A+ Certification All-In-One For Dummies From CompTIA A+ Certification All-in-One For Dummies, 3rd Edition by Glen E. Clarke, Edward Tetz

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1 Cheat Sheet A+ Certification All-In-One For Dummies From CompTIA A+ Certification All-in-One For Dummies, 3rd Edition by Glen E. Clarke, Edward Tetz 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 tools available 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 Recovery Console Command line interface for Boot off the Windows installation CD troubleshooting disk issues and boot problems Repair Mode Provides access to GUI and command line recovery tools Boot off the Vista installation CD Restore points A snap-shot of a system s configuration; used to revert to a system s state before a driver or software was installed From the Search in the Start menu, type System Restore. Select Restore My Computer to an Earlier Time and click Next. Choose your desired restore point and click Next, and then click Next again. Windows will now boot to that restore point. Windows 7 and Vista allow you to boot your operating system to a restore point which allows you to revert back to that system 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 7/Vista Installation CD/DVD and choose Repair Your Computer, then System Restore from the System Recovery dialog box. You can also get to restore points through Safe Mode, which could prove useful if you have been hit with a virus. Safe Mode Loads the operating system with minimal drivers An advanced startup menu option (F8)

2 Last Known Good Configuration Automatic System Recovery (ASR) Loads the configuration from the last time you successfully booted and logged on An automated installation and restore of Windows An advanced startup menu option (F8) 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 only RAID levels pertinent to the A+ exams: RAID 0: Disk striping (striped volume). With RAID level 0, the data is split across drives with no data redundancy. RAID level 0 improves read and write performance by writing to multiple drives at the same time. You need a minimum of two drives. RAID 1: Disk mirroring/duplexing (mirrored volume). With disk mirroring, the data is written to both drives involved in the mirror to provide data redundancy. Windows 7 supports disk mirroring. RAID 5: Disk striping with parity (RAID 5 volume). With RAID 5 volumes, the data is written to multiple drives along with parity information that is used to help recover data if a single drive fails. RAID 5 volumes need a minimum of three disks. RAID 10: Mirrored disk striping. RAID level 10 is also known as RAID 1+0 because it is disk striping while mirroring the data written in the stripe.

3 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 able to identify the differences between each of these bus architectures and know which ones are more popular today. Architecture Bus Width Speed (In Bits) ISA 8/16 8 MHz EISA 32 8 MHz PCI 32/64 33 MHz AGP MHz (1x), 133 MHz (2x), 266 MHz (4x), 533 MHz (8x) PCMCIA MHz (laptops) PCIe Serial Uses multiple lanes, with each lane carrying 250 Mbps. As an example, a PCIe x1 slot can carry data at 250 Mbps, while a PCIe x4 slot can carry data at 1 Gbps. PCIe version 2 doubles those transfer rates. 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 allow you to connect devices such as flash drives, digital cameras, and digital video cameras. This table compares features of USB and FireWire, including the transfer rate and number of devices supported. Standard Transfer Rate Device Support USB Mbps 127 devices USB Mbps 127 devices USB Gbps 127 devices IEEE Mbps; also known as FireWire 63 devices IEEE 1394b 800 Mbps; also known as FireWire devices

4 Windows XP Boot Files for the A+ Certification Exams Windows XP requires four core files to boot the computer. You will need to understand what they are on your 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 7 and Windows Vista Boot Files for the A+ Certification Exams Windows 7 and Windows Vista utilize 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 7 and 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 Windows XP, but data resides in the BCD store. You can edit the boot configuration data with the bcdedit utility. 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 Error Codes Categories for the A+ Certification Exams Each BIOS manufacturer has its own diagnostic codes that identify specific POST errors. You need to consult the BIOS documentation for the diagnostic codes for your BIOS, but the general breakdown of the code categories is as follows: : Motherboard error : Memory error : Keyboard error : Floppy drive error : Printer error : Hard drive error

5 Windows Troubleshooting Utilities for the A+ Certification Exams As an A+ Certified Professional you will troubleshoot a number of different problems on the system this table outlines some of the popular utilities you will use to support or troubleshoot a system. 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 make selective backups. defrag.exe Disk Defragmenter Used from the command line, or graphically through the Microsoft Management Console (MMC). 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. taskman.exe Task Manager See running programs and services, terminate problems, and view rudimentary performance information about the system. perfmon.exe Performance Console View detailed performance information msconfig.exe System Configuration Tool drwtsn32.exe Dr. Watson System Information Event Viewer Reconfigure the boot process for troubleshooting and diagnosing the boot process. Configure the level of logging you want to do when applications crash. View hardware and configuration information for your computer. Logging component of the operating system; the central location for all logging activity.

6 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+ Certification exams. ipconfig: Display basic TCP/IP configuration, such as IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway. 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 see who is connected to your system; what ports are open. nslookup: Troubleshoot DNS problems. For example, you can get a listing of all the records in DNS using nslookup. arp: Troubleshoot ARP. Shows MAC address. For example, you can use arp -a to view your Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) cache.

7 Windows Security Best Practices for the A+ Certification Exams One 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 networked environment, 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 any services not being used. The more software that is running, the more potential security holes in the system. Patch the systems: Keep the operating systems and devices up to date with Service Packs and security patches. Use a firewall: Ensure that there is a firewall between your system and the Internet. A firewall 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, disabling SSID broadcasting, and encrypting traffic with WEP, WPA, or WPA2 (best option). You should also secure the wireless router by setting a strong password for the admin account and disable DHCP on the router. You will then need to configure all your clients with static IP addresses. Use antivirus software: Install antivirus software on all servers and client machines to help protect your systems from a virus. Make sure that your virus definition database is frequently updated.

8 10 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 things you 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. Native Resolution: The actual resolution of a monitor, as opposed to the display resolution which 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 in an empty area and choosing a document type from the New menu. Files can also be created from applications by choosing the application s save feature. 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 message. Today s servers are being hit with a wealth of unsolicited messages a day from companies that are trying to sell services or products. Be sure to configure spam filters on your servers and clients. KVM switch: A device that allows you share a keyboard, video device (monitor), and mouse between several computers while being able to quickly switch between them. Reset page count: A troubleshooting tip for printers if you find the printer reports low toner 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. Avoid trip hazards: You may create trip hazards when doing things like testing a replacement network cable by using a network jack which is further away or laying out tools and computer components in a walkway by a desk. Always ensure that you are not needlessly 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 can injure you. This is especially true of both computer and printer components. When servicing equipment, ensure that you exercise proper care when hot components are present.

9 Odors: When troubleshooting system components be aware of unexpected odors or smells that 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. Taskbar: The bar at bottom of the Windows desktop which displays the Start menu, all open 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 running processes, known as background processes that run in the background but do not have a visual interface until you click on the icon in the system tray. Most of these processes are accessed by clicking or right-clicking on the icon in the system tray so that you can change the settings of the running program or terminate the process by choosing quit or exit from the menu that appears. If there are too many items to display, they can be shown by clicking on an arrow on the left of the systray. Removal of peripherals: One of the processes in the systray is the Safely Remove Hardware tool. When you insert devices such as a USB flash drive an icon appears in the systray for the removable hardware. By clicking on this icon you will see a list of devices that can be stopped and safely removed when you are ready to unplug the drive.