Comptia A+ Core 2 (220-1202)

SOP

Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is a step-by-step list of the actions that must be completed for any given task to comply with policy.

Policy

is an overall statement of intent

a set of basic principles and associated guidelines.

Procedures

A procedure is a set of specified steps or actions.

Regulations

Federal and state laws that regulate business and industries.

3 examples of SOP's

1. Custom installation of software packages

2. New-user setup checklist

3. End-user termination checklist

Service Level Agreement (SLA)

define the level of service requirements from an internal department or external, third-party vendor.

Escalation

occurs when an agent cannot resolve the ticket

What is a knowledge base?

A repository for articles that answer frequently asked questions (FAQs).

What does a knowledge base document?

Common or significant troubleshooting scenarios and examples.

Lessons learned report

An analysis of events that can provide insight into how to improve response and support processes in the future.

What is the purpose of an incident report?

To identify underlying causes and recommend remediation steps or preventive measures to mitigate the risk of a repeat of the issue.

Who does an incident report solicit opinions from?

Users/customers, technicians, managers, and stakeholders with business or ownership interest in the problem.

AUP (Acceptable Use Policy)

sets out what someone is allowed to use a particular service or resource for.

Splash screen

Displaying terms of use or other restrictions before use of a computer or app is allowed.

NOS

Network Operating Systems. Windows Server 2019, 2022, and 2025

Journaling

When data is written to an NTFS volume, it is re-read, verified, and logged. Journaling makes recovery after power outages and crashes faster and more reliable.

NTFS (New Technology File System)

a proprietary file system developed by Microsoft for use with Windows.

not very compatible across operating systems.

many OSes will read NTFS but not write.

Supports large files.

File system

System that track an organization's finances, including budgets, spending, and cost estimates

ReFS (Resilient File System)

update to NTFS.

server 2012 and later, limited support in Windows 8.1 and later.

supports very large drives and storage arrays.

self-repairing, ongoing integrity checks.

exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table)

is a 64-bit version of FAT designed for use with removable hard drives and flash media. support up to 512 TB.

flash drive storage. compatible across windows, Linux, and macOS

FAT32 (File Allocation Table)

a 32-bit allocation table, nominally supporting volumes up to 2 TB.

max file size of 4 gigs.

End-of-life system

Product life cycle phase where mainstream vendor support is no longer available.

HFS+

Hierarchical File System Plus; used by Mac OSX; was replaced by APFS

True or False: Both exFAT and NTFS support volumes over 32 GB and files over 4 GB.

True

Sidecar

use iPad as a second monitor for a mac

ext4

linux and android OS

update to ext3

xfs

high performance file system for Linux

scalability, journaling built-in, high speed processing, and minimal fragmentation

APFS

Apple File System - used in macOS High Sierra or later

Indexing Options (Control Panel)

are specifically designed to optimize and manage the search functionality.

how and where Windows searches for files and folder's

Alt + Tab

Switch between open programs

What does WSL stand for?

Windows Subsystem for Linux

In Windows 10 Ease of Access (Windows 11 Accessibility), where does a support technician find narrator?

Vision group

MMC (mmc.exe)

Microsoft Management Console (MMC) multiple snap-ins to schedule tasks and configure local users and groups, disks, services, devices, and so on

resmon.exe (Resource Monitor) and perfmon.msc (Performance Monitor)

View and log performance statistics.

- gather long term statistics.

- OS metrics, set alerts and automated actions, and built-in reports.

eventvwr.msc

- Event viewer

- Review system, security, and application logs.

Task Scheduler (taskschd.msc)

Run software and scripts according to calendar or event triggers.

- includes predefined schedules

cleanmgr.exe (Disk Cleanup)

Windows disk cleanup utility

regain disk capacity by deleting unwanted files.

secpol.msc (Local security policy)

view and edit security settings.

Win + X

Open the Quick Link menu

Win + R

Open the Run dialog box

hibernate mode

saves the state of your computer to the hard disk and completely powers off your computer. When the device resumes, the saved state is restored to RAM, and you can pick up where you left off.

External hardware tokens

is a smart card or USB form factor device that stores some cryptographic user identification data.

What are the two main macOS package installer formats?

- disk image (DMG) used for simple installs where the package contents just need to be copied to the Application folder

- PKG format used where app setup needs to perform additional actions (such as running a service or writing files)

distribution method

is the means by which the vendor makes it available to install.

Windows file extensions for installation

.exe or .msi

Linux file extensions for applications

deb packages with APT package manager or Dandified YUM (DNF)

Group Policy

- Management Console

-Integrated with Active Directory

- Powerful system management

- gpmc.msc

Local Group Policy

- Manages the local device

- gpedit.msc

WOW64

Windows-on-Windows 64-bit is a subsystem of the windows operating system that allows 32-bit applications to run on 64-bit versions of Windows.

devmgmt.msc

Device Manager

-device drivers are hardware specific

-older device drivers may not work in windows 10 or 11

diskmgmt.msc Disk Management

-individual computers and file servers

- Console related to initializing, partitioning, and formatting disk drives.

-manage disk operations.

What is Storage Spaces?

A Windows feature for creating a single storage resource from multiple devices.

How does Storage Spaces protect data?

By using RAID-like mirroring or parity.

Defragmentation

A utility that reduces the amount of fragmentation by physically organizing the contents of the disk to store the pieces of each file contiguously.

Local Users and Groups (lusrmgr.msc)

Console for creating and managing user and group accounts with the authentication and permissions scope of the local system.

- administrators, guest, and (everyone else) regular users

certmgr.msc

Certificate Manager

view user and trusted certs

add and remove

Command Prompt (CMD)

Interface for executing commands in Windows.

change directory

chdir / cd

make directory

mkdir / md

remove directory

rmdir / rd

move command

Command-line tool for moving files in Windows.

copy command

Command-line tool for copying files in Windows.

robocopy

a better version of xcopy

robust copy

xcopy

Copies files and directory trees

this is less preferred than robocopy

dir

list files and directories in current folder

diskpart

Windows command-line utility used for managing disks, partitions, and volumes.

. .

two dots/periods

the folder above the current folder

chkdsk

used to check the integrity of a disk and repair file system errors

sfc (System File Checker) command

Command-line utility that checks the integrity of system and device driver files.

sfc /scannow

runs a scan immediately

Which commands displays information on how to use other commands?

help

/?

shutdown /s /t nn

Wait nn seconds, then shutdown

shutdown /r /t nn

Shutdown and restart after nn seconds

shutdown /a

abort the shutdown

winver command

Command-line tool for reporting Windows version information.

gpupdate /force

force a group policy update

whoami command

Displays current username and domain information

cd ..

change the current directory to the immediate parent directory.

Network Interface Card (NIC)

Adapter card that provides one or more Ethernet ports for connecting hosts to a network so that they can exchange data over a link.

network boot method (PXE)

- preboot eXecution environment

- perform a network installation

-computer must support booting with PXE

Zero-touch deployment

An automatic install.

- seamless user experience

Formatted partitions are called

volumes

GPT (GUID Partition Table)

- Globally Unique Identifier

- The latest partition format standard

- Requires a UEFI BIOS

- Can have up to 128 partitions

- No need for extended partitions or logical drives

MBR (Master Boot Record)

- the old standby, with all of the old limitations

- max partition size is 2 TB

- supports up to 4 primary partitions

In-place upgrade

Upgrades the existing OS but keep all applications, documents, and settings in place.

Clean install

Wipe everything and reload the OS.

What do you need to check before installing a new OS?

Check the memory, disk space, etc. And the recommended hardware requirements.

PC Health Check for Windows 11

Feature Updates

annual update with new features

Quality Updates

Monthly security updates and bug fixes.

TPM (Trusted Platform Module)

Security hardware on the motherboard.

Used for BitLocker, Windows hello.

Example of a FQDN

userhost.comptia

This includes both the name of the host as well as the domain it is on.

FQDN

Fully Qualified Domain Name

Cannot be joined to a domain

Windows Home edition

What is the maximum amount of RAM supported by Windows 10 Pro for Workstations and Enterprise editions?

6 TB

What is the maximum amount of RAM a Windows 10 home edition can support?

128 GB

What is the maximum amount of RAM a Windows 10 pro edition can support?

2 TB

What is the maximum amount of RAM supported by any 32-bit version of the Windows operating system?

4 GB

Windows 11 Home

- designed for home use

- no Active Directory

- includes device encryption (stores recovery info in the user's Microsoft account)

Windows 11 Pro

- designed for business

- integrates with Active Directory

- bit locker encryption

- remote access

- Microsoft Hyper-V

Windows 11 Enterprise

- built for large company deployments

- includes MDM (Mobile Device Management) and MAM (Mobile Application Management)

- support for ReFS