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7/31/2019 AplusCheetSheet

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Windows Recovery Tools for the A+ Certification Exams

One of the hardest tasks to perform when troubleshooting a system is fixing a system that will not boot. The A+ Certification exams expect you to be comfortable with the different recovery toolsavailable in Windows. This table reviews popular recovery tools and specifies where you can find

the recovery tool — be sure to know these for the exam.

Utility Description Access

RecoveryConsole

Command line interfacefor troubleshooting disk issues and boot problems

Boot off the Windows installation CD or using the bootmenu if preinstalled

Repair ModeProvides access to GUIand command linerecovery tools

Boot off the Vista installation CD

Restore points

A snap-shot of asystem’s configuration;used to revert to asystem’s state before adriver or software wasinstalled

From the Start menu, select AllPrograms→Accessories→System Tools→SystemRestore. Select Restore My Computer to an Earlier Timeand click Next. Choose your desired restore point andclick Next, and then click Next again. Windows will now boot to that restore point.Windows Vista allows you to boot your operating systemto a restore point which allows you to revert back to thatsystem configuration — very useful if your system has been hit with a virus. In order to boot to a restore point,you boot off the Windows Vista Installation CD/DVD andchoose Repair Your Computer, then System Restore fromthe System Recovery dialog box.

Safe ModeLoads the operatingsystem with minimaldrivers

An advanced startup menu option (F8)

Last KnownGoodConfiguration

Loads the configurationfrom the last time yousuccessfully booted andlogged on

An advanced startup menu option (F8)

AutomaticSystem

Recovery(ASR)

An automatedinstallation and restore

of Windows

Press F2 during bootup

RAID Types for the A+ Certification Exams

RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) is a method of implementing redundancy(duplicated information) on your hard drives — if one disk fails, the other disk(s) can provide the



missing information. There are many different levels of RAID, but the following are the onlyRAID levels pertinent to the A+ exams:

• RAID 0: Disk striping (striped volume)• RAID 1: Disk mirroring/duplexing (Mirrored volume)•

RAID 5: Disk striping with parity (RAID 5 volume)

Bus Architectures for the A+ Certification Exams

Another term for the expansion slots on a computer’s motherboard is bus slots. A number of different bus architectures have been developed over time. For the A+ exams, you need to be ableto identify the differences between each of these bus architectures and know which ones are more popular today.

ArchitectureBus Width (In

Bits)Speed

ISA 8/16 8 MHz

MCA 32 10 MHz

VLB 32 Speed of local bus

EISA 32 8 MHz

PCI 32/64 33 MHz

AGP 3266 MHz (1x), 133 MHz (2x), 266 MHz (4x), 533 MHz(8x)

PCMCIA (laptops) 16 33 MHz

PCI-X 32/64 66/133/266/533 MHz

PCIe 32 1 to 4 GHz

USB and FireWire Standards for the A+ Certification

Exams

The most popular ports used today on the system are the USB and FireWire ports — which allowyou to connect devices such as flash drives, digital cameras, and digital video cameras. This tablecompares features of USB and FireWire, including the transfer rate and number of devicessupported.

Standard Transfer Rate Device Support

USB 1.0 12 Mbps 127 devices

USB 2.0 480 Mbps 127 devices

IEEE 1394 400 Mbps; also known as FireWire 63 devices

IEEE 1394b 800 Mbps; also known as FireWire 800 63 devices

Windows 2000/XP Boot Files for the A+ Certification Exams



Windows 2000/XP requires four core files to boot. You will need to understand what they are onyour A+ Certification exam. The four core files are:

• ntldr: Operating system loader code• boot.ini: Builds the operating system selection menu•

ntdetect.com: Performs hardware detection• ntoskrnl.exe: Core kernel code responsible for tasks such as thread management

Windows Vista Boot Files for the A+ Certification Exams

Windows Vista utilizes four boot files, and you will need an understanding of all four of them for the A+ Certification exams. The four boot files for Windows Vista are:

• bootmgr: Operating system loader code; similar to ntldr in previous versions of Windows• Boot Configuration Database (BCD): Builds the operating system selection menu;

similar to boot.ini in previous versions of Windows, but data resides in the BCD store• winload.exe: Loads the Vista operating system if selected from the operating system

selection menu provided by BCD• winresume.exe: Resumes the Vista operating system if the system is started from a

hibernate state

Power-On Self-Test (POST) Error Codes Categories for the

A+ Certification Exams

Each BIOS manufacturer has its own diagnostic codes that identify specific POST errors. Youneed to consult the BIOS documentation for the diagnostic codes for your BIOS, but the general

breakdown of the code categories is as follows:

• 100–199: Motherboard error • 200–299: Memory error • 300–399: Keyboard error • 600–699: Floppy drive error • 1400–1499: Printer error • 1700–1799: Hard drive error

Windows Troubleshooting Utilities for the A+ Certification

Exams

As an A+ Certified Professional you will troubleshoot a number of different problems on thesystem — this table outlines some of the popular utilities you will use to support or troubleshoot asystem. Be sure to know these before taking the A+ Certification exams!

Filename Name Description

chkdisk.exe Check Disk Check your hard drive for problems with the file system



and for bad sectors.

regedit.exe Registry Editor Make changes to Registry values; can be used to makeselective backups. Prior to Windows XP, there were twoeditors: regedit.exe and regedt32.exe.

defrag.exe Disk Defragmenter Used from the command line, or graphically through the

Microsoft Management Console (MMC) and dfrg.msc.ntbackup.exe Windows NT backup Back up files to tape or any writable file system.

sfc.exe System File Checker

Verifies that system files have not been modified; or, if they have, replaces them with the original. It works withthe hidden C:\windows\system32\dllcache directory andthe original operating system CD.

taskman.exe Task Manager See running programs and services, terminate problems,and view rudimentary performance information about thesystem.

perfmon.exe Performance Console View detailed performance information

msconfig.exeSystem ConfigurationTool

Reconfigure the boot process for troubleshooting anddiagnosing the boot process.

drwtsn32.exe Dr. WatsonConfigure the level of logging you want to do whenapplications crash.

SystemInformation

View hardware andconfigurationinformation for your computer.

Event Viewer

Logging component of

the operating system; thecentral location for alllogging activity.

Windows Network Troubleshooting Utilities for the A+

Certification Exams

When problems arise on a Windows network, you can use the following utilities to do your troubleshooting. Having a clear understanding of all of them will help you on the A+ Certificationexam.

• ipconfig: Display basic TCP/IP configuration, such as IP address, subnet mask, and defaultgateway.

• ipconfig /all: Display TCP/IP settings, including your Media Access Control (MAC)address, domain name system (DNS) server, and lease information.

• ipconfig /release: Release your IP address.• ipconfig /renew: Renew your IP address.



• ping <IP address> or ping <host name>: Send four test messages to the IP address or host name you specify; verify whether the other system is up and running.

• netstat: Display TCP/IP protocol statistics and connection information. Can be used to seewho is connected to your system; what ports are open; and if you use an -o switch, what the process ID is of the program that opened the port.

•

nbtstat: Troubleshoot NetBIOS over TCP/IP. For example, you can view a remote NetBIOS name table using nbtstat -a <IP address>.• nslookup: Troubleshoot DNS problems. For example, you can get a listing of all the

records in DNS using nslookup.• arp: Troubleshoot ARP. For example, you can use arp -a to view your Address Resolution

Protocol (ARP) cache.• Tasklist: View a list of running processes.• Taskkill /PID <pid> /F: Terminates a process when you supply the process id.

Windows Security Best Practices for the A+ Certification

ExamsOne of the most important skills to have as an A+ Certified Professional is the capability of securing Windows systems and networks. And even if you are not working in a networkedenvironment, you can apply these same skills to your customers with home Internet machines.

• Harden the operating system: Uninstall any software you are not using and stop anyservices not being used. The more software that is running, the more potential securityholes in the system.

• Patch the systems: Keep the operating systems and devices up to date with Service Packsand security patches.

•

Use a firewall: Ensure that there is a firewall between your system and the Internet. Afirewall prevents hackers from connecting to your system• Use strong passwords: Ensure that all user accounts use a strong password (at least eight

characters, and uses a mix of uppercase and lowercase characters, numbers, and symbols).• Enable auditing: Log any suspicious activity on the system so you are aware of it.• Secure your wireless routers: If you have no need for wireless, disable this functionality

on your wireless router. If you are using wireless, secure it by changing the SSID, disablingSSID broadcasting, and encrypting traffic with WEP, WPA, or WPA2 (best option). Youshould also secure the wireless router by setting a strong password for the admin accountand disable DHCP on the router. You will then need to configure all your clients with staticIP addresses.

• Use antivirus software: Install antivirus software on all servers and client machines tohelp protect your systems from a virus. Make sure that your virus definition database isfrequently updated.

Ten or So Things You Might Have Forgotten for the A+

Certification Exams



With the massive amount of information you’re required to know for the A+ Certification exams,there are bound to be a few things that might slip past you. Here’s a quick list of some thingsyou’ll need to know for the A+ Certification exams that you might have easily forgotten or overlooked.

•

Contrast ratio: A value measuring the brightness of different colors such as white versus black. The larger the ratio, the better the picture quality on the display.• Component/RGB: Most analog video signals are composed of Red, Green, and Blue

signals which are typically delivered over either VGA or S-Video connectors. However,some older high end monitors may include three separate RCA connectors to deliver eachsignal over a unique or separate wire.

• Native Resolution: The actual resolution of a monitor, as opposed to the display resolutionwhich may be set lower which scales the image to the display area of the monitor.

• Creation of files: You can create a file in any folder on your hard drive by right-clicking inan empty area and choosing a document type from the New menu. Files can also be createdfrom applications by choosing the application’s save feature.

•

Dxdiag: A troubleshooting utility for Windows that allows you to troubleshoot DirectXcomponents on the system, such as driver version and settings.• Grayware: A term used to describe software that performs unwanted actions. Grayware

encompasses malicious software such as adware and spyware. Be sure to have malware protection software loaded on your system to protect against forms of grayware.

• Spam: An unsolicited e-mail message. Today’s e-mail servers are being hit with a wealthof unsolicited e-mail messages a day from companies that are trying to sell services or products. Be sure to configure spam filters on your e-mail servers and e-mail clients.

• Media readers: Popular add-on devices that allow you to read different types of memorycards and flash cards. Most systems today have media readers located on the front panel of the computer in place of a floppy drive.

•

KVM switch: A device that allows you share a keyboard, video device (monitor), andmouse between several computers while being able to quickly switch between them.• Front panel connectors: The front of the PC has a number of connectors on the front

panel. These connectors include USB connectors, microphone, headset, and possibly aFireWire connector.

• Reset page count: A troubleshooting tip for printers — if you find the printer reports lowtoner and you know there is more than enough toner available then it could be that the printer is gauging the toner level by the number of pages printed. Find out how to reset the page count on your printer to get rid of the low toner error.

• Administrative shares versus Local shares: Administrative shares are default shares on aWindows machine that allow an administrator to remotely connect to the machine while alocal share is any shared resource that the administrator has created. Examples of administrative shares are the root of each hard drive being shared as C$ or D$ and theWindows directory being shared as Admin$.

• Permission propagation: Permission propagation is when you set permissions on a parentfolder and you want those settings to apply to all sub folders as well. To propagate the permissions to sub folders you will choose the Advanced button when setting NTFS permissions and choose to replace permission entries for all child objects.



• Avoid trip hazards: You may create trip hazards when doing things like testing areplacement network cable by using a network jack which is further away or laying outtools and computer components in a walkway by a desk. Always ensure that you are notneedless risking the safety of yourself or others.

• Heavy devices: Most computer equipment is light enough for a single person to handle

while many servers and UPSs will require two people to move or place in a server rack.Always ensure that you have help for these and other heavy items and bend with your knees to prevent injury.

• Hot components: As equipment is used, many components will build up heat, which caninjure you. This is especially true of both computer and printer components. Whenservicing equipment, ensure that you exercise proper care when hot components are present.

• Odors: When troubleshooting system components be aware of unexpected odors or smellsthat may lead you to the source of the problem or signal an immediate danger. For example, burned smells could identify overheating components or melted connectors.

• Alerts: A function found within Performance Monitor (perfmon.msc) which allows you

monitor performance counters and perform an action when the counters are beyond adesired threshold. The action could be logging in the Event Log, generating a network message, starting a performance data log, or running a custom command.

• Taskbar: The bar at bottom of the Windows desktop which displays the Start menu, allopen applications and documents, and contains the system tray (systray).

• Systray: The systray (or system tray) is on the right side of the taskbar and displays many processes, known as background processes, that run in the background but do not have avisual interface until you click on the icon in the system tray. Most of these processes areaccessed by clicking or right-clicking on the icon in the system tray so that you can changethe settings of the running program or terminate the process by choosing quit or exit fromthe menu that appears. If there are too many items to display, they can be shown byclicking on an arrow on the left of the systray.

• Removal of peripherals: One of the processes in the systray is the Safely RemoveHardware tool. When you insert devices such as a USB flash drive an icon appears in thesystray for the removable hardware. By clicking on this icon you will see a list of devicesthat can be stopped and safely removed when you are ready to unplug the drive.

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