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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

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  • 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.

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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

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)

Table of Contents

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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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