Question 1

You are working as a Support Technician in your organization. You want to assist a user who is complaining about an operating system issue. You would need to view and work on her desktop to be able to resolve the issue. Which of these Windows XP utilities should you use?

Accepted Answer

Remote Desktop Protocol is a proprietary protocol developed by Microsoft that enables a user to view a remote desktop through a graphical interface.
Key Takeaway: The Remote Desktop program allows you to use your mouse and keyboard to control the other computer remotely. It means that you can work on a remote computer, as if you were sitting in front of it, regardless of distance between computers.

Question 2

A user calls in and complains that her system is too slow to respond at boot-up. After an initial assessment, you notice that many programs on her computer are configured to start at boot-up. Which utility should you use to disable unwanted programs from starting during boot-up?

Accepted Answer

To view, edit, and disable the programs starting up when the computer boots, use the msconfig command. To use this command, click Start, Run, and then type msconfig.
Key Takeaway: Msconfig is a utility used to view and enable/disable programs from starting during the boot-up process. This frees up system memory required to open and run programs of your choice quickly. It is a frequently used tool to manage the startup applications. However, this utility does not have an option to delete the entries. The entry which you unchecked a long time back may still show up, while the application may have been uninstalled already. To remove the invalid entries in the System Configuration utility, you need to edit the registry or use a third-party utility.

Question 3

You have installed a new photo editing application on all Windows XP Professional computers in the graphics department. After the installation, performance on all computers is significantly slowed. In an attempt to resolve the problem, you uninstall the photo editing application and restart the computers. However, performance is still not improved. You want to ensure that you preserve all data and computer settings while returning the computers to previously working condition as quickly as possible. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Restore the operating system to the most current restore point using System Restore.
Key Takeaway: System Restore is a component of Microsoft's operating systems that allows for the rolling back of system files, registry keys, installed programs, etc., to a previous state in the event of malfunctioning or failure.

Question 4

You are a Technical Support Representative for a computer sales company. A customer calls you one morning and tells you that he has forgotten his Windows XP logon password. What can he do to login to the system now?

Accepted Answer

Reinstall a fresh copy of Windows XP.
Key Takeaway: If a user loses his/her account password, either use password breaker software to recover the password, or re-install Windows XP.

Question 5

A user reports that it takes a long time to boot-up using Windows XP and that there are a lot of icons appearing in the right lower side of the Task Bar. Which of the following tools can be used to minimize startup time?

Accepted Answer

To minimize the startup time, you would need to use the msconfig command. To access the msconfig command, click start, run, and type msconfig.
Key Takeaway: The msconfig utility can be used to prevent some programs from starting during boot and thus, minimize the boot time. Disabling these programs will help your computer boot faster and crash less.

Question 6

A user states that after saving files on the hard disk, some of the data is inaccessible. The technician suspects a hard disk problem. Which of the following Windows utilities should be used to confirm hard disk issues?

Accepted Answer

To check the status of a hard drive, use the chkdsk command. To use this command click Start, Run, type cmd, and then type chkdsk.
Key Takeaway: Chkdsk is a utility that checks the computer's hard disk's status for any errors with the hard disk drive. Chkdsk inspects the physical structure of a disk to make sure that it is healthy. It can repair problems related to bad sectors, lost clusters, cross-linked files, and directory errors. These types of problems can arise in a variety of ways. System crashes or freezes, power glitches, or incorrectly turning off a computer can all cause corruption in the file or folder structure.

Question 7

A customer calls you because he is running a large spreadsheet on his system and it is running unusually slow. He wants you to try to get his system moving faster again. Which Windows XP utility will give you a quick look at the performance of this system?

Accepted Answer

To get a quick look at the performance of the computer and end any unwanted programs, use the taskmgr command. To use the command type click Start, Run, and then type taskmgr.
Key Takeaway: The task manager is the tool used to provide information about the processes and programs running on a computer, as well as the general status of the computer. It can also be used to terminate processes and programs, as well as change the processes' priority.

Question 8

A user is complaining of a problem with their computer that shows a blue error screen.The display turns blue and diagnostic information is shown. What is the first step for troubleshooting this problem?

Accepted Answer

The first step in the troubleshooting is to document the error description, technical information, and any filenames for additional online research.
Key Takeaway: The infamous "Blue Screen of Death" Windows STOP errors indicate that an error occurred that was so big that the operating system couldn't continue. These problems are somewhat difficult to diagnose because of the scope involved. The problem could be related to physical hardware, drivers, operating system library files, or bad application software. To solve the problem, you'll need to begin gathering as much information as possible about the specific issues reported in the STOP error. Although some hardware troubleshooting steps need to be performed, appropriate information should be collected before any action. BSODs cannot be resolved using a System Recovery option.

Question 9

Which of the following languages draws and formats the page and sends it to the printer in the ready-to-print form?

Accepted Answer

Graphics Device Interface (GDI) is a Microsoft Windows application programming interface and core operating system component responsible for representing graphical objects and transmitting them to output devices such as monitors and printers.
Key Takeaway: GDI is responsible for tasks such as drawing lines and curves, rendering fonts, handling palettes, and sending it all to the printer in ready-to-print form. Printer Command Language, more commonly referred to as PCL, is a page description language (PDL) developed by HP as a printer protocol and has become a de facto industry standard. PostScript is a programming language optimized for printing graphics and text.

Question 10

David has just installed a second IDE slave hard drive on the primary controller on his Windows XP system. However, he cannot find the hard drive when he clicks the My Computer icon. What could be the possible cause of this problem?

Accepted Answer

If the hard drive is not visible after it has been installed, the most likely cause is that the hard drive is not partitioned. You need to partition the drive soon after it has been installed.
Key Takeaway: Many times, individuals who are installing a hard drive for the first time may detect a problem with the hard drive not being accessible after it has been installed. They tend to forget the formatting part of the hard drive installation.

Question 11

Mary is certain that one of configuration files is preventing Windows from starting up. But she is not sure which specific file it is. Which diagnostic utility can she use to locate the file causing the issue?

Accepted Answer

Use the System Configuration Utility to isolate and disable or enable the configuration settings to pinpoint the specific issue.
Key Takeaway: The General tab of the System Configuration Utility holds the Selective startup option. This option contains checkboxes for CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT, WIN.INI, SYSTEM.INI, or Startup Group, which allows you to select which configuration files should be loaded. This feature comes in handy when you need to isolate which configuration file is causing a problem. After identifying the particular configuration file that is the issue, you can disable items one by one to pinpoint the specific issue.

Question 12

Which of the following tools could you use to view the data logs on a computer?

Accepted Answer

Use the Event Viewer to view the data logs on a computer.
Key Takeaway: The Event Viewer is used to log data about a computer. Event logs have been a feature of Windows NT since its original release in 1993. Applications and operating system components can make use of this centralized log service to report events that have taken place, such as a failure to start a component or complete an action. The system defines three log sources: "System," "Application," and "Security."

Question 13

You have purchased a Windows Vista Ultimate License. During installation, you accidentally chose Windows Vista Home Premium. What is the BEST procedure for you to change the installation from Windows Vista Home Premium to Windows Vista Ultimate?

Accepted Answer

Insert the Windows Vista DVD and upgrade your installation to Windows Vista Ultimate.
Key Takeaway: If you realize that you are installing Home Premium instead of Ultimate midway through the installation, you can always re-insert the DVD and re-start the installation. Even if you notice it during the installation, the activation window will always make you realize that you have installed a different blend of Vista.

Question 14

An employee's Windows XP system refuses to boot, and as a last resort, you need to use the Automated System Recovery. How will you access this option?

Accepted Answer

You will need the previously created ASR disk and if the computer won't reboot, the WIN XP install CD. Remember, this works on WIN XP Professional.
Key Takeaway: To create an ASR disk, use the Backup utility found in All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Backup.

Question 15

You are trying to familiarize yourself with the directory structure of a Windows 7 Professional computer. Where can you look for the referenced directories? Choose all that apply.

Accepted Answer

The Temp Directory and the Font Directory can be found in C:Windows while Offline Files is in C:WindowsCSC.
Key Takeaway: Learning the different directory structures of the systems you support will increase your speed in locating files and folders.

Question 16

A user says she can't access some of the files in her Windows 7 home directory. You want to run a command line utility to navigate to the home directory and review file ownership. Which command line syntax do you use to list all files and ownership in a directory?

Accepted Answer

Using the dir command with the /q switch will display a list of files in the home directory and the owners.
Key Takeaway: Example of dir /q listing:

Question 17

In a Windows XP computer, how do you use the command line to move from the default directory to the My Documents directory?

Accepted Answer

The Change Directory (cd) command allows you to move from one directory to another.
Key Takeaway: From the user's home directory, at the prompt, type cd My Documents and press ENTER to move to the My Documents directory.

Question 18

You forget the exact command for a tracert command. How do you get the help menu for tracert?

Accepted Answer

Adding the /? afterthe tracert text in the command line will display the help menu.
Key Takeaway: If you type the name of a command, then a space and /?, you will receive the help menu for that command.

Question 19

You need a command line with the ability to resolve an IP address to a hostname or resolve a hostname from an IP address. Which command should you use?

Accepted Answer

The nslookup command lets you look up an IP address of a domain or host on the network or look up the domain or host by IP address.
Key Takeaway: An example could be nslookup www.yahoo.com. You should get the name and IP address of your local DNS server and the name, IP address, and possibly any alias domains names used by the host.

Question 20

In Windows XP Professional, you want to perform diagnostics using the Administrative Tools. You go into Classic view of Control Panel and open the Administrative Tools applet. Of the following, which options do you expect to find? Select all that apply.

Accepted Answer

In Win XP Professional Administrative Tools (Classic view), Services, Performance, and Computer Management will be available.
Key Takeaway: Computer management manages disks and provides access to a number of tools that let you manage local and remote computers. Performance displays graphs of system performance and configures data logs and alerts. Services provides an interface that lets you stop and start services running on the computer.

Quiz 6: Other Operating Systems and Technologies