Coax cables use which type of connector?
F-connector
[Coax installations also use screw-down F-connectors. A broadband cable service, for example, is likely to use the F-connector for drop cables.]
A user reports their internet connection is not working. Which of these tools might you use to troubleshoot the problem?
Tone generator
[A tone generator and probe tool is used to trace a cable from one end to the other. This is the primary tool for testing for bad network cables.]
Which of these does NOT relate to a serial port?
VESA
[VESA is an organization largely representing PC graphics adapter and display technology companies. It created the DisplayPort standard.]
With which type of hardware would you expect to use a USB to Ethernet adapter?
Slimline laptop
[Some slimline laptops do not have onboard adapters. In this case, you can use a USB to Ethernet adapter. This type of adapter contains the NIC and RJ-45 port in a small housing connected to the computer via a USB port.]
Which of these was developed as a royalty-free standard?
DisplayPort
[DisplayPort was developed by VESA, the organization largely representing PC graphics adapter and display technology companies. It is a royalty-free standard intended to "complement" HDMI.]
Which of these is NOT part of a fiber optic strand?
Mesh conductor
[A mesh conductor is part of a coaxial (coax) cable that serves both as shielding from EMI and as a ground. It is not found in fiber optic cables.]
Which of these cables was invented by Intel?
Thunderbolt
[Intel developed the Thunderbolt (TB) interface for use on Apple workstations and laptops. It connects display devices (like DisplayPort) and peripheral devices (like USB).]
What distance between hosts in a network is considered local?
LAN
[A LAN is a single site or possibly several sites in close proximity connected by high-speed backbones.]
The Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) replaced which of these technologies?
PATA
[The Parallel ATA (PATA) technology is the legacy technology replaced by SATA. ]
If you want to connect a non-Apple laptop to a TV set, which type of adapter would you use?
DVI to HDMI
[DVI is not supported on many consumer devices so you may use a DVI to HDMI adapter to connect a laptop to a TV set. There is no signal conversion involved so this can be performed by a passive cable.]
Which DVI (Digital Visual Interface) configuration is used for HDTV digital and analog connections?
DVI-I dual link
[DVI-I dual link supports over 7.4 Gbps bandwidth and can transmit HDTV @ 85 fps and supports both analog and digital equipment.]
How many conductor pairs are found in Ethernet cables?
Four (4)
[With the type of Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) used for Ethernet, the cable contains four copper conductor "pairs."]
Which SCSI connector was commonly used by Apple and Iomega devices?
SCSI DB25
[The SCSI DB25 connector is a 25-pin connector used primarily by Apple and Iomega (Zip external data storage drives) hardware.
If you want to connect an older flat panel display to your brand new non-Apple laptop, which type of adapter would you use?
HDMI to VGA
[You would use the HDMI to VGA adapter to connect a laptop to an older flat panel display. This type of converter usually requires an active Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) chip. ]
Your company decided to upgrade the 20 year old office Ethernet network and needs the fastest speed possible but cannot afford fiber optic cables. What is your solution for this problem?
Gigabit Ethernet
[Gigabit Ethernet, also known as 1000BASE, is for 1000 Mbps LANs. This has replaced Fast Ethernet as the ""standard"" for a typical LAN. Since the company cannot afford fiber optic links, this would be the best choice of cabling.]
Which of these is the international standard for Ethernet technology?
802.3
[Ethernet is technically known by the series of standards produced by the IEEE 802.3 working group. While the product name is not used in 802.3 standards documentation, it is otherwise universally referred to as Ethernet.]
Which of these Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) interface standards has a maximum transfer rate of 66 MBps?
ATA/ATAPI-5
[ATA/ATAPI-5 uses UDMA mode 4 (Ultra ATA/66) and has a maximum transfer rate of 66 MBps. ]
Which of these connectors would you use with coaxial (coax) cable?
BNC
[BNC (alternately Bayonet-Neill-Concelman, British Naval Connector, or Barrel Nut Connector) connectors are crimped to the ends of Coaxial (or coax) cable.]
Which of these would be used as a drop/patch cable for modern Cable Access TV (CATV)?
RG-6
[RG-6 is a coaxial cable that has a thicker core conductor for better signal quality and is often used as drop/patch cable for modern Cable Access TV (CATV) and broadband cable modems.]
Your company wants to buy Android-based tablets to collect data for their sales force. Their tablets need a high-speed connection to transfer data at least 5 Gbps. Which cabling solution do you suggest for the equipment?
Use a USB 3.0 Micro connection.
[SB Type B Micro is a very small connector used to connect to smaller devices like smartphones and tablets. The USB 3.0 standard specifies speeds of at least 5 Gbps.]
Which of these would be used on older Cable Access TV (CATV) or Close Circuit (CCTV) cabling?
RG-59
[RG-59 is a coaxial cable that has a thinner core conductor and was used as drop cable for older CATV/cable modem installs and is also used for CCTV cabling.]
You are installing a new cable modem in your home and need to connect it to existing cable wiring. What cabling do you use?
Use a RG-6 patch cable.
[RG-6 is a coaxial cable that has a thicker core conductor for better signal quality and is often used as drop/patch cable for modern Cable Access TV (CATV) and broadband cable modems.]
Which chipset passes 192 bits of data per "transaction?"
Triple-channel
[Triple channel means there are three 64-bit bus channels between the CPU and RAM which can pass 192 bits of data per “transaction.”]
You are building a computer from spare parts in the office. You build the computer and realize you have several different types of RAM chips. Which of these is NOT a consideration so you do not have memory errors?
The pin count is the same.
[DDR comes packaged in 184-pin chips. DDR2 & 3 has 240 pins and is keyed differently. DDR4 has 288 pins. Consequently, you can only install physically compatible chips into the motherboard.]
You need to replace the broken high performance drive in your computer. Since it is an early high performance drive, what spin speed would you expect it to have?
10,000rpm
[Revolutions Per Minute (RPM) determines overall drive performance. The higher the RPM, the faster the drive. The first high performance drives are rated at 10,000rpm.]
You just installed a new hard drive in a computer. After booting the computer, Windows does not assign a drive letter to the hard drive. What do you do?
Partition and format the drive.
[The drive needs to be partitioned and formatted before Windows will assign a drive letter to it. You use the Computer Management app to do this.]
The hard drive in your laptop has died. What form factor size of replacement hard drive would you need to replace the failed drive?
2.5"
[There are two main formats for HDDs, 2.5" and 3.5”. The 2.5” form factors are used for laptops and as portable external drives.]
You are building a new computer and do not have a lot of room inside the case to add a SSD (solid state drive) hard drive. Which type of modern drive controller would be best to use in the limited space?
M.2 drives
[An M.2 adapter is considerably smaller than a PCIe adapter used for SSDs so the interface is often used on laptops as well as PC motherboards.]
You want to upgrade the hard drive in your computer to a fastest spinning high performance drive. What spin speed would the new drive have?
15,000rpm
[Revolutions Per Minute (RPM) determines overall drive performance. The higher the RPM, the faster the drive. The fastest high performance drives are rated at 15,000rpm.]
You have an old Olympus digital camera and want to expand its external storage. What type of flash card would you expect to need?
xD
[xD was a format used on Olympus cameras but has been discontinued.]
If you were choosing a Central Processing Unit (CPU) for your new PC that needs to run many virtual machines, which CPU technology would you need?
Virtualization processor extensions
[Virtualization software allows a single computer to run multiple operating systems or Virtual Machines (VM). Some types of CPUs provide extensions to support virtualization.]
You are setting up your new computer and select the settings for enabling/disabling controllers and adapters. Which section of the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) contains these settings?
The interface configuration settings section
[The interface configuration settings include enabling/disabling and configuring any controllers and adapters provided on the motherboard.]
You upgrade a graphics workstation with a new HyperThreading Central Processing Chip. You expect the programs on the desktop to run much faster with the new technology, but you get little improvement. Why is this?
The programs on the desktop are not multithreaded software.
[The main drawback of SMT is that it works best with multithreaded software. As this software is more difficult to design, desktop applications software often cannot take full advantage.]
Which type of motherboard connector is a 9-pin header which can accept up to two 4-pin port connections?
An internal USB connector
[Internal USB connections are made via 9-pin headers, which accept up to two 4-pin port connections. These allow external USB ports to connect to the motherboard.]
What allowed older computers to store the PC's basic configuration for 5-10 years?
A CMOS battery
[The CMOS battery is a coin cell lithium battery that typically lasts for 5-10 years that powers the CMOS RAM storage system.]
You want to build a computer with a motherboard approximately 12" by 9.5" and smaller than a full-size AT form factor. Which type of motherboard would you use?
ATX
[The ATX (Advanced Technology Extended) specification was developed by Intel in 1995 to provide a new design for PC motherboards, updating the previous AT form factor. Full size ATX boards are 12" wide by 9.6" deep (or 305x244mm).]
If you were building a powerful PC that needed large amounts of processing power, which type of Central Processing Unit (CPU) would you use?
Multicore CPU
[Multicore CPUs are packages with 3, 4, 8, or more processors combined on the same die. A dual-core CPU has two processors on the die.]
If you need to attach an external hard drive to your computer, what type of expansion card would you install if the external drive uses the same technology as the internal drives?
An eSATA card
[eSATA (external Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA)) is a standard for the attachment of external drives to the computer.]
Which type of Central Processing Unit (CPU) technology allows the operating system to see multiple CPUs even if there is only one CPU installed in the computer?
Hyperthreading technology
[HyperThreading (HT) is a CPU technology that allows the threads (stream of instructions) to run through the CPU at the same time. It duplicates many of the registers of the CPU.]
If you had an older C3 processor and a case for a motherboard that is 8.4" wide by 7.5" deep, what form factor would you use?
ITX
[VIA Technologies released a reference design for an ITX motherboard to promote the low power C3 processor. Full size ITX boards are 8.4” wide by 7.5” deep (215mmx191mm) deep.]
You want to build a small form factor (SFF) PC. What type of motherboard is often used in these types of computers?
mITX
[Small Form Factor (SFF) PCs often use Via's Mini-ITX form factor. Mini-ITX (mITX) is 6.7x6.7" (170x170mm) with one expansion slot.]
Which security system helps prevent malware from hijacking a computer?
Secure boot
[Secure boot is designed to prevent a computer from being hijacked by malware. Under secure boot, the system firmware is configured with digital certificates from valid OS vendors and prevents a boot loader that has been modified by malware.]
If you have an older Pentium processor based computer, what type of adaptor cards would you expect to install in the machine?
PCI
[The Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus was introduced in 1994 with the Pentium processor. It is still an important technology, though it is being superseded by PCI Express.]
Which of these is a peripheral device that allows you to use a digital certificate?
A smart card reader
[A smart card reader is typically a peripheral device that provides an interface to interact with a smart card. The microprocessor embedded in the smart card is used to store a digital certificate.]
You have a computer user at your company that simply cannot remember the passwords to the computer. What could be a solution to this authentication problem?
Install a biometric sensor keyboard on that computer.
[A biometric device is used to perform authentication and recognizes a person based on a physiological characteristic unique to the individual. This is a good solution for a single computer.]
Which of these peripherals is a graphical output device?
A flat panel monitor
[Graphics output is provided by some sort of display unit or monitor (such as a flat panel or CRT) plus a video card, which generates the signals to drive the monitor.]
A power supply unit that uses the ATX12V version 2 specification has what type of power connector?
24-pin motherboard adapter
[Most systems are now based on the ATX12V version 2 specification. This specification defines a 24-pin (2x12) P1 adapter to replace the 20-pin P1 (2x10) adapter.]
You are connecting a new PSU (Power Supply Unit). The PSU has a square 4-pin P4 cable but there is no square 4-pin receptacle on the motherboard. Where does this cable connect?
Plug it into the EPS12V receptacle.
[The connector will plug into an 8-pin EPS12V receptacle near the CPU. You should check the motherboard documentation for advice about which pins are the correct connection.]
You upgraded the hard drive in an Intel-based computer. When connecting the power supply to the new hard drive, you realize the existing power connectors do not connect to the new hard drive. What is your solution?
Use a Molex to SATA adapter.
[Older power supplies use the 4-pin (1x4) Molex connectors to supply power for peripheral devices. New hard drives use the SATA power connector. You would use a Molex to SATA adapter.]
You upgraded the hard drive in an Intel-based computer. When connecting the power supply to the new hard drive, you realize the existing power connectors do not connect to the new hard drive. What is your solution?
Use a Molex to SATA adapter.
[Older power supplies use the 4-pin (1x4) Molex connectors to supply power for peripheral devices. New hard drives use the SATA power connector. You would use a Molex to SATA adapter.]
What determines the number and type of devices a power supply can support?
The number of connectors
[The number of PSU connectors determines the number and type of devices (such as hard drives and optical drives) that can be supported.]
Which computer hardware component is the primary component of a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device?
A hard drive
[A Network Attached Storage (NAS) appliance is a hard drive with a cut-down server board, usually running some form of Linux that provides network access and various file sharing protocols.]
Which of these is a concern when building a home Network Attached Storage (NAS) device?
Media streaming across a network
[Some NAS devices can stream media files to wireless speakers or an IP-enabled TV and would be a feature for consideration.]
You are building a thin client. What do you need to consider when specifying the hardware for the system?
Running the basic applications
[The client will have to meet the minimum requirements for installing Windows and running the basic software in order to access the applications hosted by the server.]
You want to build a new home server. The new computer’s primary functions are file storage, media streaming, and printer sharing. What would be a consideration in designing the machine?
Install RAID storage.
[Most home servers would use RAID storage to reduce the risk of losing valuable movie and audio files (there must still be a backup system in place of course, to protect against theft, fire, or accidental deletion).]
Where would you configure touchpad options in Windows?
The Mouse applet
[In Windows, the touchpad can be configured using the Mouse applet in Control Panel. Installing the manufacturer's driver will make the device-specific options available, such as configuring scroll areas or gesture support.]
For your new mobile device, the manufacturer uses a walled garden model. What does this mean?
Any applications have to have approval before release.
[Apps have to be submitted to and approved before they are released to users. This is also referred as the walled garden model and is designed to prevent the spread of malware or code that could cause faults or crashes.]
For your new mobile device, the manufacturer uses a walled garden model. What does this mean?
Any applications have to have approval before release.
[Apps have to be submitted to and approved before they are released to users. This is also referred as the walled garden model and is designed to prevent the spread of malware or code that could cause faults or crashes.]
Your company wants to purchase cloud-based application services, but is now concerned about users needing multiple accounts and passwords. What do you suggest as a solution?
Use mutual authentication for multiple services.
[Mutual authentication for multiple services means that one service accepts the credentials from another service. This is usually described as federated identity management. This way your company can get the services it actually needs. ]
Which type of desktop system would you expect to have multiple local user accounts?
A thick client
[A standard (thick) client might be configured with multiple user accounts. These user accounts can be defined locally on each computer.]
Mobile accounts can be linked to all of these EXCEPT what?
A Trusted Platform Module
[The Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is a chip on the computer motherboard. TPM provides storage of digital certificates, keys, and hashed passwords but does not interface with user accounts. ]
Where would you look in Windows to pair a Bluetooth device to the computer?
The Bluetooth Devices applet
[In Windows, you can manage Bluetooth Devices using the Bluetooth & Other Devices applet in Control Panel or Windows Settings. ]
What is the name of the service that allows iOS mobile devices to print wirelessly?
Bonjour
[The Bonjour service is a printer service that allows OS X PCs and iOS mobile devices to connect wirelessly to printer. Bonjour is the server part of the print solution.]
Which printer security issue stems from someone potentially accessing print files on the local storage?
Hard drive caching
[Hard drive caching is where most printers have a local storage device to use to cache print files. Someone with access to the device could be able to recover confidential information from the hard drive cache. ]
What allows you to connect and print directly to a printer without connecting other hardware to the printer?
An integrated print server
[Some printers come with integrated or embedded print server hardware and firmware, allowing client computers to connect to them over the network without having to go via a server computer.
Which printer security issue concerns interception of printer jobs sent over a network?
Data privacy
[Data privacy concerns include print jobs sent over a network (such as via a cloud or remote print service) potentially being intercepted and read, copied, or modified.]
Your office printer is offline for maintenance. You still need to print documents while it is being fixed. What virtual print option would allow you to save a copy of the data that would be spooled to the printer?
Print to file
[Print to file creates a file that can be sent to the print device. It means saving a copy of the file that would normally be spooled by the printer.]
The office inkjet printer is printing sheets with missing lines of text and graphics are faded. How would you fix the issue?
Replace the ink cartridge.
[When the ink is low, the printer may signal to change the ink cartridge. Missing colors or faded black text are symptoms of low ink levels.]
The cash register started to print missing text on receipts. What can you do to solve the problem?
Clean the heating element.
[A dirty heating element can cause missing text. Use an appropriate cleaning fluid to clean the heating element.]