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CompTIA A+ 220-701 and 220-702 Exam Cram, 5th Edition

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CompTIA A+ 220-701 and 220-702 Exam Cram, 5th Edition

By Dave Prowse
Published Jan 20, 2011 by Pearson IT Certification. Part of the Exam Cram series.

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Description

Copyright 2011
Edition: 5th

Book
ISBN-10: 0-7897-4792-8
ISBN-13: 978-0-7897-4792-1

CompTIA A+ 220-701 and 220-702 Exam Cram, Fifth Edition, is the perfect study guide to help you pass CompTIA’s 220-701 and 220-702 versions of the A+ exams. It provides coverage and practice questions for every exam topic. The book contains an extensive set of practice questions, including 250 printed questions in three practice exams, while the CD-ROM test engine provides real-time practice and feedback with an additional 200 questions.

Limited Time Offer: Buy CompTIA A+ 220-701 and 220-702 Exam Cram and receive a 10% off discount code for the CompTIA A+ 220-701 and 220-702 exams. To receive your 10% off discount code:

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Covers the critical information you’ll need to know to score higher on your A+ exams!

· Understand PC components, including motherboards, processors, memory, power, storage, audio, video, and I/O devices

· Install, configure, maintain, troubleshoot, and fix desktop and notebook PC hardware

· Install and configure Windows 7, Windows Vista, and other Windows operating systems

· Use Windows utilities to troubleshoot and fix operating system problems

· Understand essential networking technologies, devices, protocols, cabling, and connections

· Set up small office/home office networks, including Internet and Wi-Fi connections

· Troubleshoot and fix failed client-side network connections

· Secure computers and networks, identify security problems, and eliminate viruses and malware

· Detect and solve the most common printing problems

· Perform essential preventive maintenance

· Master essential safety and operational procedures for PC technicians

· Prepare yourself effectively for exam day

CD Features over 200 Practice Questions

· Detailed explanations of correct and incorrect answers

· Multiple test modes

· Random questions and order of answers

· Coverage of each A+ exam objective

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Sample Content

Online Sample Chapter

CompTIA A+ 220-701 and 220-702 Exam Cram: The CPU

Sample Pages

Download the sample pages (includes Chapter 3 and Index)

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Target Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

About the Latest CompTIA A+ Exams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

About This Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Chapter Format and Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Additional Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

The Hands-On Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Goals for This Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Exam Topics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

CHAPTER 1: Introduction to Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

The Six-Step A+ Troubleshooting Process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Step 1: Identify the Problem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Step 2: Establish a Theory of Probable Cause (Question the Obvious) . .. . 11

Step 3: Test the Theory to Determine the Cause . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Step 4: Establish a Plan of Action to Resolve the Problem and

Implement the Solution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Step 5: Verify Full System Functionality and if Applicable

Implement Preventative Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Step 6: Document Findings, Actions, and Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . 13

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Troubleshooting Examples and Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Troubleshooting Example 1: Display Issue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Troubleshooting Example 2: Power Issue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Some More Troubleshooting Tidbits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Additional Reading and Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

CHAPTER 2: Motherboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Motherboard Components and Form Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Motherboard Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Form Factors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

The BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

BIOS, CMOS, and the Lithium Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

The POST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Accessing and Configuring the BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Flashing the BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Installing and Troubleshooting Motherboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Installing Motherboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Troubleshooting Motherboards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Additional Reading and Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

CHAPTER 3: The CPU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

CPU 101 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

CPU Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Brands of CPUs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Cooling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Installing and Troubleshooting CPUs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Installing CPUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Troubleshooting CPUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Additional Reading and Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

CHAPTER 4: RAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

RAM Basics and Types of RAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

RAM Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Types of RAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

RAM Technologies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Installing and Troubleshooting DRAM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Installing DRAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Troubleshooting DRAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Additional Reading and Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

CHAPTER 5: Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Understanding and Testing Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Testing an AC Outlet with a Receptacle Tester . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Testing an AC Outlet with a Multimeter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Power Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Power Strips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Surge Protectors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Uninterruptible Power Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Power Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Planning Which Power Supply to Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Installing the Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Troubleshooting Power Supply Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Heating and Cooling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Additional Reading and Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

CHAPTER 6: Storage Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Magnetic Storage Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Hard Disk Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Floppy Disk Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Tape Drives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Optical Storage Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Compact Disc (CD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Blu-Ray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Solid-State Storage Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

USB Flash Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Secure Digital Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

CompactFlash Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Additional Reading and Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

CHAPTER 7: Installing and Upgrading Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Installing and Upgrading to Windows 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Windows 7 Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Windows 7 Minimum Requirements and Compatibility . . . . . . . 167

Windows 7 Installation Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Installing Windows 7. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Upgrading to Windows 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Verifying and Troubleshooting Windows 7 Installations . . . . . . . 174

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Installing and Upgrading to Windows Vista. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Windows Vista Versions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Windows Vista Minimum Requirements and Compatibility . . . . 179

Windows Vista Installation Methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Installing Windows Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Upgrading to Windows Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Verifying and Troubleshooting Windows Vista Installations . . . . 190

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Installing and Upgrading to Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Windows XP Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Windows XP Minimum Requirements and Compatibility. . . . . . 197

Windows XP Installation Methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Installing Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Upgrading to Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Verifying and Troubleshooting Windows XP Installations. . . . . . 204

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Additional Reading and Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

CHAPTER 8: Configuring Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Windows User Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Windows Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Windows Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Administrative Tools and the MMC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Cram Quiz Answer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

System Tools and Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Managing Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Operating System Optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

User Migrations and Customizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Advanced System Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

Files, File Systems, and Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

Working with Files and File Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

Managing Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Additional Reading and Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

CHAPTER 9: Maintaining Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Updating Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Service Packs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Windows Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Maintaining Hard Disks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Hard Disk Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Backups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

Using Windows XP’s NTBackup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Creating Restore Points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

CHAPTER 10: Troubleshooting Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Repair Environments and Boot Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Windows Repair Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Boot Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Windows Tools and Errors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Troubleshooting Within Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Stop Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

Additional Windows Errors and Error Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . 300

Restoring Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

The Six-Step Troubleshooting Process Revisited. . . . . . . . . . . . 304

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306

Command-Line Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

Windows Command Prompt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

Recovery Command Prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

Additional Reading and Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314

CHAPTER 11: Laptops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Installing, Configuring, and Troubleshooting Visible Laptop Components .. 316

Laptop 101 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Input Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324

Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

Optical Discs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Expansion Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

Communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Installing, Configuring, and Troubleshooting Internal Laptop Components . . . 342

Hard Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

System Board and CPU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

Cram Exam Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348

Additional Reading and Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

CHAPTER 12: Video, Audio, and Peripherals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351

The Video Subsystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351

Video Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352

Video Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

Video Settings and Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374

The Audio Subsystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

Sound cards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

Installing a Sound Card and Speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377

Audio Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381

Input/Output, Input Devices, and Peripherals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382

I/O Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382

Input Devices and Peripherals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

Additional Reading and Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390

CHAPTER 13: Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

Printer Types and Technologies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392

Types of Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392

Local Versus Network Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398

Installing, Configuring, and Troubleshooting Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . 399

Printer Installation and Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399

Configuring Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400

Troubleshooting Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

Additional Reading and Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412

CHAPTER 14: Networking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413

Networking Fundamentals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413

Configuring IPv4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414

IPv4 Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

IPv6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420

Analyzing and Configuring the Network Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . 422

Network Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424

Types of Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426

Common TCP/IP Protocols and Their Ports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431

Network Cabling and Connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435

Exam Cram Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436

Troubleshooting Network Connectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437

Command-Line Interface Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437

Troubleshooting with Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445

Installing and Configuring a SOHO Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446

Internet and Wireless Connectivity Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446

Setting Up a SOHO Router and Wireless Network Adapters . . . 450

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456

Additional Reading and Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457

CHAPTER 15: Security. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459

Basics of Data Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460

Data Sensitivity and Security Compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464

Authentication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465

Usernames and Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465

Smart Cards and Biometrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474

Malicious Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475

Types of Malware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475

Preventing and Troubleshooting Malware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483

Exam Cram Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484

File Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485

Working with Files and Folders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485

Sharing Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486

Encryption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496

Additional Reading and Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497

CHAPTER 16: Safety and Professionalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499

Safety and Environmental Procedures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500

Electrical Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500

ESD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502

Physical Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504

MSDS and Disposal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505

EMI and RFI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507

Professionalism and Communication Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508

Cram Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509

Cram Quiz Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510

Additional Reading and Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511

CHAPTER 17: Taking the Real Exams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513

Getting Ready and the Exam Preparation Checklist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513

Tips for Taking the Real Exam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516

Beyond the CompTIA A+ Certification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519

Practice Exam 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521

Practice Exam 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553

Practice Exam 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587

TOC, 9780789747921, 12/15/10

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Privacy Notice

Overview

Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information

To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information

Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security

Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children

This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing

Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information

If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out

Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information

Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents

California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure

Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

As required by law.
With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links

This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact

Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice

We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020

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