Exam Notes for A+ Certification

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Under FAT file system, the maximum size of a cluster is 32 KB and the maximum number of clusters is 65536. Therefore, the maximum size of a partitions is the number of clusters multiplied by the max size of the cluster, which is equivalent to 2 GB. Remember that 1 KB = 1024 bytes.

Upgrading the firmware in a computer is done by flashing the BIOS.

USB 2.0 has a raw data rate at 480Mbps, and it is rated 40 times faster than its predecessor interface, USB 1.1, which has 12Mbps max speed.

USB enables you to daisy chain upto 127 USB devices. A USB hub is used for this purpose. Also, USB devices can be plugged in without turning on/off power. I.e. USB devices are hot swappable. If the drive files for the USB device is available already with the operating system, the system will automatically load the drivers for the device. Otherwise, the driver files need to be provided separately.

Usually, a sector contains 512 bytes. To find out the size of a hard disk, use the formula:
(# of cylinders X # of sectors X # of heads) X 0.5 KB

Usually, you need to consult the manufacturer's documentation to verify which components are hot-swappable. Therefore, it is recommended to refer the documentation. For example, if the power supply is hot-swappable, there is no need to switch off the server computer, thus preventing any inconvenience to the users.

WEP, short for Wireless Equivalent Protection, is a security protocol designed to provide protection equivalent to wired LANs. WPA is an improved security protocol compared to WEP.

When a customer requests for a personal phone number, email, or any other information, you need to check your company policy, and do according to your company policy.

When attending to the computer maintenance or repair (other than the monitor), ensure that you work in a static free environment. Always wear wrist strap. You should not wear clothes/shoes that produce static charges.

When working on computers, use special ESD wrist strap. Do not directly ground yourself with a piece of wire. An ESD wrist strap has built-in resistor to prevent electric shock. Use specially designed grounded ESD mats. Do not wear synthetic clothing. Place all electronic components into anti static bags. Anti static bags can be reused. Keep your workplace clean.

When you have two hard disk drives, the following two combinations are possible:
1. Install the drives one each on primary and secondary controllers and designate both as Masters.
2. Install both the drives on the primary controller and designate one as Master and the other as Slave.

When you install Windows 2000 in the same folder as that of Windows 95/ Windows 98/ Windows NT, the operating system gets upgraded to Windows 2000.

When you upgrade to Windows 2000, you need to ensure that you have software upgrade packs available. It is very much possible that an application that was working properly may not work the same way after the upgrade of OS. You need to contact the vendor for upgrade pack for any application(s) you are using. If the upgrade packs are not available, and the application is critical, you may need to reconsider the upgradation of OS.

Windows 2000 advanced startup options can be accessed by pressing F8 key when prompted during the beginning of the Windows 2000 Professional boot process.

Windows 2000 Operating systems support 5 different volume types:
1. Simple volumes
2. Spanned volumes
3. Striped volumes
4. Mirrored volumes
5. RAID-5 volumes
A simple volume consists of a formatted disk on a single hard disk.
A Spanned volume consists of disk space on more than one hard disk.
A Striped volume has disk space on 2 or more disks. The disk spaces must be same on all disks. Fastest disk access among all volume types. RAID level 0.
A mirrored volume consists of a Simple volume that is mirrored in total, onto a second dynamic disk. Provides highest level of fault tolerance. Mirroring is RAID level 1
A RAID-5 volume consists of identical sized disk space located on three or more dynamic disks. Here any single disk failures can be recovered.
Note that Windows 2000 Professional doesn’t support Mirrored and RAID-5 volumes, where as other Windows 2000 Operating Systems (2000 Server, Advanced Server) support.

Windows 2000 professional supports three file system types: FAT (also known as FAT16, FAT32, and NTFS).
Windows 95 OSR2, and Windows 98 support FAT, and FAT32.

Windows 2000 provides two versions of Registry Editor
1. Regedt32.exe (32-bit) and
2. Regedit.exe (16-bit).
Regedt32.exe is automatically installed in the systemroot\system32 folder, while Regedit.exe is automatically installed in the systemroot folder. Regedit.exe is primarily used for its search capabilities as it doesn’t support all functions and data types.

Windows XP/2000 has a backup utility that can be used to backup or restore files and folders. In Windows 2000, you can access the utility by going to Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools.

WPA, short for Wi-Fi Protected Access, is a Wi-Fi standard that was designed to improve upon the security features of WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy). The technology is designed to work with existing Wi-Fi products that have been enabled with WEP.

You can access Computer Management screen through:
1. MyComputer on Desk Top -> Right Click -> Manage
2. Start -> Programs -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management
One of the frequently used resource in “Computer Management” screen is System Tools. System tools contain the following:
1. Event Viewer
2. System Information
3. Performance logs
4. Device Manager
5. Shared folders
6. Local Users and Groups
These are very useful tools to a system administrator.

You can access Task Manager by pressing <Alt> <Ctrl> <Del>. The applications tab lists all the applications that are currently running on the computer. The current status of the application is also displayed as either “Running” or “not responding” or “stopped”.

You can change the boot sequence by entering CMOS setup.

You can configure support for multiple displays on your Windows 2000 computer. This is done through the use of Control Panel -> Display -> Settings. A Windows 2000 computer can support up to ten display monitors at the same time. Use additional video cards as required.

You can enable hibernate on a Windows computer by right clicking on the Desktop, the then selecting Properties.

You can have "Recovery Console" as a start up option by typing \i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons at the command prompt, after switching to the CD ROM drive letter.

You can not upgrade Windows 95 directly to Windows XP. You first need to upgrade to Windows 98, and then upgrade to Windows XP.

You can ping the loop back address at 127.0.0.1. A response ensures that the TCP/IP stack is installed properly on your computer.

You can select Reconnect at Logon for reconnecting to a network drive at logon.

You can start the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard by clicking Start on the computer running Windows XP, pointing to All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and then clicking Files and Settings Transfer Wizard.

Windows 95/98, Windows NT 3.51Work Station, Windows NT 4.0 WS can be upgraded to Windows 2000 Professional. You can’t upgrade Windows 3.1 and Windows for workgroups to Windows 2000 Professional. If you need to install 2000 Prof. On Windows 3.x, you need to upgrade first to Windows 95/98 or NT and then upgrade to 2000 Prof. It is easy to do a clean install of Windows 2000 on Windows 3.x machines.

You can use “Safely Remove Hardware” icon to unplug any USB device.

You can use Add/ Remove applet in the Control Panel to add or remove a program.

You can use both Ping Localhost and Ping 127.0.0.1 to see whether the TCP/IP stack is installed properly. Ipconfig is used to obtain the TCP/IP configuration information, such as the IP address, subnet mask, default gateway etc. on the local computer.

You can use Regional Options to support additional languages on your computer. With the support of additional languages, you will be able to edit documents written in those languages. You can also set locale specific to any region using this Option.

You can use Start -> Windows Update to connect to the Microsoft site. Windows Update is a catalog of items such as drivers, patches, the latest help files, and Internet products that you can download to keep your computer up to date. You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administators group in order to access the Product Updates section of Windows Update for downloading help files.

You can use System Monitor as well as Task Manager to monitor Processor and Memory usage on your computer.

You can use the View tab in Folder Options applet in the Control Panel to show / hide files and folders that have “Hidden” attribute set. You can also use Windows Explorer -> Tools -> Folder Options -> View tab.

You can't apply file level permissions on a FAT file system. Only NTFS allows file permissions. Remember that the NTFS file permissions are always in effect to all users and processes.

You don’t need to have a network card installed for successful installation of Windows 2000 Professional. You can use loop back adapter for this purpose and proceed with the installation. Network card can be installed at a latter time, when required.

When upgrading an OS to Windows 2000/XP, ensure the following before the upgrade:
1. The hardware is adequate for upgrading to Windows 2000 Professional
2. Also, check the hardware, software adequacy by running Winnt32.exe / checkupgradeonly. Note that the switch “checkupgradeonly” will output a report on the adequacy of hardware and software. It will also warn you if any applications need upgrade packs, which may be obtained from respective application vendors, if available. If the software upgrade pack is not installed for any application, the application may be rendered unusable!
3. It is also recommended, if you are upgrading on a large population, to upgrade only one work station, and check whether the application softwares are running properly.

If you encounter any problem in using a USB port, ensure that the USB interface is enabled in the BIOS. Note that Windows 95, Windows NT4.0 (Upto service pack 4) do not support USB. Also, make sure that the motherboard BIOS supports USB.

You can use "Scanners and Cameras" to install device drivers for a new scanner or a digital camera. You can also set properties, remove a scanner or a camera using the “Scanners and Cameras” applet in the Control Panel. Once the Camera or Scanner is installed, you can use the Imaging application to initiate the transfer of images from your scanner or camera to your Windows 2000 computer. You can access the Imaging application through Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Imaging.

The command Win32 / checkupgradeonly can be used to get a report on hardware and software compatibility.

You want to install Windows 2000 on the same partition as that of Windows 98. Windows 98 supports FAT (FAT16) and FAT32. It doesn’t support NTFS file system. Therefore, you need to install 2000 Professional either on the FAT file systems or on the FAT32 for dual boot.

UPS usually contain a filter to smoothen the noise, and this filter is called noise filter.

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