configure the laptop so that when she is on battery power, the display shuts off after five minutes of inactivity. When the laptop is plugged in, she wants the display to stay active for up to 45 minutes of inactivity. Where should she configure these settings? A. Control Panel ➢ Power Options B. Control Panel ➢ Computer Management C. Control Panel ➢ Performance Monitor D. Control Panel ➢ System Configuration

A. She needs to create a power plan with her desired settings. This is done in the Power Options applet of Control Panel. Different plans, such as hibernate or standby, can be configured for when the laptop is on battery power versus when it's plugged in.

You are working on a Windows 7 workstation and need to perform a management task. However, you can't remember the name of the utility that you need to use. Which management tool provides a list of other useful Windows management tools for you and lets you launch them by clicking their name? A. MSCONFIG.EXE B. EVENTVWR.EXE C. TASKMGR.EXE D. CONTROL.EXE

A. The System Configuration tool's Tools tab shows you a short list of available administrative tools. System configuration (MSCONFIG.EXE) has five tabs: General, Boot, Services, Startup, and Tools.

You are at a Windows Vista command prompt. You believe that one of the Windows system files is corrupt. Which command should you use to scan and repair problematic system files? A. sfc /scanfile B. sfc /scannow C. sfc /verifyfile D. sfc /revert

A. The System File Checker (SFC) is a command-line utility that checks and verifies the versions of system files on your computer. If system files are corrupted, the SFC will replace the corrupted files with correct versions. The /scanfile option will scan and repair files, whereas /scannow will just check all files. The /verifyonly option will verify the integrity of a specific file. The /revert option reverts the system files to the original specifications but is not supported by Windows Vista.

You have recently connected your Windows 7 workstation to a cloud storage service. You want to ensure that the cloud-based service synchronizes with your desktop every morning at 2:30 a.m. Which Windows management utility should you use to enable this? A. Task Scheduler B. Event Viewer C. Component Services D. Data Sources

A. The Task Scheduler (which may appear as Schedule Tasks in Windows 8.x Administrative Tools) allows you to configure an application to run automatically or at any regular interval. A number of terms are used to describe the options for configuring tasks: action (what the task actually does), condition (an optional requirement that must be met before a task runs), setting (any property that affects the behavior of a task), and trigger (the required condition for the task to run).

Which feature available in Windows Vista and Windows 7 is used to create a snapshot of file, even when the file is in use, for retrieval if the original file is accidentally deleted or overwritten? A. Shadow Copy B. Windows Backup C. OneDrive D. Easy Transfer

A. The Volume Shadow Copy Service creates copies from which you can recover should a file be accidentally deleted or overwritten. Windows 7 adds to Vista by including an interface for configuring storage used by volume shadow copies. The Properties dialog box for a file contains a Previous Versions tab that can be used to return to another version of the file.

Which Windows 8 feature provides an area for users to tap or click tiles to open applications, websites, files, and other items? A. Start screen B. App center C. Windows Store D. Desktop

A. The Windows Start screen, introduced in Windows 8, is the central location where you can access your most commonly used data and sites.

You are at a Windows 8.1 command prompt, in the D:\users\jdoe\files directory. What command can you use to get to the D:\ directory? A. cd\ B. cd.. C. cd/ D. cd:\

A. The cd, md, and rd commands are used to change (or display), make, and remove directories, respectively. They're shorthand versions of the chdir, mkdir, and rmdir commands. To get back to the root directory, use cd\; the cd.. command will take you up one directory.

You are at a Windows 8.1 command prompt, and the directory you are in has a Windows cabinet file in it. Which command do you use if you want to get a file out of that cabinet file? A. extract B. expand C. unzip D. excab

A. The extract command is used to extract compressed files from a cabinet file. There are only a handful of parameters that work with it, and the most useful are /l to specify another location to place the extracted files (the current directory is the default) and /y to avoid prompting you for every file that is being overwritten.

A user has poor eyesight and is having trouble reading the small fonts on his monitor, including desktop icons. What should you do to make everything on the desktop appear larger? A. Open Control Panel ➢ Appearance and Personalization and decrease the resolution. B. Open Control Panel ➢ Appearance and Personalization and increase the resolution. C. Open Control Panel ➢ Appearance and Personalization and decrease the refresh rate. D. Open Control Panel ➢ Appearance and Personalization and increase the refresh rate.

A. The screen resolution determines the number of pixels that go across and down to make up the screen image. Decreasing the resolution in effect makes each pixel bigger, thereby making images on the screen larger. Resolution, color depth, and refresh rate are set in Display or Display Settings in Control Panel.

You are at a Windows 8.1 command prompt. A remote Windows 7 workstation named Wanda is misbehaving and needs to be shut down. What is the proper syntax to shut down this remote system? A. shutdown /r /m \\wanda B. shutdown /s /m \\wanda C. shutdown /r /c \\wanda D. shutdown /s /c \\wanda

A. The shutdown command can be used to shut down and restart computers, either the system you are on or a remote one. The /s switch is used to shut down a computer, and /r is used for a full shutdown and reboot. The /m switch followed by the computer name is used to specify the remote computer. The /c switch is for comments.

Which of the following file systems was not designed for hard drives but rather for optical media? A. CDFS B. ExFAT C. FAT32 D. NFS

A. While not a file system that can be used on a hard drive, CDFS is the file system of choice for CD media, and it has been used with 32-bit Windows versions since Windows 95. A CD mounted with the CDFS driver appears as a collection.

What feature of Windows 7 provides anti-spyware protection? A. Windows Defender B. Windows Firewall C. Windows Protector D. Windows Action Center

A. Windows Defender can identify spyware, and it is included with all versions of Windows from Windows Vista onward. As with similar programs, for Windows Defender to function properly, you need to keep the definitions current and scan on a regular basis.

You need to install Windows 7 onto several client computers that currently have no OS. You have created a PXE server and will perform the installation over the network. What is required to create the PXE environment? A. WinPE B. WinRE C. A flash drive D. Netboot

A. You can boot a PC over the network (rather than from a DVD, USB, or hard disk) with the Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE), which is a stub operating system that creates a Pre-boot Execution Environment (PXE). Netboot is the process of booting the OS from the network, such as from a thin client.

You believe that someone is trying to hack into a Windows 8.1 workstation using brute-force methods to guess the password. To deter the attacker, you want to lock out the account if there are five failed login attempts. Which management tool should you use to configure this? A. SECPOL.MSC B. COMPMGMT.MSC C. SECMON.EXE D. MSRA.EXE

A. You want to use the Local Security Policy tool, which is SECPOL.MSC. It allows you to set the default security settings for the system. This includes password settings, lockout policies, audit policy, and other security settings.

You have purchased a dozen Windows 8.1 workstations from a computer vendor. The vendor has set aside space on the hard drive to hold an extra copy of key operating system files. What is this space called? A. Restore partition B. Recovery partition C. Reinstallation partition D. System image

B. A recovery partition is an area of the hard drive set aside to hold files that can be used to recover the operating system in the event of a failure. You can copy the information from this partition to another location (usually a USB drive) to use in the event that the partition fails.

Which feature of Windows 7 allows all users (not just administrators) to encrypt files on an NTFS volume, even one file at a time, to increase data security? A. BitLocker B. EFS C. Shadow Drive D. OneDrive

B. Encrypting File System (EFS) is available in the Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions of Windows 7. It allows for the encryption/decryption of files stored in NTFS volumes. EFS can be used by all users, whereas BitLocker can be turned on only by administrators. EFS can encrypt just one file, if so desired, while BitLocker encrypts the whole volume and whatever is stored on it.

The data storage partition on your Windows 7 workstation is nearly out of room. It's configured as a basic volume. What needs to be true for you to extend this partition? (Choose two.) A. You need to convert it to a dynamic volume. B. It must be formatted with NTFS. C. It must be extended into contiguous free space. D. It must be a primary partition.

B, C. In Windows Vista and newer, you can extend existing partitions to give them more space, provided of course that the hard disk has unpartitioned space available. To extend a basic volume, it either needs to be raw or formatted with NTFS, and you can only extend it into contiguous disk space. Both primary and extended partitions can be extended. Only dynamic disks can be extended into noncontiguous space.

Which of the following are true statements about Windows To Go (WTG)? (Choose two.) A. It does not support BitLocker. B. It requires a USB 3.0 drive. C. It does not support OS upgrades. D. It is available in Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1.

B, C. Microsoft created Windows To Go (WTG) to allow Windows 8/8.1 to be installed on any USB-bootable device, such as a flash drive or external hard drive. WTG works with both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports, but it requires USB 3.0 drives. WTG does not support OS upgrades, but it is compatible with BitLocker.

You are working at a Windows 7 command prompt. Which of the following commands require administrative privileges to run? (Choose two.) A. chkdsk B. diskpart C. tasklist D. sfc

B, D. Because of the power they possess, the disk partitioning (diskpart) and system file checker (sfc) commands require administrative privileges.

You want to configure a Windows 8.1 workstation to boot from an external hard drive. Which of the following must be true for that to happen? (Choose two.) A. The drive must be USB. B. The computer's BIOS must support it. C. BitLocker needs to be enabled. D. The external drive must be listed in the BIOS boot order.

B, D. Rather than booting from an internal drive, it is possible to install and boot Windows from an external drive if your BIOS supports it (and looks for the external drive in the boot order). As silly as it sounds, bear in mind when taking the exam that an external drive will not boot if it is not found at startup.

You are working on a Windows 8.1 workstation and want to view statistics for how busy the processor is and how much memory is in use. Which two of the following tools will easily allow you to do this? (Choose two.) A. CONTROL.EXE SYSTEM B. COMPMGMT.MSC C. SERVICES.MSC D. PERFMON.EXE

B, D. The Computer Management console (COMPMGMT.EXE) contains Performance Monitor, which allows you to view hardware performance statistics. PERFMON.EXE is the executable command for Performance Monitor in its own Microsoft Management Console (MMC) window. You can also use Task Manager and Resource Monitor to check CPU and memory usage statistics.

Which of the following features were first featured in a Microsoft operating system with Windows 8? (Choose two.) A. Pinning B. Windows Store C. PowerShell D. Charms

B, D. The Windows Store and charms were introduced with Windows 8. The Windows Store is an online site from which you can download apps, games, software, and so on. Charms are controls that are available on the side of the screen for every Windows Store app. They consist of Search, Share, Start, Devices, and Settings.

You are migrating user files and applications for a few user accounts from Windows Vista to Windows 7. Which tool does Microsoft recommend you use to make this transfer? A. User State Migration Tool (USMT) B. Windows Easy Transfer (WET) C. Windows Migration Tool (WMT) D. User Accounts in Control Panel

B. If you are migrating only a few accounts, Microsoft recommends Windows Easy Transfer (WET) instead of USMT. You don't need to use either one if you chose the Upgrade option and are doing an in-place upgrade because user files and applications are preserved.

What feature of Windows allows you to place icons of your favorite apps on the Start menu, desktop, or taskbar to get to them quickly? A. Sticking B. Pinning C. Posting D. Easy launch

B. If you have favorite apps, you can "pin" (add) them to the Start screen or the desktop so that you can get to them quickly or see updates to their tiles at a glance.

You need to establish a connection to a remote desktop. Which Windows system utility allows you to set up and configure this type of connection from the command line or through a graphical interface? A. MMC B. MSTSC C. RDPCON D. DXDIAG

B. MSTSC (Remote Desktop Connection) is used to configure remote desktop connections. It offers a glut of options and can be started from the command line, or it can be configured through the graphical interface.

What is the name of the user interface introduced with Windows 8? A. Aero B. Metro C. WinPE D. Windows Explorer

B. Microsoft came up with a new user interface for Windows 8. This was originally called the Metro interface, but the name was changed after its release to the new Windows UI (or the Windows 8 UI).

You are installing Windows 7 on a workstation. You want to format the hard drive with a file system that is also supported by Linux. Which file system should you choose? A. NTFS B. NFS C. ext3 D. ext4

B. NFS was created by Sun Microsystems a number of decades ago, and it is widely used in Unix and then Linux environments. Starting with Windows 7, Microsoft includes support for NFS with Windows. The ext3 and ext4 file systems are supported by Linux but not natively by Windows 7.

You are talking with a vendor about configuration changes you need to make to several Windows 8 workstations. You decide you should take notes so you do not forget the instructions. What application comes with Windows and allows you to create and edit basic text documents? A. Word B. Notepad C. WordPad D. Command

B. Notepad is a simple Windows program, and it comes standard with all versions of Windows. Both Word and Notepad are used to create and edit documents, but Word is far more configurable and powerful. It's also not a free Windows application; you must purchase it separately.

You have a Windows 7 Professional computer with multiple printers installed. Which of the following administrative tools allows you to manage multiple print servers and printers from a single interface? A. Printers app in Control Panel B. Print Management C. Device Manager D. Services

B. Print Management allows you to manage multiple printers and print servers from a single interface. It is not available for Windows 7 in any edition lower than Windows 7 Professional. In all other editions, you must manage individual printers using the Printers applet in Control Panel, and you are limited in what you can manage.

Which feature of Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8/8.1 allows you to use a removable drive as temporary cache space to speed up the system? A. OneDrive B. ReadyBoost C. Shadow Copy D. Windows Easy Transfer

B. ReadyBoost allows you to use free space on a removable drive (usually USB) as virtual memory and speed up a system. For the option even to be possible, at least 256MB of space must be available on the removable media. ReadyBoost is configured from the ReadyBoost tab of the Properties dialog box for the removable media device.

You are preparing to make major configuration changes to a Windows 8.1 workstation. Before you begin, which command can you run to ensure that there is a current restore point for the workstation? A. MSRA.EXE B. RSTRUI.EXE C. MSTSC.EXE D. COMPMGMT.MSC

B. Restore points are created and managed in the System Restore utility (RSTRUI.EXE). A restore point is a copy of your system configuration at a given point in time. Restore points are useful for when Windows fails to boot but the computer appears to be fine otherwise or when Windows doesn't seem to be acting right and you think it was because of a recent configuration change.

A Windows 8 workstation appears to have an application that's locked up, but the keyboard is still responsive. Which system tool can you use to kill the application? A. Performance Monitor B. Task Manager C. Computer Management D. MSCONFIG

B. Task Manager is a multifunctional tool that shows you applications that are running, as well as their individual CPU and memory usage. You can also use Task Manager to force applications or processes to shut down.

You are at a Windows command prompt. You remember the name of the command-line tool that you want to run, but you don't remember the switch you need to use with it. What switch can you use to show the context and switches used for that command? A. /help B. /? C. /* D. /#

B. The HELP command does what it says: it gives you help. To get more information, type the name of a command that you want to learn about after typing HELP. For example, type HELP RD and press Enter, and you will get information about the RD command. You can also get the same help information by typing /? after the command. The /? switch is slightly faster and provides more information than the HELP command. The HELP command provides information for only system commands (it does not include network commands).

You have a Windows 7 workstation and need to configure programs to load upon startup. Which management tool should you use to do this? A. Task Scheduler B. System Configuration C. Computer Management D. Programs and Applications

B. The System Configuration tool allows you to set up programs to boot automatically at startup, using the Startup tab. System configuration (MSCONFIG.EXE) has five tabs: General, Boot, Services, Startup, and Tools.

You have a Windows 7 workstation that you suspect has faulty memory. Which Microsoft tool should you use to check it? A. Device Manager B. Windows Memory Diagnostics C. Task Scheduler D. Computer Management

B. The Windows Memory Diagnostics tool can be used to check a system for memory problems. For the tool to work, the system must be restarted. The two options that it offers are to restart the computer now and check for problems or to wait and check for problems on the next restart.

For which operating system can you get a preconfigured virtual machine (that runs in the Windows Virtual PC emulator) that allows users to run Windows XP-based applications? A. Windows Vista B. Windows 7 C. Windows 8 D. Windows 8.1

B. The ability to run applications in Windows XP Mode (XPM) is included with Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate. This is a virtual client (emulating Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 3), and you must download and install Windows Virtual PC to use it. XPM was discontinued in Windows 8/8.1.

You have a Windows 7 command prompt open. You are in the D:\users directory and want to copy all 20 of the files with a .doc extension into the D:\files directory. Which of the following statements is true? A. You need to copy the files one at a time. B. You can use the command copy *.doc d:\files. C. You can use the command copy all.doc d:\files. D. You can use the command copy .doc d:\files.

B. The copy command makes a copy of a file in a second location. (To copy a file and then remove it from its original location, use the move command.) One useful tip is to use wildcards. For example, the asterisk (*) is a wildcard that means everything. So, you could type copy *.exe to copy all files that have an .exe filename extension, or you could type copy *.* to copy all files in your current directory. The other popular wildcard is the question mark (?), which does not mean everything but instead replaces one character. copy abc?.exe would only copy exe files with four-letter names of which the first three letters are abc.

You are at a Windows Vista command prompt. What command can you type to close the command prompt window? A. quit B. exit C. close D. /x

B. The exit command will get you out of the windows or processes that you are currently in. For example, if you are running a batch script, it will exit that batch script. If you are in the command interpreter, it will close the command interpreter.

You are creating a network for a small office with Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1 workstations. They do not want centralized security, but they want it to be easy to share printers and files, including libraries. What type of network setup should you recommend? A. Workgroup B. HomeGroup C. Distributed D. Domain

B. The purpose behind a HomeGroup is to simplify home or small office networking and, more specifically, the sharing of files and printers. Windows 7 Starter can only join a HomeGroup, while all other editions of Windows 7 can both join and create a HomeGroup. The location from which you network must be set to Home. Shared files can include libraries, which is a big feature of Windows 7. All computers participating in the HomeGroup must be running Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 (but not Vista), and the network cannot extend outside the small group.

You are at a Windows 7 command prompt. A process has frozen and is making the computer slow to respond. What is the syntax used to find the process and how much CPU time it has used? A. tasklist /s B. tasklist /v C. tasklist /svc D. tasklist /c

B. The tasklist utility is used at the command line to see a list of all the running processes (and their process ID number), similar to what you see in the GUI by using Task Manager. By default, it shows the processes on the current machine, but the /s switch can be used to see the processes on a remote machine. /svc will show the services hosted in each process, and you can use /u if you need to run the command as another user. The /v switch is for verbose mode, which will show details such as CPU time and memory usage. /c is not a valid tasklist switch.

The hard drive performance on your Windows 7 workstation has deteriorated over time. To attempt to help performance, you want to ensure that files on the hard drive are written in contiguous blocks. Which administrative tool should you use to make this happen? A. Disk Management B. Disk Defragmenter C. Disk Optimizer D. Device Manager

B. When files are written to a hard drive, they're not always written contiguously or with all the data in a single location. Defragmenting a disk involves analyzing the disk and then consolidating fragmented files and folders so that they occupy a contiguous space (consecutive blocks), thus increasing performance during file retrieval. The executable for Disk Defragmenter is DEFRAG.EXE.

You have chosen to install Windows 8 Pro on a workstation that is currently running Windows 7 Professional. You choose a Custom installation and format the hard drive. What type of installation are you performing? A. Migration B. Clean C. Upgrade D. Incremental

B. Whenever you format the hard drive, the old operating system is removed. Therefore, it is a clean install.

You have several Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 workstations on your network. Before any operating system patches get applied to your workstations, you want to review them. Which tool do you configure this setting in? A. Windows Patch Management B. Windows Update C. Computer Management D. System Configuration

B. Windows Update manages the download and installation of Windows updates and patches. Most administrators choose to have patches applied automatically, which is a safe choice. You can also tell Windows Update to download patches but not apply them until the administrator manually approves them.

You have several important files on your computer that you can't afford to lose. Which Windows utility should you run to ensure that you have a replica of these files? A. System Restore B. Disk Management C. Backup D. Remote Desktop

C. An important aspect of disk management is backing up the data on your drives. Toward that end, Windows has a builtin backup feature called Backup. The Backup utility in each of the different versions of Windows has different capabilities, with newer versions having greater capabilities. In general, you can either run a wizard to create a backup job or manually specify the files to back up. You can also run backup jobs or schedule them to run at specific times at a specific interval.

You are going to install a Windows 8.1 workstation from an image located on a server. What does the workstation need to support to enable this installation? A. Netboot B. Unattended installation C. PXE boot D. USB boot

C. An install can be started many ways—with a USB drive, a DVD, and so on—and an image and setup files can also be located on and installed from a network, thus saving you from having to keep all the files on the local machine. Often called a PXE-initiated boot (for Pre-Execution Environment), the workstation involved in the installation can retrieve the files from the network, as needed, and configure variables accordingly.

Which Windows feature, introduced with Vista, allows you to place customizable programs on the desktop, such as a clock or the weather? A. Charms B. Widgets C. Gadgets D. Sidebar

C. Gadgets are mini programs, introduced with Windows Vista, which can be placed on the desktop, allowing them to run quickly and personalize the PC (clock, weather, and so on). Windows 7 renamed these Windows Desktop Gadgets.

A Windows Vista user uses a lot of memory-intensive applications and has been recently getting "out of memory" error messages. Her computer has 16GB RAM and can't be upgraded any further. You want to ensure that her system has ample virtual memory as well; what is the minimum recommended size that her swap file should be? A. 8GB B. 16GB C. 24GB D. 48GB

C. In general, the swap file should be at least 1.5 times the amount of RAM in the machine. You should place the swap file on a drive with plenty of empty space. As a general rule, try to keep 20 percent of your drive space free for the overhead of various elements of the OS, like the swap file. Do not set the swap file to an extremely small size. If you make the swap file too small, the system can become unbootable, or at least unstable.

You have a Windows 7 Professional workstation configured in a workgroup. You want to configure the workstation to require users to reset their passwords every 90 days. Which management utility should you use to do this? A. Users and Groups B. System Configuration C. Local Security Policy D. Advanced Security

C. Local Security Policy allows you to set the default security settings for the system. This includes password settings, lockout policies, audit policy, and other security settings.

You are looking for general information about a Windows workstation's hardware resources. Which command do you need to type into the Run box to display the utility shown here? A. DXDIAG B. COMPMGMT C. MSINFO32 D. MMC

C. The MSINFO32 tool shown in the picture displays a thorough list of settings on the machine. You cannot change any values from here, but you can search, export, and save reports.

You are trying to troubleshoot a remote Windows 7 workstation and want to use Remote Assistance. However, the workstation will not allow you to connect. Where do you tell the user to go to enable Remote Assistance connections to her computer? A. Computer Management ➢ Remote B. Advanced Security ➢ Remote C. System Properties ➢ Remote D. Network and Sharing Center ➢ Remote

C. The Remote Assistance feature is turned on in System Properties, on the Remote tab.

You are at a Windows Vista command prompt. You need to create a directory named files on the D: drive. What is the proper command and syntax to do this? A. cd d:\files B. cd files d:\ C. md d:\files D. md files d:\

C. The cd, md, and rd commands are used to change (or display), make, and remove directories, respectively. They're shorthand versions of the chdir, mkdir, and rmdir commands.

You are at a Windows 7 command prompt. There is a directory named d:\files that you want to delete. It currently has six subdirectories and dozens of files in it. Which command should you use to delete d:\files? A. del d:\files /s B. del d:\files /q C. rd d:\files /s D. rd d:\files /q

C. The cd, md, and rd commands are used to change (or display), make, and remove directories, respectively. They're shorthand versions of the chdir, mkdir, and rmdir commands. The rd command will only delete empty directories by default. With rd, the /s switch will remove all subdirectories and files. The /q switch is quiet mode, and rd will not ask if it's OK to remove all of the files with the /s switch. The del command is for deleting files.

You have a computer running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit and you want to upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. What should you run to determine whether your computer can support the new operating system? A. Hardware Compatibility List B. Windows Upgrade Assistant C. Windows Upgrade Advisor D. Windows Easy Transfer

C. The easiest way to see whether your current hardware can run another version of Windows is to download the utility that Microsoft creates for checking what you have. For Windows 7, this was called Upgrade Advisor. For Windows 8 and Windows 8.1, it has been renamed Upgrade Assistant.

You need to format a hard drive so you can install Windows 7 on it. Which file system will you not be able to choose? A. NFS B. FAT32 C. ext4 D. NTFS

C. The ext3 and ext4 file systems are supported by Linux but not natively by Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8/8.1.

You are at a Windows 7 workstation command prompt. You want to know what the enforced set of Group and Local Policy settings are for a specific user. Which command can you use to understand this? A. gpedit B. gprefresh C. gpresult D. gpupdate

C. The gpresult command is used to show the Resultant Set of Policy (RSoP) report/values for a remote user and computer. Bear in mind that configuration settings occur at any number of places; they are set for a computer, a user, a local workstation, the domain, and so on. Often one of the big unknowns is which set of configuration settings takes precedence and which is overridden. gpresult will tell you which settings apply.

You are at a Windows 8.1 command prompt. Which command can you type to see a list of system commands available to you? A. dir B. list C. help D. cmd

C. The help command does what it says: it gives you help. If you just type help and press Enter, your computer gives you a list of system commands that you can type. To get more information, type the name of a command that you want to learn about after typing help. For example, type help rd and press Enter, and you will get information about the rd command.

You are looking at a Windows 7 workstation's hard drives using the Disk Management utility. You want to find the partition that the computer boots from. What must the partition be marked? A. Basic B. Primary C. Active D. Bootable

C. The partition from which the operating system boots must be designated as active. Only one partition on a disk may be marked active.

Users are sending jobs to a printer managed by a Windows 7 computer, but the jobs are not printing. The printer is online and connected. From your A+ test preparation, you know that you are supposed to stop and restart the print spooler. Where can you do this? A. Control Panel ➢ System B. Computer Management ➢ Device Manager C. Computer Management ➢ Services D. Control Panel ➢ Printers and Scanners

C. The print spooler is a Windows service; therefore, it is managed through the Services applet in Computer Management. You can also open Services by typing services.msc into the Windows Run box.

You are at a Windows 8 command prompt. Which command allows you to copy files and directories, copy NTFS permissions, and mirror a directory tree? A. copy B. xcopy C. robocopy D. copyall

C. The robocopy utility (Robust File Copy for Windows) is included with recent versions of Windows and has the big advantage of being able to accept a plethora of specifications and keep NTFS permissions intact in its operations. The /mir switch, for example, can be used to mirror a complete directory tree.

A junior technician is trying to troubleshoot a Windows 8.1 workstation, and he is having some problems. You go to help, and when you get there, he has opened the utility you see here. Which utility is he running? A. TASKMGR.EXE B. CONTROL.EXE C. MSCONFIG.EXE D. MSINFO32.EXE

C. The utility shown is the System Configuration tool. You can identify it because of the five tabs: General, Boot, Services, Startup, and Tools.

A user's Windows 7 workstation is having memory issues. You want to look and find the user's virtual memory file to see how large it is and whether it has enough space on the hard drive. What is the name of the file you are looking for? A. VMM32.SYS B. SWAPFILE.SYS C. PAGEFILE.SYS D. VMEMORY.SYS

C. Virtual memory uses what's called a swap file, or paging file. A swap file is hard drive space into which idle pieces of programs are placed while other active parts of programs are kept in or swapped into main memory. In Windows, the swap file is called PAGEFILE.SYS, and it's located in the root directory of the drive on which you installed the OS files. By default, the swap file is a hidden file.

A Windows 7 workstation on your network has corrupted key operating system files. What is the most efficient way to repair this installation without losing the user's files? A. Boot to the Windows 7 DVD and perform a clean install. B. Boot to the network and perform a remote network installation. C. Boot into the Windows RE and repair the installation. D. Boot to the recovery partition and reset Windows 7.

C. When a problem pops up with the Windows 7 operating system, you can boot into the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) and repair or restore it. Repairing it keeps personal files and settings along with the default apps and those that you installed from the Windows Store. Restoring allows you to just undo recent system changes.

You are planning to install Windows 7 on several dozen computers that will join an existing Windows Server domain. What is the least powerful edition of Windows 7 you can install on these client computers? A. Windows 7 Enterprise B. Windows 7 Starter C. Windows 7 Professional D. Windows 7 Home Premium

C. Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate can join a Windows Server domain. The Starter and Home Premium editions cannot.

You have just configured an alternative IP address on a Windows 8.1 workstation. What is the purpose of configuring this alternative address? A. To allow the workstation to participate on multiple networks B. To allow the workstation to have an IPv4 and IPv6 address at the same time C. To provide an available address if the first choice is not available D. To mask the IP address and hide the workstation's identity

C. Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows 8/8.1 all allow the use of an alternate IP address. This is an address that is configured for the system to use in the event the first choice is not available. For an alternate configuration to be set, the first choice has to be dynamic—the tab becomes visible only when the General configuration is set to Obtain An IP Address Automatically, and the alternate is used only if the primary address cannot be found/used, such as when the DHCP server is down.

Which version of Windows was the first to feature side-byside apps, where two applications can be snapped to the side of a widescreen display, each taking up half of the screen? A. Windows Vista B. Windows 7 C. Windows 8 D. Windows 8.1

C. Windows 8 was the first to feature side-by-side apps. Snapped applications will take up half of the screen by default. On larger screens, up to four apps can be snapped.

Which feature of Windows 8 allows you to write script files based on the Microsoft .NET programming framework? A. OneDrive B. Event Viewer C. PowerShell D. Task scheduler

C. Windows PowerShell (one word per Microsoft and two per CompTIA) has been around for several years and was available with previous versions of Windows as well. It can be thought of as a greatly enhanced command interface where you can write script files based on the .NET programming framework.

Your Windows 7 workstation has one physical hard drive with one partition that takes up the entire drive. You want to create a second partition on the drive. What is the easiest way to accomplish this? A. Delete the partition and re-create two partitions. B. Create a secondary partition within the existing partition. C. Shrink the partition and create a second one in the empty space. D. Change the partition into a split partition.

C. With Windows Disk Management, you can shrink a partition. Then with the empty space, you can create a new partition. Remember that you can have a maximum of four partitions per drive.

What feature of Windows 8 allows users to log into the OS, download apps from the Windows Store, and sync files to the cloud with only one sign-on? A. Microsoft SSO B. Login sync C. OneDrive D. Live sign in

D. In a non-domain-based environment, it is possible to use your Microsoft account (MSN, Hotmail, Outlook, and so forth) username and password to log in to your Windows 8-based PC. This is intended to serve as a single sign-on, allowing you not only to interact with the OS but also to download apps from the Windows Store, sync files with OneDrive, and so on.

You need to check the integrity of key Windows system files on the C: drive, which are hidden from view by default. Which tool can you use to allow you to view hidden files? A. Computer Management B. System Configuration C. Local Security Policy D. Windows Explorer

D. Some of the more important files that you will need to work on are hidden by default as a security precaution. To make certain folders or files visible, you need to change the display properties of Windows Explorer. This is generally done by going to Folder Options and deselecting Hide Protected Operating System Files. The display properties of Windows Explorer also lets you hide file extensions, set general folder options, and has options to view the folders in different ways.

A user's Windows 7 workstation seems to be using an excessive amount of memory. Which management tool can you use to identify the application that is using the most memory? A. Performance Monitor B. Computer Management C. Windows Memory Diagnostics D. Task Manager

D. Task Manager is a multifunctional tool that shows you applications that are running, as well as their individual CPU and memory usage. In addition, it lets you see network usage and connected users.

You are installing a new network for a small office. They are concerned about security and therefore want it managed by one computer. When installing the Windows computers, what type of network setup will you choose? A. Workgroup B. HomeGroup C. Distributed D. Domain

D. A domain is a group of computers that are tightly connected or associated and share a common domain name. It has a single authority (called a domain controller) that manages security for all of the computers. All users will log in to the Windows domain using their centrally created user account.

You are installing a Windows Vista workstation. When joining the network, it asks for the location of your computer. The choices are Home, Work, and Public. Which of the following statements about these choices is true? A. Home and Work have network discovery turned on, but Home has Windows Firewall turned off. B. Home has network discovery turned on and Windows Firewall turned off. C. Home and Work have network discovery turned on but Windows Firewall turned off. D. Home and Work have network discovery turned on.

D. Both the Home and Work settings for Windows Vista and Windows 7 have network discovery on by default. This means that you can see other computers and other computers can see you. If you choose Public, network discovery is turned off. None of the options affects Windows Firewall.

A client wants to install a new video game, and he's read that the game requires DirectX 11. He's afraid that his Windows 8.1 computer doesn't support this version; which command should you tell him to run to see whether he's correct? A. MSTSC B. MSINFO32 C. MMC D. DXDIAG

D. DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces (APIs) related to multimedia. A great utility is the DxDiag (DirectX Diagnostic) tool, which allows you to test DirectX functionality. When you start it, you can also verify that Microsoft has signed your drivers.

A member of your sales team wants to work from a remote location while traveling. The location he is going to does not have high-speed Internet, and he will be connecting to the network using a modem. When Windows Vista asks what type of networking connection he wants to establish, what should he choose? A. WWAN B. Wired C. Wireless D. Dialup

D. If you are using a modem to connect to the Internet, then the type of connection you are establishing is a dial-up connection. Internet access will be slow and painful!

You are working on a Windows workstation and do not know what edition of Windows it is running. Which command can you type in the search box to determine the edition and display the information shown here? A. wined B. winspec C. wininfo D. winver

D. If you don't know what edition of Windows 7 is running on a particular machine, you can click Start and type winver in the search box. The screen that is returned will identify the edition as well as the service pack installed.

Which Windows 8 utility lets you view items in category view or classic view? A. Administrative Tools B. System Utilities C. Disk Management D. Control Panel

D. In Windows 8, when you first open Control Panel, it appears in Category view. Control Panel programs have been organized into different categories, and this view provides you with the categories from which you can choose. However, you can change this view to Classic view (or Small/Large Icons in Windows 7 and Windows 8), which displays all of the Control Panel programs in a list, as in older versions of Windows.

You have a Windows 7 workstation configured in a workgroup. Before you reboot your computer to apply a change, you want to be sure that no one else is remotely connected to your workstation. Which administrative tool can you use to do this? A. Users and Groups B. Performance Monitor C. Control Panel ➢ Networking D. Task Manager

D. Task Manager's Users tab provides you with information about the users connected to the local machine. You'll see the username, ID, status, client name, and session type. You can right-click the name of any connected user to perform a variety of functions, including sending the user a message, disconnecting the user, logging off the user, and initiating a remote-control session to the user's machine.

Your manager has asked you to investigate the possibility of installing a database on a Windows 8.1 computer. Which Windows administrative tool would you use to view the installed database drivers on the computer? A. Local Security Policy B. Component Services C. Device Manager D. Data Sources

D. The Data Sources app allows you to interact with database management systems. Database drivers that are added to the system will show up here and can be shared between applications.

Which Windows feature, introduced with Vista, is designed to prevent unintentional or unauthorized changes to the computer by prompting for permission to continue? A. BitLocker B. PowerShell C. Security Center D. User Account Control

D. The User Account Control (UAC) is intended to prevent unintentional/unauthorized changes to the computer by either prompting for permission to continue or requiring the administrator password before continuing. It has the sole purpose of keeping the user from running programs that could potentially pose a threat by requiring escalating privileges for many actions.

One of your workstations is running Windows 7 and has been occasionally crashing. You believe it's an OS issue and not a hardware issue. You decide to upgrade the computer to Windows 8.1; however, you want to avoid continuing to have errors if they were software-related. What type of installation should you perform? A. Upgrade B. Unattended C. Migration D. Clean

D. The best plan in this scenario is to format the hard drive, which by definition makes it a clean installation.

A Windows 7 workstation will not boot properly. Upon boot, you receive the error message Boot sector not found. You boot to the Windows installation CD and enter the Windows Recovery Environment. Which command should you use to fix this error? A. bootrec.exe /scanos B. bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd C. bootrec.exe /fixmbr D. bootrec.exe /fixboot

D. The bootrec.exe utility can be run in Windows 8/8.1, Windows 7, or Windows Vista to interact with the Master Boot Record (MBR), boot sector, or Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store. The options for bootrec are /fixboot (to write a new boot sector), /fixmbr (to write a new MBR), /rebuildbcd (to rebuild the BCD store), and /scanos (to scan all disks for installations the Boot Manager menu is not listing).

Sitting at a Windows 8.1 command prompt, you want to delete the read-only doc.txt file in the directory you are in. You do not want Windows to ask you for permission to delete the file. What is the syntax to delete the file? A. del doc.txt /y /r B. del doc.txt /y /f C. del doc.txt /q /r D. del doc.txt /q /f

D. The del command, short for delete, is used to delete files. The /q switch is for quiet mode. It will not ask for confirmation to delete the file. The /f switch forces deletion of read-only files. /y and /r are not valid switches for the del command.

You are at a Windows 8 workstation and have a command prompt open. Which of the following commands is used to refresh Group Policy settings and force their changes to take effect? A. gpedit B. gpresult C. gprefresh D. gpupdate

D. The gpupdate tool is used to update Group Policy settings. It refreshes, or changes, both local and Active Directory-based policies and replaces some of the functionality that previously existed with secedit.

Your manager has asked you to prepare for an unattended installation of 50 Windows 7 workstations, each with the same hardware. What type of installation will be most efficient for this type of installation? A. Clean B. Upgrade C. Custom D. Image deployment

D. The heart of an unattended installation is utilizing image deployment, which is sort of like copying an ideal image over from one machine to another.

You have just upgraded a Windows XP Home computer to Windows Vista Home Basic. A few days after the upgrade is complete, you reboot the computer and it tells you that you can use Windows Vista for only 25 more days. What must you do to remove this message? A. Purchase a full version of Windows Vista Home Basic. B. Upgrade to Windows Vista Home Premium. C. Register Windows Vista Home Basic. D. Activate Windows Vista Home Basic.

D. To curb software piracy, Microsoft requires that each copy of Windows be activated after installation. Activation is the validation of the product key. Without activation, you can run the operating system, but only for a limited number of days. During that period of time, Windows will frequently remind you to activate the product.

A user's Windows 8.1 workstation is getting "out of memory" errors. Upgrading the physical RAM is not an option, so you want to increase the amount of virtual memory available. Where do you do this? A. Control Panel ➢ Computer Management ➢ Advanced System Settings ➢ Performance B. Control Panel ➢ Memory ➢ Advanced System Settings ➢ Performance C. Control Panel ➢ Device Manager ➢ Advanced System Settings ➢ Performance D. Control Panel ➢ System ➢ Advanced System Settings ➢ Performance

D. Virtual memory uses what's called a swap file, or paging file. A swap file is hard drive space into which idle pieces of programs are placed while other active parts of programs are kept in or swapped into main memory. When the application needs the information again, it is swapped back into RAM so that the processor can use it. This generally speeds up system performance and is configured from the System applet in Control Panel. The System applet also lets you configure remote settings and system protection.

A user reports that her Windows 8.1 workstation seems to be having issues with the operating system. You want to repair the installation but allow her to keep her personal files and apps. Which option should you choose in the Windows Recovery Environment? A. Reset B. Restore C. Recover D. Refresh

D. When a problem pops up with the Windows 8 operating system, you can boot into the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) and repair it by choosing to refresh, reset, or restore it. Refreshing it keeps personal files and settings along with the default apps and those that you installed from the Windows Store. Resetting reinstalls Windows and deletes all but the default apps (meaning that you lose your personal files and settings). Restoring allows you to just undo recent system changes.

You have recently made some configuration changes to a Windows 8.1 workstation, and now it's behaving erratically. You reboot the computer and enter the Windows Recovery Environment. What should you do to roll back those recent changes? A. Recover B. Refresh C. Reset D. Restore

D. When a problem pops up with the Windows 8 operating system, you can boot into the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) and repair it by choosing to refresh, reset, or restore it. Refreshing it keeps personal files and settings along with the default apps and those that you installed from the Windows Store. Resetting reinstalls Windows and deletes all but the default apps (meaning that you lose your personal files and settings). Restoring allows you to just undo recent system changes.

You have chosen to install Windows 8 Pro on a workstation that is currently running Windows 7 Professional. You choose a Custom installation but do not format the hard drive. Which of the following statements is true regarding Windows 7 Professional? A. It is permanently removed from the hard drive. B. Its settings are migrated to Windows 8, and it is removed from the hard drive. C. It remains available as a dual-boot option for 28 days and then is removed from the hard drive. D. Its files are placed in a folder named Windows.old and retained for 28 days and then is removed from the hard drive.

D. When you install Windows 8 and choose Custom, you can choose whether to format the hard disk. If you choose not to format the hard disk, the old operating system is placed in a folder named Windows.old to allow you to attempt to return to the old operating system if needed. After 28 days, any files placed in the Windows.old folder are automatically deleted. After Windows begins installing, you will have the option of configuring time, date, region, and language settings.

After you install Windows 8.1, you notice that an application called Windows Firewall is enabled. What is Windows Firewall designed to help protect your computer against? A. Viruses and worms B. Spyware C. Fires D. Malicious network traffic

D. Windows 7 incorporates Windows Firewall, which can be used to stop incoming and outgoing network traffic. Traffic is allowed or denied by specific rules that are part of an access control list (ACL). By default, Windows Firewall blocks incoming traffic. One example of custom configuration is to create exceptions, where you can specify the incoming traffic you want to allow through.