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Review Questions/A+ Chapt 7-12

Terms

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32. Before you call the manufacturerÂ’s technical support for a hard drive during installation, what should you have in hand?
Drive model and description, manufacturer and model of your computer, exact wording of any error messages, description of the problem, hardware and software configuration of your system
33. List three hardware components to check or examine if a hard drive does not boot
Drive data cable, drive adapter card, and the hard drive itself
11. What items must be intact in order for DOS or Windows to be able to access a hard drive using the FAT file system? List them in the order in which they are accessed.
Partition table, boot record, FAT and root directory, and system files
13. If a file header is lost or corrupted and an application needs that header to read the file, how can you recover the contents of the file?
By treating the file as an ASCII text file
24. Which Windows OS does not support any fault-tolerant method?
Windows 9x does not support fault tolerance.
12. What error message might appear if the partition table is damaged? The boot record? The FAT? The system files?
Partition table: Invalid drive or drive specification
Boot record: Invalid media type, Non-DOS disk, or Unable to read from drive C
FAT: Sector not found reading drive C, Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?
System files: Non-system disk or disk error, or Invalid disk specification
14. Explain how lost clusters are caused and what you can do to recover from them.
A disk can develop lost clusters if a program cannot properly close a file it has opened. Use the Chkdsk command with the /F option to recover from lost clusters.
15. If an erased file is not found in the Recycle Bin, what command can you use at a command prompt to attempt to recover the file?
Unerase or Undelete
25. What is the term that Windows 2000 and Windows XP use for RAID 0?
Striped volume
16. Explain the child, parent, grandparent method of making backups
Child backups are made daily, parent backups are made weekly, and grandparent backups are made monthly. The child backups can be differential or incremental, and the parent and grandparent backups full. This method allows tapes to be rotated and reused.
17. What is the difference between an incremental backup and a differential backup?
An incremental backup backs up only files that have changed or have been created since the last backup, whether that backup was full or incremental, and a differential backup backs up all files since the last full backup, regardless of whether other differential backups have been made since. Another difference is that incremental backups mark files as having been backed up, and differential backups do not.
18. What versions of Windows support incremental backups? Differential backups?
Windows 9x and Windows NT/2000/XP support incremental backups. Differential backups are not supported by Windows 95 but are supported by Windows 98 and Windows NT/2000/XP.
19. What is the Windows Scripting Host utility used for, and what is the command line to execute it?
The Windows Scripting host utility uses Windows commands to execute scripts that programmers have written using a scripting language such as VBScript or Jscript. To run the script, type wscript.exe filename in the Run dialog box.
20. What process is used to replicate a hard drive to a new computer? When might you use this process, and what are some examples of software designed to perform it?
The process of disk cloning or disk imaging is used to replicate a hard drive, such as when you are deploying a new OS to multiple computers in a corporate or educational setting. Some examples of disk cloning software are Drive Image, ImageQuest, and Ghost.
21. How can you tell if your motherboard chip set supports Ultra DMA mode?
By looking in CMOS setup
18. What do you check if you get the error, “Write protect error writing drive A:”?
Check whether the switch over the write-protect window is closed.
23. Does RAID 0 provide fault tolerance? Explain your answer.
RAID-0 does not provide fault tolerance because a single logical drive is spread over two or more physical hard drives. If one fails, the data cannot be recovered from the others. It is designed to increase performance, not provide fault tolerance.
21. Why should you create a disaster recovery plan? What type of information would you include in it?
A disaster recovery plan can help you determine the impact of a disaster, when the last backup was made, and how to recover from the disaster. Include information on backup schedules, how to perform recovery procedures, and the name, type, date, time, and contents of the last backup.
22. Which method of fault tolerance is the least expensive per MB of storage, disk duplexing or disk striping with parity? Explain your answer.
Disk duplexing requires writing the same data twice and also requires an extra controller. Disk striping with parity only writes the data once and requires only one controller. Although the parity information in disk striping with parity does take up some space, it does not take up as much space as the duplicate data in disk duplexing. Therefore, disk duplexing is more expensive.
19. What causes the error Invalid Drive Specification?
You are trying to access a drive that the OS does not recognize
26. Define and explain the differences between viruses, worms, logic bombs, and Trojan horses.
A virus is a program that can replicate by attaching itself to another program. A worm can spread copies of itself throughout a network without a host program. A Trojan host, like a worm, does not need a host program to work; it substitutes itself for, and pretends to be, a legitimate program. A logic bomb is dormant code added to software and triggered by a predetermined event.
27. Where can viruses hide?
Viruses can hide in the boot sector, in a file, in a macro within a file, or in a combination of the boot sector and a file (for a multipartite virus).
28. Name three ways that a virus can hide from antivirus software.
By changing its distinguishing characteristics as it replicates, attempting to mask its presence, transforming itself into a nonreplicating program, masking the size of the file it is hiding in, and temporarily substituting an uninfected file for the one it is hiding in
29. Are boot sector viruses limited to hard drives? Explain.
No. On a floppy disk, a boot sector virus hides in the boot program of the boot sector.
30. What is the most likely way that a virus will get access to your computer?
From e-mail
31. What is the difference between a cross-linked cluster and a lost cluster? What can cause them?
More than one file points to a cross-linked cluster, and no file in the FAT points to lost clusters. Both can occur when the mapping in the FAT becomes corrupted.
1. Explain two disadvantages of data compression
Data is less stable and easier to lose, and performance can suffer because of increased disk access time.
20. If your BIOS does not support a large-capacity drive that you want to install, what five choices do you have?
Let the BIOS see the drive as a smaller drive.
Upgrade the BIOS.
Upgrade the entire motherboard.
Use software that interfaces between the older BIOS and the large-capacity drive.
Use an adapter card that provides the BIOS to substitute for system BIOS.
2. Give the most common drive letter and the filename for a host drive used for data compression.
The most common drive letter is H, and the CVF (compressed volume file) is used to hold everything on the host drive.
3. Explain how DriveSpace compresses a drive.
· DriveSpace does the following things to compress a drive:
· Assigns a different drive letter to the hard drive, such as H
· Compresses the entire contents of the hard drive into a single file on drive H
· Sets up the drive so that Windows 9x and other applications view this compressed file as drive C
· Configures Windows 9x so that each time it boots, the DriveSpace driver will load and manage the compressed drive
4. What file system is necessary to use if a volume is to be compressed under Windows 2000?
NTFS
5. How is a hardware cache different from a software cache?
Some hard drive controllers have a hardware cache built right into the controller circuit board. The BIOS on the controller contains the cache program, and RAM chips on the controller hold the cache.
A software cache is a cache program that is stored on the hard drive like other software and is loaded into memory usually when a computer is booted. The software cache program uses system RAM to hold the cache.
6. Name and define the method DOS used to speed up disk access.
Before disk caching came along, DOS used buffers to speed up disk access. A buffer is an area in memory where data waiting to be read or written is temporarily stored. Buffers are implemented by putting the Buffers=[number] command in Config.sys. This command specifies how many buffers DOS is to make available for use while data is being read.
7. How is disk caching accomplished in Windows 2000? Windows 9x? Windows 3.x with DOS?
· DOS with Windows 3.x used SMARTDrive, a 16-bit real mode software cache utility that came with DOS and Windows 3.x. SMARTDrive caches data both being read from and written to the hard drive and caches data being read from floppy disks.
· Windows 9x has a built-in 32-bit, protected-mode software cache called VCACHE, which is automatically loaded by Windows 9x without entries in Config.sys or Autoexec.bat. VCACHE doesn’t take up conventional memory or upper memory space the way SMARTDrive does, and it does a much better job of caching.
· Versions of Windows after 9x (Windows NT, 2000, and XP) use automated disk caching as an inherited Windows component. When working with caching under these versions of Windows, remember that you can monitor physical disk performance using the counters discussed in Chapter 8.
8. List three third-party utility programs used to support hard drives.
Norton Utilities, SpinRite, and Partition Magic
9. List at least four causes of hard drive problems.
· Corrupted OS files
· Corrupted partition table, boot record, or root directory, making all data on the hard drive inaccessible
· Corruption of the area of the FAT that points to the data, the data’s directory table, or the sector markings where the data is located
· Corruption of the data itself
10. Which Windows OSs use dynamic drives for fault tolerance?
Windows 2000 and Windows XP
22. Which Windows 9x and DOS utility is used to partition a hard drive?
Fdisk
23. How can you tell how many partitions a hard drive has been set up to have?
By choosing option 4 in Fdisk (displays partition information)
24. What question does the Windows 9x partition utility ask in order to use FAT32 instead of the FAT16 file system?
Do you wish to enable large disk support (Y/N)?
25. What is the cluster size for a 1.5-GB partition using FAT16? Using FAT32?
2,048 bytes for FAT16 and BK in FAT32
2. What two types of tables do DOS and Windows 9x use to manage the data on a hard drive?
Partition table and FAT (file allocation table)
3. What is the purpose of the Master Boot Record (MBR) on a hard drive?
Contains the partition table, which lists how many partitions are on a drive, their locations, and which one is the boot partition
4. Given that there are 512 bytes per sector, calculate the hard drive storage for the following: heads: 32, tracks (cylinders): 1,024, sectors/track: 63.
1,056,964,608 bytes
5. Why does the logical geometry sometimes differ from the physical geometry of a hard drive?
The physical geometry is the actual organization of the hard drive, and the logical geometry is the organization communicated to the BIOS. The hard drive controller BIOS masks the actual organization from system BIOS and software, communicating a bogus number of cylinders, sectors, and heads that, when used in calculations, will yield the actual capacity of the drive.
6. How does an OS or other software communicate to the CPU that it wants to access data on a hard drive?
The software calls BIOS by using software interrupt Int 13h and also sends the interrupt request handler the CHS parameters giving the location of data it wants to access.
7. What are three modes that system BIOS can use to relate to hard drives?
CHS mode, ECHS mode (large mode), or LBA mode
8. Which mode must be used for a 10 GB hard drive?
LBA mode
9. Name four ANSI standards for interfacing to hard drives.
IDE/ATA, ATA-2, ATA-3, Ultra ATA, Ultra ATA/66, Ultra ATA/100, Ultra ATA/133
10. What is the proposed new ATA standard that will change the number of bits used to address data on a hard drive?
ATA/ATAPI-6
11. How does block mode give faster access to a hard drive? How can you disable block mode?
Block mode enables multiple transfers of data on a single software interrupt. You can disable block mode in CMOS setup.
12. When installing a hard drive and a CD-ROM drive on the same IDE channel, which do you configure as the master and which as the slave?
The hard drive is the master and the CD-ROM is the slave.
13. Under Windows 98, when would it be appropriate to use FAT16 rather than FAT32 on a new hard drive?
When Windows NT is being installed on the drive
14. What is the largest FAT32 partition allowed by Windows XP?
32 GB
15. What ANSI hard drive interface standards do not use a traditional hard drive cable?
ATA/66, ATA/100, and ATA/133
16. When two drives are connected to the same data cable, how does BIOS know which is the master and which is the slave drive?
Either by jumper or DIP switch settings on the devices or by using a special cable-select data cable
17. If a motherboard has two EIDE connections, how many IDE devices can the system support?
Four
18. If a hard drive is too small to physically fit snugly into the drive bay, what can you do?
Use a universal bay kit to fit the drive securely into the bay.
19. How can you tell which side of a hard driveÂ’s data cable connects to pin 1 on the drive?
By looking at the edge color on the data cable. Pin 1 should be closest to the power connection.
14. What might cause the floppy drive light to remain on after boot is completed?
The floppy drive cable is reversed
15. How can you look at a 31⁄2-inch floppy disk and tell if it is a high-density or double-density disk?
You can tell if you are using a high-density or double-density disk by the see-through holes at the corners of the disk. The high-density disk has holes on two corners; the double-density has a hole on only one corner.
16. How do you format a new floppy disk using an OS command? Using Windows Explorer?
Use the OS command Format A: to format a new disk. In Windows Explorer, right-click the drive and select Format from the shortcut menu.
17. Name at least two file extensions that Windows 9x hides by default and two that it does not
Possible answers: Hides .com, .exe, .sys, and .txt. Does not hide .doc, .ppt, .xls
1. How many sectors per track are there on a 31⁄2-inch high-density floppy disk?
18
2. What two cables are connected to a floppy drive inside a computer?
The data cable and a power cord
3. What symbol is written to a disk to indicate that the track is formatted and data can be written to it?
The ASCII division symbol
4. What is the difference between a sector and a cluster?
Sector refers to how data is organized physically, and cluster refers to how data is logically organized. A cluster can be made up of one or more sectors.
5. What is another name for a cluster?
file allocation unit
6. How does the Format command prepare a disk for use?
Writes track and sector markings on the disk, creates a FAT, a directory table, and a root directory
7. What is the purpose of the boot record on a disk?
The boot record contains information about how the disk is organized, including the number of sectors, the number of sectors per cluster, the number of bits in each FAT entry, and other basic information that an OS or BIOS needs to read the data on the disk.
8. List the contents of the floppy disk boot record.
A floppy disk boot record contains these items:
· Bytes per sector
· Sectors per cluster
· Number of FATs
· Size of the root directory
· Number of sectors
· Medium descriptor byte
· Size of the FAT
· Sectors per track
· Number of heads (always 2)
· Number of hidden sectors
· Program to load the OS
9. In a floppy disk boot record, how many heads will always be reported?
Two
10. If a floppy drive is not working, why is it better to replace the drive than to repair it?
Because floppy drives are so inexpensive
11. What might cause the error, “General failure reading drive A”?
If you put a disk in a faulty drive and then try to access the disk
12. How many bytes long is each directory entry in the root directory? How many bytes are used?
32 bytes, 22 bytes
13. Which bit in the directory attribute byte for a file is used to indicate whether the file is hidden or not?
7th bit
20. List the steps that you would follow to install a new floppy drive as drive B.
· Verify that the computer and its peripherals are working.
· Turn off the computer and remove the cover.
· Unplug the data and power cables from the old drive and unscrew and dismount the drive.
· Slide the new drive into the bay and reconnect the power cable and the data cable, attaching the cable without the twist to indicate drive B.
· Turn the computer on, check the setup, and test the drive.
21. How many pins does a floppy drive data cable have?
34
22. How does the computer distinguish drive A from drive B?
The twist in the data cable indicates drive A.
23. What is the best way to find out whether a device is causing a problem during a troubleshooting session?
Replace the drive with a known good one
24. What do errors in the 600 range indicate?
Floppy drive errors
25. Besides the physical condition of the drive, what should you check when troubleshooting a floppy drive?
Possible answers:
The cable might be damaged or loose
The cable might be oriented incorrectly
The power cord might be loose
The power might not be available to the drive (bad power supply or bad power cord)
1. If a hard drive has three platters, how many heads does it have?
Six
1. Identify three things that may cause monitor flicker
Poor cable connections, accumulated magnetic fields, electrical noise, vertical scan frequency below 60 Hz, screen resolution set too high
2. What is the value of installing additional video RAM?
Enables you to use higher resolution on your monitor, more colors, and alpha blending. The more features there are to the video display, the more memory is required.
3. Describe what to do if youÂ’ve just spilled soda pop on your keyboard
Replace the keyboard. You might be able to salvage the keyboard by thoroughly rinsing it in running water.
4. Explain how to check that chips on a video card are properly seated in their sockets.
Remove the card from the expansion slot and, using a screwdriver, press down firmly on each corner of each socketed chip on the card.
5. In Windows 2000, when troubleshooting problems with a monitor, why would you enter safe mode?
To allow the OS to select a generic display driver and low resolution
6. Describe how to boot Windows 98 into safe mode.
Press F8 during startup to cause the startup menu to display. Then use the arrow keys to select safe mode from the startup menu. You can also press F5 at startup to enter safe mode directly, bypassing the startup menu.
7. Why would an external modem cost more than an internal modem?
Because an external modem has the added cost of an external case, power source, and data cable
8. Name three possible ways a scanner might interface with a motherboard.
Through a SCSI port, a USB port, or through FireWire
9. By definition, what system resources does COM1 use? COM2? COM3? COM4?
COM1—IRQ 4, memory addresses 03F8-3FF
COM2—IRQ 3, memory addresses 02F8-2FF
COM3—IRQ 4, memory addresses 03E8-3EF
COM4—IRQ 3, memory addresses 02E8-2EF
10. To what does RS-232 refer?
Reference Standard 232 revision c. This is the standard for the serial port, which is sometimes called the RS-232 port.
11. How many pins are on a typical serial mouse port?
9
12. Why is AGP technology described as being more like a port than a bus?
Because it does not allow for expandability and only supports a single card
13. What is a null modem cable, and what is it often used for?
A null modem cable is a special cable that connects two DTE devices and allows them to transmit data. It can be used for fast, accurate data transfer.
14. What is the name of the technology within the chip set that controls the speed of serial ports?
UART
15. Why might you choose to use ECP mode for your parallel port rather than EPP mode?
If you need greater speed
16. When might you need to disable ECP mode for a parallel port?
If you are having problems with resource conflicts
17. How would you disable a serial port on a motherboard?
Use CMOS setup
18. What Windows OSs support USB? Include the OS version numbers where that information is important.
Windows 95 OSR 2.1 was the first Microsoft OS to support USB, although Windows 98 offers much improved USB support. Windows 95 with the USB update, Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows XP support USB, but Windows NT does not.
19. What is the maximum speed of Original USB? Of Hi-Speed USB?
12 Mbps, 480 Mbps
20. What is the maximum length of a USB Hi-Speed cable?
Five meters
21. What are two other names for FireWire? What is the data throughput for FireWire?
ILink and IEEE 1394
22. List the steps in Windows 9x to display the list of I/O addresses currently in use.
Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, System, and then Device Manager. Click Computer and then Properties. Select the View Resources tab. From this tab, you can view current assignments for IRQs, I/O addresses, DMA channels, and upper memory addresses.
23. When installing a device, why would you prefer to use a PCI expansion slot rather than an ISA expansion slot?
Because a PCI device is easier to configure than an ISA device and the PCI bus is faster than the ISA bus
24. If PCI is attempting to use an IRQ that is used by a legacy ISA device, how can you force PCI to not use the IRQ?
Go into CMOS setup and tell BIOS to reserve the IRQ to be used by an ISA device
25. What criteria affect how much video RAM is needed for a video card to hold one frame buffer?
Screen resolution, color depth, and enhancements to color information (alpha blending)
26. Give three examples of monitor screen sizes. How are monitor screen sizes measured?
14-, 15-, 17, and 21-inch screen sizes. Screen size describes the diagonal length of the screen surface.
27. Which provides better quality, an interlaced monitor or a noninterlaced monitor? Why?
Noninterlaced, because it draws the entire screen on each pass
28. What type of monitor can offer a variety of refresh rates?
Multiscan
29. What makes a device an ergonomic device?
If it is designed for safe and comfortable interaction between human and machine
30. How many pins are there on a DIN connector and a PS/2 connector for a keyboard?
Five pins on a DIN connector; six pins on the smaller PS/2 connector
31. What three colors are used to build all colors on a color monitor screen?
red, green, and blue
32. Which gives better image quality, a .25-mm dot pitch monitor or a .28-mm dot pitch monitor? Why?
.25, because the smaller the pitch, the sharper the image
33. If a mouse begins to be difficult to operate, what simple thing can you do to help?
Remove the cover to the mouse ball and the mouse ball itself, and clean the rollers with a cotton swab dipped in a very small amount of liquid soap
1. What must be true before MMX, SSE, and 3DNow! technology can improve multimedia performance on a PC?
The applications and hardware devices must be designed to use the technology.
2. What is the significance of the multisession feature on a CD-ROM drive?
The drive can read a disk that has been created in multiple sessions rather than having been written all at once.
3. Name three ways a CD-ROM drive can interface with a motherboard.
· An IDE interface, sharing an IDE connection and/or cable with a hard drive. These drives use the ATAPI standard.
· A SCSI interface with a SCSI host adapter.
· A proprietary expansion card that works only with CD-ROMs from a particular manufacturer
· A proprietary connection on a sound card
· For portable drives, an external port (such as a USB or SCSI port) on your PC
4. Which side of a CD contains data?
The bright side (not the side with the label)
5. If a CD-ROM drive and a hard drive are sharing the same data cable in a computer system, what type of connection is the CD-ROM drive using? Which of the two drives should be set to master? Which to slave?
The CD-ROM drive is using an IDE connection. The hard drive should be set to master and the CD-ROM drive to slave.
6. What unit of measure is used to express the sampling rate of a sound card?
hertz (Hz)
7. Why must sound and video on a PC be converted from analog to digital?
Analog data is smooth and continuous, whereas digital data, such as the binary data used in computers, has distinct gradations. The process of producing digital data by measuring data at a series of representative points is called sampling.
8. What is the sampling rate (in Hz) of music CDs?
44,100 Hz
9. How many samples can be stored in 8 bits?
256
10. What would be a quick, short test to see if a sound card was successfully installed?
Play a music CD
11. In a system that uses a CD-ROM drive instead of a DVD drive, the audio wire connects the____to the_____.
CD-ROM drive, sound card
12. Why would you want to retension a backup tape?
Retensioning fast-forwards and rewinds the tape to eliminate any loose spots. Some backup software requires this.
13. Which holds more data, a Jaz drive or a Zip drive?
A Jaz drive
14. How is data transfer different for MP3 players and digital cameras?
MP3 files are downloaded from the PC to the MP3 player, in contrast to a digital camera, where data is transferred or uploaded from the camera to the PC.
15. Name three advantages that MMX technology added to the Pentium proces-sor family.
MMX technology added new instructions designed for repetitive processing, more efficient ways to pass those instructions to the CPU, and increased CPU cache.
16. With which Pentium chip was SSE introduced?
Pentium III
17. What is the significance of Sound Blaster compatibility for a sound card?
A Sound Blaster-compatible card can understand the commands sent to it that have been written for Sound Blaster.
18. Which plug on a sound card is used to send sound out?
The speaker port, which is generally the center port and is often green
19. What is the difference between MPEG, JPEG, and MP3? Explain what each one is used for.
MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) is a standard for data compression for motion pictures, video and audio. JPEG is a standard for data compression for photographs and graphics. MP3 is a popular version of MPEG that is used for data compression for audio.
20. Name at least four features you should look for when buying a video capture card.
· A FireWire interface
· Data transfer rates
· Capture resolution and color-depth capabilities
· Ability to transfer data back to the digital camcorder or VCR
· Stereo audio jacks
· Video editing software bundled with the card
21. What are the three ways that data on a DVD can be decoded?
· Decoder software installed on the hard drive
· Decoder card installed in an expansion slot
· Decoder is part of firmware on a video capture card
22. What is the most popular way an internal DVD drive interfaces with a motherboard?
IDE connection
23. What is the difference between CD-ROM, CD-R, and CD-RW drives?
A CD-ROM is read-only. A CD-R is recordable once. A CD-RW is rewriteable, meaning that you can write new data over old data.
24. Rank these storage methods in order of their storage capacity: DVD, floppy disk, CD-ROM, tape.
From least to greatest: floppy disk, CD-ROM, DVD, tape
25. Name four ways that a tape drive can interface with a computer
· Parallel port
· SCSI bus
· Proprietary controller card or floppy drive interface
· IDE ATAPI interface
1. What are the three core components of Windows 9x?
GDI, user, and kernel
2. Give three reasons why it is preferable to use 32-bit drivers over older 16-bit drivers
32-bit programs are faster, can be stored in extended memory (releasing more of the first megabyte of memory), and can be dynamically loaded into memory when they are needed and removed when they are not needed.
3. What is the function of the Autorun.inf file included on the Windows 9x installation CD? the Setup.exe file? the Readme.txt file?
Autorun.inf launches the interactive interface for the CD. Readme.txt explains the layout of the CD and gives locations for other readme files. Setup.exe begins installation of the OS.
4. List at least five things you need to do to prepare your hard drive for an upgrade install of Windows 9x.
· Delete all folders on the hard drive used for the OS or applications.
· Verify that you have enough space on the hard drive.
· Run ScanDisk and antivirus software.
· Run a current version of antivirus software to check for viruses.
· If you are upgrading from Windows 3.x, save configuration files so that you can backtrack to it if necessary.
· Check Config.sys and Autoexec.bat for potential problems.
· Convert problematic TSRs to remarks by typing REM at the beginning of the appropriate command line in Config.sys or Autoexec.bat.
· If you are connected to a network, verify that the connection is working.
· If you are upgrading from Windows 95 to Windows 98, create a Windows 95 rescue disk for use in the event the installation fails.
· Decide if you want to use FAT16 or FAT32 for your file system.
· If you are installing Windows on a compressed drive, be aware that the registry can reside on any compressed drive, but the swap file can reside on a compressed drive only if it is compressed using protected-mode software such as DriveSpace. Best practice is to back up the data and then uncompress the drive. You can later compress it using Windows 98 DriveSpace.
5. What are the four types of installations that you can choose during setup of Windows 9x?
Typical, portable, compact, and custom
6. What are the log files Setuplog.txt, Detlog.txt, and Detcrash.log used for?
Setuplog.txt is used by Windows to determine how far it got into the installation when it is recovering from a crash. Detlog.txt keeps a record of hardware detected. Detcrash.log is a binary file used by Windows to help recover from a crash caused by a problem in hardware
7. What type of disk should you always create when prompted to do so during Windows 9x setup? Why is this such an important step?
Always create the emergency startup disk when prompted to do so because it can help you recover from a failed boot later.
8. Give two different situations in which Windows keyboard shortcuts might be useful.
Keyboard shortcuts are sometimes faster for experienced typists, and they are useful when the mouse is not usable during some troubleshooting situations.
9. What is the Windows keyboard shortcut to display the startup menu while Windows is loading? to go through step-by-step confirmation of startup? to move from one loaded application to another?
F8 or Ctrl, Shift + F8, Alt + Tab
10. How do you access the Display Properties window? What are two settings you can change from this window?
Right-click anywhere on the desktop and select Properties from the shortcut window to access Display Properties. From this window, you can change background, screensaver, color scheme, icon settings, Active Desktop properties, color range, and display size.
11. When adding hardware to Windows 9x, how do you indicate that you want to use a Windows driver? a manufacturer-provided or downloaded driver?
To use a Windows driver, select hardware from a list of devices. To use a manufacturer-provided or downloaded driver, click Have Disk.
12. Use the ________applet in Control Panel when installing 32-bit software designed for Windows 9x. Use the ____option on the Start menu when installing older 16-bit software
Add/Remove Programs, Run
13. How is memory management in Windows 9x similar to memory management under DOS? How is it different?
As with DOS, memory in Windows 9x is organized as conventional, upper, and extended. However, Windows 9x has improved memory allocation and automation of memory management.
14. Define memory paging. What problem can excessive memory paging cause? What are some symptoms of this problem?
Memory paging involves swapping blocks of memory stored in RAM to the hard drive. Excessive memory paging can cause disk thrashing, in which the VMM spends excessive amounts of time moving pages in and out of RAM. Symptoms of this problem include very high CPU use, very slow system response, and constant hard drive use.
15. What is a comment line? How is a comment line noted within a file?
A line in an initialization file ignored by an application, noted by putting REM or a semicolon at the beginning of the line.
16. Explain the purpose of the System Configuration Utility. How would you use it in troubleshooting?
The System Configuration Utility is used to limit what components load during the boot process. It can be used during the troubleshooting process to reduce the system to its essentials.
17. The Windows registry takes over the functions of ___files
Initialization (.ini)
18. Name four configuration files that Windows 9x includes for backward compatibility with legacy software and hardware.
Autoexec.bat, Config.sys, System.ini, Win.ini
19. The Windows registry is contained in two files, _____ and _____. The Windows 95 backups of these files are called _____ and _____.
System.dat and User.dat, System.da0 and User.da0
20. Which version of Windows includes the Registry Checker? How often does this utility back up the registry?
Windows 98/Me includes the Registry checker, which backs up the registry each day.
21. Explain the difference between the Regedit and Scanreg utilities
The Regedit utility is used to edit the registry, and the Scanreg utility backs up, verifies, and recovers the registry.
22. Name the files that Sysedit automatically displays for editing. Give a short description of each.
· Protocol.ini—Contains information about the configuration of the network
· System.ini—Contains hardware settings and multitasking options for Windows
· Win.ini—Contains information about user settings
· Config.sys and Autoexec.bat—text files that can contain settings for environmental commands and variables to load drivers and TSRs. Windows 9x does not need these two files but supports them for backward compatibility.
23. List the five phases of the Windows 9x boot process and give a short description of each.
· BIOS POST and bootstrap, in which BIOS boots the PC
· Loading of the OS, in which BIOS turns control over to Io.sys, which checks configuration files
· Loading of static, real-mode VxDs, in which Io.sys relinquishes control to the VMM
· Switchover to protected mode and configuration of PnP, in which Vmm.vxd loads the Configuration Manager, which is responsible for configuring legacy and PnP devices
· Loading of remaining components, in which Vmm.vxd loads the kernel, GUI, and user components as well as fonts and other resources
24. Explain how the file Setver.exe is used in Windows 9x.
Windows 9x includes Setver.exe for backward compatibility. This file “asks” a DOS application what version of DOS it expects to use and presents DOS components to that application as if they were all from the same version of DOS, as the DOS application expects.
25. What Msdos.sys entry can be used to backtrack from a Windows 9x installation to the underlying version of DOS? What happens when this entry is set to =0? to =1?
The BootGUI=0 entry in Msdos.sys boots the system to a command prompt, and BootGUI=1 enables automatic GUI startup into Windows 9x.
26. Give three ways you can cause an application to load at startup. Explain how to keep an application from loading at startup if you donÂ’t want it to.
To load an application at startup, you can place a shortcut in the C:\Windows\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp folder, put the name of the program in the Load= or Run= line in Win.ini, or manually edit the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run.
To prevent an application from loading at startup, delete it from the Start Menu folder, or edit the registry.
27. Place these tools in the order in which you would use them when troubleshooting the Windows 9x boot process: emergency startup disk, safe mode, error messages, and the command prompt.
Error messages, Safe Mode, command prompt, ESD
28. List the options on the Windows 9x startup menu and give a short description of each. Which option appears for Windows 95 but not for Windows 98, and why? Which option appears for Windows 95/98, but not for Windows Me?
· Normal—Starts Windows 9x, when BootGUI=1 in Msdos.sys, or boots to a DOS prompt if BootGUI=0. Either way, the commands in Autoexec.bat and Config.sys will be executed.
· Logged (Bootlog.txt)—Same as the Normal option except that Windows 9x tracks the load and startup activities and logs them to the Bootlog.txt file.
· Safe Mode—Starts Windows 9x with a minimum default configuration to give you an opportunity to correct an error in configuration.
· Safe Mode with network support—Allows access to the network when booting into Safe Mode. This option is available with Windows 95 but not with Windows 98/Me, which automatically includes support for networks when you boot into Safe Mode.
· Step-by-step confirmation—Asks for confirmation before executing each command in Io.sys, Autoexec.bat, and Config.sys.
· Command prompt only—Executes the contents of Autoexec.bat and Config.sys but does not start Windows 9x.
· Safe Mode command prompt only—Boots to a command prompt but does not execute the contents of Autoexec.bat and Config.sys
· Previous version of Ms-dos—Loads a previous version of DOS if one is present. This option is not available with Windows 98 SE or Windows Me.
29. Which startup menu options execute Autoexec.bat and Config.sys? Which do not?
Safe Mode, Safe Mode with network support, and Safe Mode command prompt only do not execute Autoexec.bat and Config.sys. All the other options do execute the commands in these files.
30. What Windows utility allows you to control what drivers are loaded during Windows startup?
Automatic Skip Driver Agent
_____ is a Windows utility that can record detailed information about the system, errors that occur, and the programs that caused them in a log file.
Dr. Watson
32. What parts of the Windows load does safe mode not execute?
Safe Mode does not execute entries in the Registry, Config.sys, Autoexec.bat, and the [Boot] and [386Enh] sections of System.ini.
33. Name two ways to end an application that is hung without rebooting the PC.
One way is to press Ctrl+Alt+Del and select the program in the Close Program dialog box and click End Task. You can also end an application from Task Manager, which you access by typing taskman in the Run dialog box.

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