A+ Study Guide (220-701)

This is our study guide for CompTIA's A+ certification exam (220-701). We hope you find this

guide useful in your studies. Listed below is the breakdown of the test percentages by domain,

which should help prioritize your studying:

Domain 1.0: Hardware

Domain 1.1: Categorize storage devices and backup media

FDD: Floppy disk drive. Magnetic storage device that uses a read/write head to read,

record and erase data onto a floppy disk. Data is stored in binary fashion (0s and 1s).

Standard data capacity for floppy disks is 1.44 megabytes (MB), although capacities

ranging from 360 kilobytes (KB) to 2.88 MB were available over the lifetime of the

technology. Considered obsolete since the PC99 standards, although still available on

legacy systems and some specialty machines.

HDD: Hard disk drive. Basic unit of permanent storage for computers. Works on

same principle as floppy drives, except much larger capacities (< 1 terabyte (TB)

currently) and the disks are solid platters. Majority of hard drives use magnetic

storage and mechanical spindles and armatures, which make hard drives a vulnerable

point for failure. Common interface types for hard drives include SCSI, EIDE and the

current standard, SATA. In external versions, USB and IEEE 1394 (known as

FireWire on Apple systems) interfaces are also common.

o Currently, more computers are being released with solid state drives or

devices (SSD), which use non-volatile flash memory to store data, similar to

USB flash drives. SSDs are much faster, are less prone to failure since they

have no mechanical parts and last longer. However, they are far more

expensive, and not presently available in the same capacities as traditional

hard drives. Apple uses SSD devices in many of their newer models, such as

the MacBook Air, and manufacturers like Toshiba are following suit with

Windows-based laptops.

Optical drives: An optical drive is a storage device that uses a laser to read data

encoded on discs in pits and lands, which mimic 0s and 1s. The first optical drives

were CD-ROM drives, which could only read data. Soon, CD-writers were

introduced, followed by DVD-ROMs and then DVD-writers. DVD-writers, in DVD-

R, DVD-RW and DVD+RW formats, are currently the standard (most DVD-writers

Domain Percentage of Examination 1.0 Hardware 27%

2.0 Troubleshooting, Repair & Maintenance

20%

3.0 Operating System and Software 20% 4.0 Networking 15% 5.0 Security 8% 6.0 Operational Procedure 10% Total 100%

can write CDs as well), but Blu-ray drives, which use a higher-frequency laser and

smaller tracks to increase data capacity several times greater than DVDs, are gaining

in popularity. Like hard drives, common interface types include SCSI, EIDE and

SATA, plus USB and IEEE 1394 for external versions.

Removable storage: Refers to a type of storage that is not fixed inside a computer, but

can be easily transported or removed from a system without disassembly. There are

several types of removable storage, which have different capabilities and are used for

different purposes, including archiving and system backup.

o Tape drive: Tape drives are magnetic media devices that use a rolling

magnetized read/write head to read or write data onto cassettes using magnetic

ribbon, or ―tapes,‖ as storage. Tape cassettes range in storage capacity from

about 20 GB to over 1 TB, and are low-cost, reliable technology. However,

data stored on tape is recorded, and can only be accessed, sequentially, and

tape drives are slow compared to other media. Data can be stored in

compressed or uncompressed format. Common tape formats include DDS-1,

DAT72, DLT-4 and TR-7. Drives can be internal or external.

o Solid state devices: As mentioned earlier, solid state devices (SSD) are storage

units that have no mechanical parts; they use non-volatile flash memory to

store data. As a result, they last longer as they are not prone to mechanical

failure, do not generate excessive heat and use less power. The technology is

still expensive, so most SSDs are smaller devices, such as USB flash drives

and SD cards, generally used in cell phones and cameras. However, some

manufacturers are using 2.5‖ SSD drives in their laptops, such as Apple and

Toshiba.

o External CD-RW and hard drives: CD-rewritable drives (CD-RW) are optical

drives that can ―erase‖ certain types of discs by altering the physical state of

the reflective layer of these discs, from an amorphous solid to a crystalline

state. After the reflective layer has been changed by the laser, the data is

erased and the disc can be written to again, by using the laser to selectively

change state of pieces of the reflective dye layer to create pits and lands. CD-

RW discs are more sensitive than regular CD-ROM and CD-R discs, but are

virtually identical in appearance and function. External hard drives are

generally identical in construction and function as internal hard drives, the

only differences being external drives are encased in a cage or shell of some

sort and external drives come with an integrated circuit board and connector

that allows them to connect to a computer through a USB or IEEE 1394 port.

o Hot-swappable vs. non-hot-swappable devices: A device that is ―hot

swappable‖ can be plugged into a computer without shutting the machine

down and used with little to no effort from the user. Most storage devices,

such as internal hard disks and optical drives, are non-hot-swappable, whereas

virtually all USB devices are. Some early SCSI drives were hot swappable.

Domain 1.2: Explain motherboard components, types and features

Form factor: Refers to the physical dimensions of a product, generally the

motherboard when used in a computer context. The form factor of cases is often cited,

but this is based on the motherboard style. Each form factor commonly used has a

specific format and set of specifications.

o ATX/BTX: ATX, first developed by Intel and introduced in 1995, is the most

commonly used form factor. A full-size ATX board is 12‖ by 9.6‖, although

some variations on the form factor are smaller. ATX standardized many

aspects of motherboards, including the use of PS/2 ports for mouse and

keyboard, the placement of the CPU closer to the RAM expansion slots so as

to leave room for long expansion cards, the direction of air movement out of

the case due to fans, and the use of the 20-pin P1 power connector to provide

3.3 volts, +5 volts and +12 volts. Later revisions provided auxiliary 4-pin and

8-pin connectors for processors, as well as the newer 24-pin P1 power

connectors. Another change the ATX form factor introduced was the use of

―soft power‖ switches to control the power supply, instead of a direct

hardware switch. BTX, introduced by Intel in 2003, was intended to replace

ATX, but has not been adopted widely; Intel canceled further development in

2006, which made room for manufacturers to use more proprietary designs.

BTX boards, which emphasize low thermal footprints, airflow parallel to

major components and placement of components to minimize latency, are not

compatible with ATX cases, although BTX boards can use ATX power

supplies. Full-size BTX boards measure approximately 12.8‖ by 10.5‖.

o microATX: Introduced in 1997, microATX is a fully backward-compatible

(with ATX) form factor that uses less power than a full ATX board, primarily

through integrating many functions (video card, sound card, NIC) and

reducing the number of expansion slots to a maximum of four. The largest

microATX motherboard is 9.6‖ by 9.6‖, but can range down to 6.75‖ by

6.75‖. Some variations on the microATX standard, such as FlexATX, were

released, but are relatively uncommon.

o NLX: First released in the late 1990s, NLX was a form factor designed for

low-end PCs, and was intended to replace the LPX specification. NLX was

distinguished by its low profile and use of a riser card for expansion slots; the

motherboard itself had only one slot, which was used for the riser card, which

also had floppy and hard drive connectors. NLX boards used the ATX power

specification, and thus used ATX power supplies. NLX boards measured

approximately 10‖ by 9‖, and have been mostly supplanted by the microATX

and similar form factors.

I/O interfaces: Refers to the various ports and expansion slots used to connect the

computer to various hardware devices that can send data into the computer (input)

and accept data from the computer (output). Most computers have multiple I/O

interfaces, which are controlled by software—either applications or device drivers—

and are often expected to follow certain standards, either from the manufacturer or

from third parties such as Energy Star, a joint program run by the U.S. Department of

Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency.

o Sound: Often integrated into the motherboard, sound cards allow the capture

and playback of digital and analog sound files. If on a separate card, sound

cards often use PCI or PCI-Express slots, although there are other varieties.

Current sound cards use traditional TRS jacks, or mini-jacks, and S/PDIF

(Sony/Philips Digital Interconnect Format) as output connectors, allowing

output ranging from 2-channel to 8-channel stereo, as well as several

compression/playback standards, ranging from surround sound to Dolby

TrueHD. Most sound cards follow the de facto Sound Blaster-compatible

standard, and have internal connectors allowing CD/DVD drives to connect

directly to the sound card and thus bypass the central processing unit (CPU).

o Video: Video cards are adapters, either separate cards or integrated into the

motherboard, which are designed to output data to a monitor or display

mechanism that will display the signal as visual data. Common interfaces

include VGA, DVI and HDMI, which is used for high definition TVs and

monitors. If not integrated into the motherboard, video cards are generally

installed in AGP or PCI-Express slots, although other options—mainly on

older computers—are available. Due to the demands of modern games and

high-end graphics applications, many midrange and high-end video cards have

separate memory, processors and cooling systems. Most modern computers

can support dual video cards for dual monitor setups, and some machines can

support more.

o USB 1.1 and 2.0: The Universal Serial Bus (USB) specification was originally

developed to provide a faster, simpler connection between computers and

various devices. Introduced in 1996, the first version of USB specified a 12

million bits per second (Mbit/s) data transfer rate; USB 1.1, which was the

first widely adopted version, allowed a 12 Mbit/s transfer rate for high-speed

devices and 1.5 Mbit/s for lower-speed devices, such as mice. USB 2.0, often

known as Hi-Speed USB, allows for data transfer speeds up to 480 Mbit/s and

is backward-compatible with USB 1.1. The most recent revision is USB 3.0,

or SuperSpeed USB, which offers a maximum possible data transfer rate of

5.0 gigabits per second (Gbit/s), which is about 10 times faster than USB 2.0.

USB devices can be daisy-chained, regardless of version, to connect up to 127

devices, although power limitations of the USB bus require virtually all of the

devices in the chain to have their own power supply. USB connections have

four wires—two for power, two for signal transmission—and can use cables

with a maximum length of three meters for USB 1.1 devices and five meters

for USB 2.0 devices.

o Serial: Serial ports were one of the first connectivity standards on PCs. Also

known as DB9 or DB25 ports, depending on the pin configuration, serial ports

were created for devices such as mice or external modems. Serial ports were

defined by the RS-232 standard, the most recent version of which is RS-232c.

Because of their common usage as modem ports, they are also referred to as

COM 1/2/3/4 or UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter) ports.

Serial ports send data one bit at a time, which makes for slow transmission,

especially when compared to parallel ports. Serial ports are generally male

connectors, and can be disabled in the BIOS if needed, since serial

connections are rarely used. These ports are set by default to the I/O address

and interrupt request (IRQ) settings of 3F8 and IRQ 4 (for COM 1) and 2F8

and IRQ 3 (for COM 2).

o IEEE 1394/FireWire: First developed by Apple, IEEE 1394 (also known as

FireWire or i.Link) is a serial bus interface designed to provide high-speed

data transfer between computers and external devices. Data is sent

isochronously, or without interruption, making IEEE 1394 useful for real-time

applications and streaming multimedia. IEEE 1394 devices are hot-pluggable,

and can be daisy-chained in a series of up to 63 devices. Currently, there are

two common standards: 1394a and 1394 b; although 1394c – which allows

FireWire speeds over a standard network port – was published in 2007, it isn’t

commonly used. 1394a (often known as FireWire 400) and 1394b (FireWire

800) support maximum data transfer speeds of 400 Mbps and 3.2 Gbps

respectively, though device limitations mean 1394b connections reach a

practical maximum of 800 Mbps. 1394a cables can reach a maximum length

of 4.5 meters (15 feet), allow up to 16 cables to be daisy-chained and come in

4-pin or 6-pin configurations (the extra two pins carry power). In comparison,

1394b cables can be up to 100 meters (328 feet) long, and use a 9-pin

connector, although they can be connected to 1394a devices with the right

connector. A variation of the 1394 standard, 1394.3, can be used for peer-to-

peer transmissions between peripheral devices to send image and data files.

o Parallel: Before USB was introduced, parallel ports were the standard

connection type for peripherals such as scanners and printers, and are still

used today. Unlike serial ports, parallel ports transmit data over several lines

at once, sending eight bits of data at a time instead of a single bit like serial

ports do. Originally, the data flow was unidirectional, meaning data could

only go in one direction at a time; the Standard Parallel Port (SPP) type was

unidirectional. However, later revisions such as Enhanced Parallel Port (EPP)

and Extended Capabilities Port (ECP) were bidirectional, and faster as well;

ECP ports use a Direct Memory Access (DMA) channel to increase

transmission rates. The current standard for parallel ports is IEEE 1284, which

was finalized in 1994. Although a maximum cable length is not defined, data

integrity concerns offer a practical limit of 4.5 meters (15 feet), and most

parallel cables come in 1.8-meter (6 feet) lengths. Parallel ports use either a

25-pin connector (DB25) or a 36-pin micro ribbon connector, although older

units may have a 50-pin connector, and are generally female connectors on

computers.

o NIC: A network interface card (NIC) is how a computer interfaces with a

network, often through an expansion card, although many computers now

come with an integrated NIC on the motherboard. Virtually all wired NICs

use the Ethernet standard, which uses an RJ-45 jack (which looks like a wider

RJ-11 telephone jack) to connect to Ethernet cabling, generally Cat5, 5e or 6

currently. Older cards used BNC or AUI sockets, but Ethernet has dominated

the computer industry to the point that these older connectors are rare. Every

NIC has a unique 48-bit Media Access Control (MAC) address assigned to it

at manufacture, which is used to facilitate communication and assign

resources over a network. These MAC addresses are hexadecimal numbers,

meaning they are base 16 numbers (using 0-9 and A-F). Most cards sold

currently support Gigabit Ethernet (1 Gbps) and are backward-compatible

with 10 Mbps and 100 Mbps systems, although 10 Gbps Ethernet is available.

o Modem: The term ―modem‖ stands for ―modulator/demodulator,‖ which

describes its basic function: to modulate or modify an analog signal to carry

digital data, and demodulate such a signal to read the information. Early

modems used the voice band of the telephone system to carry data at

relatively slow speeds – due to physical and hardware limitations, 53.3 kbps

was the practical upper limit for dial-up modems – but most modems in use

presently are broadband modems, using Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)

technology over phone lines, coaxial cable TV networks or fiber optic lines to

transmit data much faster, ranging from 640 kbps to 12 Mbps and faster.

Wireless modems that use the 802.11 suite of protocols to transmit and

receive data are also available. Modems usually connect to a computer

through USB or Ethernet connections, although some are available as

expansion cards; this was more common when dial-up modems were the

standard.

o PS/2: The PS/2 was a standard port used for keyboards and mice throughout

much of the 1990s and into the 2000s, until USB began to gain in popularity;

PS/2 ports are still available, but are quickly declining. PS/2 ports are 6-pin

mini-DIN connectors, and were color-coded beginning with the PC99

standards: green PS/2 ports are for mice and purple PS/2 ports are for

keyboards. In many cases, older systems that don’t have color-coded PS/2

ports use icons to denote the ports.

Memory slots: These slots are the expansion slots used to hold the system memory,

used to hold data for the operating system and processor. Due to the rapid pace of

memory technology development, there are several types and standards available,

though most current machines are limited to one or two specifications.

o RIMM: Rambus, a memory manufacturer, introduced the Rambus In-line

Memory Module (RIMM) in the late 1990s as a high-performance alternative

to the then-standard SDRAM DIMMs. RIMMs could use a 16- or 32-bit bus,

and were physically different depending on the bus: 16-bit RIMMs had two

notches and 184 pins, while 32-bit RIMMs had one notch and 232 pins.

RIMMs came in error-correcting code (ECC) and non-ECC versions, and

ranged in speed from 800 MHz to 1066 megahertz (MHz), which was

substantially faster than the standard 133 MHz of the time. RIMMs came in

sizes ranging from 64 MB to 512 MB, and were often used as video memory

due to their high bus speed. One disadvantage to RIMMs: the architecture

required all memory slots to be filled, requiring users to install a continuity

RIMM (C-RIMM) if not enough memory sticks were available. They were

also very expensive, generated significant amounts of heat and had

substantially higher latency (the gap between a request for data and the data’s

arrival to the requester) than most then-available memory.

o DIMM: Dual In-line Memory Modules (DIMM) are the standard form of

system memory, or Random Access Memory (RAM), sold in computers

currently. There are several different configurations, ranging from 100-pin

DIMMs used in printers to 240-pin DIMMs that feature Double Data Rate 3

(DDR3) memory, which is the fastest RAM type available presently. DIMMs

use a 64-bit data path, and early DIMMs, due to the introduction of

synchronized dynamic RAM (SDRAM), ran in sync with the system clock for

increased performance. DDR memory, on the other hand, runs faster than the

system clock, running two or more cycles for every system clock cycle; each

successive version of DDR runs faster and uses less power. DIMMs can be

double-sided or single-sided, meaning they can have memory chips on one or

both sides of the modules, and since they have the same data path width as the

processor, a single DIMM can be used to fill a memory bank. Double-sided

DIMMs provide twice the bank, and are known as dual-ranked for that reason;

similarly, single-sided DIMMs are single-ranked. Modern memory controllers

can access up to 3 DIMMs at a time, known as channels, although having 3

channels requires special hardware and configuration. When setting up more

than one channel, the DIMMs must be matched in size, speed and latency,

among other features. DIMM speeds are given in either MHz or PC rating,

which is the transfer rate multiplied by the MHz rating; in PC ratings, PC2

refers to DDR2 memory, PC3 to DDR3 and so on. Current PC ratings range

from PC2-6400 to PC3-10600.

o SODIMM: Small Outline DIMMs (SODIMMs or SO-DIMMs) are smaller

versions of DIMMs designed for use in laptop and mobile computers. They

come in 72-, 100-, 144- and 200-pin configurations, and like DIMMs, have

differently placed notches on the bottom edge that help signify the DDR rating

of the module. 72- and 100-pin SODIMMs have 32-bit data paths, while the

144- and 200-pin configurations have 64-bit paths. SODIMMs are generally

equal in power consumption and voltage usage to DIMMs, and currently have

comparable capacities and column access strobe/row access strobe

(CAS/RAS) latency times.

o SIMM: Single In-line Memory Modules (SIMM) were the prior standard of

memory, which have been completely supplanted by DIMMs. SIMMs came in

30-pin and 72-pin modules, and unlike DIMMs, most SIMMs only had a 32-

bit data path – except for the 30-pin modules, a very old specification that had

a 16-bit data path – so it took 2 72-pin SIMMs to complete a memory bank

(for 30-pin SIMMs, it took 4). Access times were much slower for SIMMs: 60

– 80 nanoseconds (ns), compared to 5 ns and lower for modern DIMMs.

SIMMs came in three types: fast page memory (FPM), which was used with

30- and 72-pin SIMMs and even with some early 168-pin DIMMs; extended

data out (EDO), a faster followup to FPM that was used with 72-pin SIMMs

and 168-pin DIMMs; and burst EDO (BEDO), a rarely used technology.

Some SIMMs used parity as an error-checking technology, meaning a ninth

bit was included with every byte (8 bits) of data; this was supplanted by ECC

technology. If using parity memory, all SIMMs had to match, much as with

ECC technology.

Processor sockets: The socket for the processor, along with the chipset, determines

what type of processor and feature set a system can use. Intel processors use different

socket types than Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) processors, and are not

interchangeable. Intel processors presently use a land grid array (LGA) architecture,

which uses lands (which look like pads) instead of pins to connect to the CPU. The

LGA socket style was introduced with the LGA775, which had 775 lands; the current

style is the LGA1366. AMD uses a pin grid array (PGA) architecture, with rows of

pins placed around the socket, to make contact with the CPU; early Intel processors

also used PGA, but later moved to the staggered PGA (SPGA) architecture before

adopting the current LGA technology. The current AMD socket style is the AM3.

Both processors use zero insertion force (ZIF) sockets, meaning the sockets are

designed to allow the CPU to slide in due to gravity, and thus not requiring an

installer to push down. Different processor sockets can support different memory

types; for a system with DDR2 memory, for example, the AM2 and AM2+ would

both work, as would the LGA771 (Socket J) and the LGA775 (Socket T). DDR3

memory, on the other hand, would require a motherboard with either an AM3 or

LGA1366 socket.

Bus architecture: In a computer, a bus can be thought of as a road between different

components. More specifically, a bus is a subsystem that carries data, electrical

power, control signals and memory addresses between components. There are several

different kinds of buses on a motherboard, and each bus – depending on its data path

width, which is determined by its construction – can be further subdivided into two

categories: expansion buses, which don’t run in sync with the system clock and

connect to the chipset’s South Bridge, the slowest end; and local buses, which are

synchronized with the system clock and connect with the North Bridge, the faster end

of the chipset. Each bus has a specific slot type associated with it.

o PCI: Peripheral Control Interconnect – This slot is used to connect various

expansion cards to a motherboard, such as a NIC or video card. The first

version of PCI had a 32-bit data path, supplied 5 V at 33 MHz and was the

first bus to allow expansion cards to run in sync with the CPU. Version 2.x

expanded the data path to 64-bit and allowed 3.3 V to be delivered; notches in

the slot are used to distinguish between the 5 V and 3.3 V slot types, although

universal PCI cards can use either. A later revision of PCI, called PCI-X, was

developed mainly for use in server hardware. PCI-X is fully backward-

compatible with PCI, except for 5 V cards, and can use 32- or 64-bit data

paths.

o AGP: Accelerated Graphics Port – Developed solely for graphics cards, AGP

was the standard video expansion bus for years, though it has been mostly

replaced by PCI-E. AGP underwent numerous changes over time: there are

three standards, a Pro version with greater slot length, four speeds ranging

from 1x to 8x, three different voltages ranging from 0.8 to 3.3 V and six

different slot specifications. As with PCI, the placement and number of

notches in an AGP slot indicate the slot voltage, version and type. Maximum

throughput ranged from 266 MB/s for AGP 1.0 to 2.12 GB/s for AGP 3.0.

Since some standards and versions are not interchangeable, technicians must

be certain of the specifications, as a mismatch can damage the card.

o PCI-Express (PCI-E or PCIe): PCI-E is a related technology to PCI, but uses

a different architecture and is not backward-compatible with PCI. Although

PCI-E and PCI buses are commonly found together in systems currently

(unlike AGP and PCI-E, which don’t coexist in systems), PCI-E will

eventually replace PCI altogether. Unlike PCI, PCI-E is a serial bus

technology, which allows it to transmit data faster by using packets.

Additionally, PCI-E slots connect to both the South and North Bridges, unlike

PCI, which connects only to the South Bridge. Currently, PCI-E slots come in

four sizes – x1, x4, x8 and x16 – which refer to the number of physical wires,

or lanes, available for data. Thus, the larger the size, the faster the card. Since

the release of PCI-E, there have been two revisions: PCI-E 1.1, which boosted

the available wattage to expansion cards from 150 W to 225 W via two 6-pin

connectors; and PCI-E 2, which doubled the signal frequency (and thus the

data capacity), raised the number of possible lanes to 32 and raised total

possible wattage to expansion cards to 300 W through a new 8-pin connector.

Version 2 cards and motherboards are supposed to be fully backward-

compatible, but issues may occur, so this may be something to keep in mind

when replacing cards.

o AMR/CNR: Some lower-end motherboards may have expansion slots for riser

cards on them, in order to save space and reduce the number of circuits. In

these cases, the riser card slot – not to be confused with those on an NLX

board – may be an audio/modem riser (AMR) or communications/networking

riser (CNR) slot. If present, these slots share circuitry with a controller on the

motherboard, and are similar in size to a PCI slot. Both are very rare.

o PCMCIA: Used primarily in laptops and mobile computers for additional

components – such as modems, NICs and hard drives, among many others—

the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA)

slot covers three different card specifications.

The first PCMCIA card specification, PC Card, used the 16-bit ISA

bus and eventually developed into a set of specifications known as

Type I (up to 3.3 millimeters (mm) thick and mostly used to add

RAM), Type II (up to 5.5 mm thick and often used for modems) and

Type III (up to 10.5 mm thick, and can accommodate a portable hard

drive or two Type I or Type II cards). PC Cards can be hot swapped.

CardBus used the 32-bit PCI bus, but was backward-compatible with

PC Card devices; however, CardBus devices can’t be used in 16-bit

PC Card slots, due to a raised strip across the connector end of the

device. CardBus slots are Type II or Type III slots. CardBus cards can

be hot-swapped.

The current PCMCIA slot standard is ExpressCard, which uses the

PCI-E or USB 2.0 standard. ExpressCard devices come in 34 mm and

54 mm widths – known respectively as ExpressCard/34 and

ExpressCard/54 – and are 75 mm long and 5 mm thick. ExpressCard

devices are not backward-compatible with PC Card or CardBus, but

are hot-pluggable, hot-swappable and can be autoconfigured.

PATA: Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment (PATA) was the de facto interface

standard for storage devices, primarily hard drives and optical drives, in computers

for years. Although several revisions and versions are covered by the PATA standard,

PATA devices generally fall into two categories:

o IDE: Integrated Drive Electronics – Refers specifically to having the

controller integrated into the drive unit instead of being on the motherboard,

but also came to refer to the 40-pin ribbon cable standard. IDE motherboards

have a primary and secondary controller, each of which can support two

devices: a master and a slave.

o EIDE: Enhanced IDE – Uses same basic technology as IDE, but can

incorporate the use of an 80-pin ribbon cable to increase data transmission

rates and clarity. All recent IDE devices are EIDE. IDE, EIDE and PATA are

often used interchangeably.

SATA: Serial ATA is a newer standard for storage devices that was introduced in the

early 2000s, but has only within the last few years achieved dominance. SATA drives

use a round, 7-pin cable that is much narrower than the EIDE ribbon cable and

capable of greater maximum length – 1 meter vs. EIDE’s maximum of 18 inches.

SATA sends data serially via packets, making it capable of far greater transfer speeds

than PATA; transfer rates for SATA versions range from 1.5 Gb/s to 6 Gb/s for

SATA 3.x, compared to PATA’s maximum 133 MB/s. Most motherboards can

support six or more SATA connections, and SATA devices are hot-pluggable and

hot-swappable. A version of SATA known as External SATA (eSATA) allows

external devices to use SATA connections through an expansion card or the

motherboard; eSATA offers up to six times the transfer rate of USB, and can be used

with cables up to 2 meters (6.6 feet) long.

RAID: Used as a drive configuration primarily for servers, a Redundant Array of

Inexpensive or Independent Disks (RAID) system uses multiple drives to work

together to provide increased performance and/or fault tolerance, the ability of a

system to survive a malfunction or loss of data. Multiple levels of RAID

configuration exist, but there are three that are commonly used:

o RAID 0: Two or more drives are grouped into one logical drive. Data is

striped across the hard disks, meaning written evenly across the drives. This

improves performance, but offers no inherent fault tolerance. RAID 0 arrays

are called striped volumes.

o RAID 1: Data written to one drive is mirrored, or written in exactly the same

way, to another drive. This provides fault tolerance, since the data is exactly

duplicated, but offers no performance benefits. RAID 1 arrays are called

mirrored volumes; in some variations, separate controllers are used for the

drive, which is known as disk duplexing.

o RAID 5: Data is striped across multiple drives, along with parity data that can

be used to reconstruct the data if one drive goes out. This arrangement

requires three volumes, and offers both fault tolerance and performance

benefits (both in speed and capacity usage), though it is the most expensive.

RAID 5 arrays are called RAID 5 volumes.

Chipsets: Chipsets are a collection of controllers and microchips that function

together to support the processor socket and type, as well as control the system

memory, the various buses and a few peripheral devices. There are a number of

different chipsets available on the market, but most chipsets available currently come

from one of four manufacturers: Intel, AMD, NVIDIA and SiS. The various buses are

connected by a hub, which is connected to the system bus. As detailed earlier, the fast

end of the hub is called the North Bridge, and is where the graphics and memory

controller are found; this is where the system bus and the hub join. The South Bridge,

or the slow end of the hub, is where the I/O controller is located, and where every

other I/O device joins the hub. This architecture, known as Accelerated Hub

Architecture, was first used by Intel with the i800 series and has been adopted by

other manufacturers.

BIOS/CMOS/Firmware: These terms are often used interchangeably, and while they

are related, they are not the same. Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) is the collection

of settings responsible for starting a computer and making sure the hardware is ready

and able to operate once the power is applied, as well as finding and loading the

operating system (OS). Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS)

technically refers to the technology refers to making microchips, but also refers to the

specific chip, which has a small amount of memory built into it, where the BIOS is

stored. Firmware is a general term for programming that is stored in a non-volatile

fashion on a chip, and can be used to refer to BIOS.

o POST: Power On Self Test – The POST is the initial diagnostic program

stored as part of the BIOS that runs when a computer is turned on. The POST

checks memory, CPU function, storage devices and the various I/O devices,

including the keyboard and mouse.

o CMOS battery: The CMOS stores all the BIOS information, but it is volatile

memory, and so requires a small amount of power to keep the settings and the

system clock accurate. Generally, this energy comes from the power supply,

but motherboards come with a small battery to keep the CMOS powered in

case the computer is unplugged.

Riser card/daughterboard: As detailed earlier, a riser card is an expansion card that

plugs into a slot on a motherboard to provide additional capabilities, such as more

expansion slots and storage connectors. This type of technology is uncommon, and is

mainly seen on NLX and LPX motherboards.

Domain 1.3: Classify power supply types and characteristics

AC adapter: An AC adapter is a power supply that is external to the computer,

virtually always used with mobile computers (laptops, netbooks) and peripheral

devices. The AC adapter takes regular house current, which is alternating current

(AC), and converts it to direct current (DC), which is what computers and their

components run on. Many AC adapters are designed specifically for one voltage, but

auto-switching adapters that can change between 110 V and 220 V, as well as provide

different stepped-down DC voltages, are becoming more common.

ATX proprietary: Since ATX is the predominant form factor for computers presently,

finding an ATX power supply shouldn’t be difficult. However, it’s still important to

make sure the power supply matches the form factor, as that will determine the size,

available connectors and placement of the screw holes to install the power supply. In

the case of connectors, adapters are available for many types, but it’s important to

make sure the connection between the power supply and motherboard is correct.

Voltage, wattage and capacity: A power supply needs to be able to accept house

current and step it down to provide 3.3, 3.5, 5 and 12 V for components. Similarly,

the power supply must be able to supply sufficient wattage for all the components to

work. In order to do this, consider these aspects when selecting a power supply:

o Power supplies produce marginally more wattage at room temperature than at

operating temperature, or the temperature the system as at after being run for a

time. Power supplies may have ratings for both, but if not, assume the listed

rating is the peak rating for room temperature and reduce the wattage rating

by 10-15% to get a sense of what the operating wattage might be.

o The largest power draw in the system is generally the video card, which uses

12 V output. Make sure you check the wattage rating for the 12 V rail to

ensure system requirements are met.

o It’s best to plan for future growth and expectations by adding 30% to the

expected system wattage use and selecting a power supply based on that

estimate. Add up the total wattage of the components in the system, and figure

in the 30% factor to avoid power issues later.

o If working on a proprietary system, make sure the power supply meets that

same standard, either by buying from the system manufacturer or buying one

that is rated to work with that computer.

Voltage selector switch: Some power supplies have a voltage selector switch on the

back that allows the input voltage to be switched between 115 and 230 V. For the

U.S., make sure the switch is set to 115, and never change the setting unless the

computer is shut down and unplugged.

Pins (20, 24): The original ATX specification called for a 20-pin power connector,

called the P1 connector, that provided 3.3 V, + 5 V and + 12 V. Beginning with the

Pentium 4 processors, it became necessary to draw more power, so a 4-pin auxiliary

connector was provided in the ATX Version 2.1 specification to provide another 12 V

of power. Later revisions changed the 4-pin to an 8-pin connector capable of

providing more amperage. With the development of PCI-E, ATX Version 2.2 specs

introduced a 24-pin P1 connector to provide still more power through extra 3.3, 5 and

12 V pins. The 24-pin P1 is backward-compatible with the 20-pin P1.

Domain 1.4: Explain the purpose and characteristics of CPUs and their features

Identify CPU types: When identifying CPUs, there are several factors that can be

used. CPUS are generally rated on a number of specifications: the system bus

supported, the core frequency in gigahertz (GHz), the socket and supported chipset,

multitasking ability, included memory cache, type of system memory supported,

specific technologies the CPU can use and the voltage and power consumption. While

CPUs are often identified by one or more of these factors in combination, they are

also often identified by manufacturer, as virtually all CPUs presently used in

computers come from one of two manufacturers.

o Intel: Presently the major manufacturer of CPUs, Intel has four major families

of processors: Core, Pentium, Celeron and Atom. These processors can be

identified by certain family-specific identifiers – all Core 2 Quad processors

have a 5-character identifier beginning with Q, for example – but every Intel

processor also has a specification number, or sSPec number, that can be used

to identify the processor and look up information. Intel maintains a Web site

that uses the sSpec number for that purpose. Currently, Core processors are

used in mid-range and high-end desktop systems, Pentium processors are

found in older desktop systems, Celeron CPUs are in lower-end systems and

the Atom family is the smallest of the bunch, found in lower-end mobile

machines and desktops. Mobile devices often use Centrino processors, which

take members of all four families and bundle them with chipsets and wireless

NICs as an interconnected unit.

o AMD: Although not the same size as Intel, AMD has a substantial presence in

the CPU market; AMD processors are generally less expensive than Intel’s,

and are popular with gamers and computer hobbyists. AMD currently has six

families of processor: Phenom, Athlon, Sempron, Turion Mobile, Athlon for

Notebook and Sempron for Notebook. Because AMD has fewer processors on

the market and a wider variety of processor lines, it’s generally far easier to

identify a specific AMD processor.

Hyperthreading: Hyperthreading is a technology for processors that allows each

logical processor in a system – which may or may not be the same number as the

physical processors – to handle an individual thread, or smallest task that can be

scheduled by an OS, in parallel with other threads being handled by other logical

processors, instead of having to wait and handle them in series. For Intel processors,

this technology is called Hyper-Threading; AMD processors use HyperTransport

technology for the same purpose.

Multi-core: The latest processors sold by both Intel and AMD are multi-core

processors, meaning each processors has two or more cores that are independent of

each other but run at the same frequency. Each core functions as a logical processor,

with two arithmetic logic units (ALU) per core, allowing each core to process two

separate instructions simultaneously. Each core also has its own Level 1 (L1) cache,

which is on the processor die, and its own Level 2 (L2) cache, which is not on the die

but part of the overall processor package; the cores share the Level 3 (L3) cache,

which is the cache memory farthest from the core, but still part of the overall

processor system. At present, the most common multi-core configurations are:

o Dual-core: Two cores, four simultaneous instructions

o Triple-core: Three cores, six simultaneous instructions

o Quad-core: Four cores, eight simultaneous instructions

o Octo-core: Eight cores, 16 simultaneous instructions

Cache: Cache memory is a small section of RAM that is used by the processor to

contain data and instruction sets that the memory controller – included in all current

AMD processor packages, and in all Intel processor packages beginning with the

Core i7 – expects the processor to need next, which saves time and improves

performance by avoiding excessive calls to RAM, which is slower than the processor

cache due to the need to constantly refresh the data. Cache memory is made of static

RAM (SRAM), which doesn’t need to be refreshed to hold its data. As detailed

above, processor cache comes in L1, L2 and L3 varieties.

Speed: When referring to speed with regards to processors, the quality being

discussed is the processor frequency, which is how many cycles per second the

processor runs internally. This can be determined by multiplying the system bus by

the multiplier, a factor given by the manufacturer. For example, if the system bus ran

at 900 MHz and the multiplier was 3, the processor frequency, and thus its speed,

would be 900 * 3 = 2700 MHz, or 2.7 GHz. Actual speed of the processor can vary

somewhat, depending on the system settings and operational conditions. On many

systems, it is possible to modify certain settings, such as the system bus frequency, to

gain a speed boost with the processor; this is called overclocking. If not done

carefully, this can make a system unstable, generating excessive heat – which can

lead to throttling the CPU to prevent damage, slowing the system and causing the

exact opposite of overclocking’s intended results – and leading to various operational

issues, which is why overclocking generally voids the warranty.

32-bit vs. 64-bit: Although many processors and OS packages sold currently are 64-

bit, there are still enough 32-bit systems available to make it worth your time to

carefully consider the pros and cons of 32-bit vs. 64-bit. When considering these

systems, and whether to go with 32-bit, a hybrid processor or 64-bit, keep these

points in mind:

o 64-bit processing is faster, but uses more resources.

o 64-bit operating systems require 64-bit kernel mode device drivers, which

should come from the hardware manufacturer.

o 64-bit OSs can run either 32-bit or 64-bit applications, but 64-bit apps will be

faster. The inverse is not true: 32-bit OSs can only run 32-bit applications.

o Because of the limited number of memory addresses available to a 32-bit OS,

only 4 GB of RAM can be addressed by the OS; more can be installed, but the

OS has no way to see the memory. On the other hand, 64-bit OSs can in

theory address up to 1 TB of RAM, though current hardware can only hold

12-16 GB of RAM.

o If the memory, processor, motherboard, OS, drivers and applications are all

64-bit, users will see a significant performance difference, particularly with

multiple windows open and applications using resources.

Domain 1.5: Explain cooling methods and devices

Heat sinks: Due to the damage potential of heat, keeping the processor cool –

meaning below the maximum temperature of 185 degrees Fahrenheit (85 degrees

Celsius) and preferably in the 90-110 degrees Fahrenheit (32-43 degrees Celsius)

range – is one of the more important tasks in a computer. There are several methods

used by computers to cool processors, and one of the most common is through heat

sinks. Heat sinks are a set of fins that draw heat away from the processor and conduct

it out to where it can be dissipated or dispersed. These heat sinks are generally made

of aluminum or copper, which conducts better but is more expensive, or a

combination of both.

CPU and case fans: While heat sinks draw heat away from the processor, a CPU fan

can perform the same function, or blow the heat out from the heat sink. Case fans

perform a similar function, but for the computer case at large. The layout of the case

is generally arranged so a case fan can blow air over the components and draw heat

out of the case via unimpeded airflow. Some cases can have up to eight fans within

them, not including the power supply fan and CPU fan, which is generally powered

by a 4-pin connector on the motherboard. Fans are a reliable cooling method, but they

can generate excessive amounts of noise.

Liquid cooling systems: Other methods of cooling exist, such as refrigeration and

peltiers, but one of the most exotic – and one used generally only by hobbyists – is

liquid cooling systems. These systems use a pump to circulate water or other liquids

through tubes that draw heat from the components and out to an area where fans can

cool the liquid and recirculate it. The cooling can take place inside or outside the

case. Despite their limited use, there are several manufacturers that make liquid

cooling systems presently, including AquaStealth and FrozenCPU.

Thermal compound: Also known as thermal grease, this paste-like material is applied

to the top of the processor or bottom of the heat sink before installing. The thermal

grease conducts heat better than air and eliminates air pockets, creating an airtight

connection and increasing the ability to draw off heat.

Domain 1.6: Compare and contrast memory types, characteristics and their purpose

Types: Computers use several different types of memory in conjunction with different

components, but one thing virtually all computer memory has in common is that it is

some form of RAM, used because it is much faster and cheaper than other options.

Within that broad category, there are several subcategories of memory:

o DRAM: Dynamic RAM (DRAM) is called dynamic because it does not hold

data, and must constantly be refreshed by the memory controller to hold its

data. DRAM is volatile, meaning it loses any data stored within if power is

interrupted or cut off.

o SRAM: Static RAM (SRAM) is also volatile, but does not need to be

refreshed constantly, making it useful for cache memory, its primary usage.

SRAM is very fast, but very expensive, which is why it’s used for processor

cache.

o SDRAM: Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) is the foundation of most RAM in

use today. SDRAM runs in time with the computer processor and system

clock, and is rated by its frequency in MHz or GHz. DIMMs using SDRAM

generally have 168 pins.

o DDR/DDR2/DDR3: Double Data Rate (DDR) SDRAM was the next

improvement to RAM after the development of SDRAM. As mentioned

before, SDRAM is synchronized to the system clock, so for every cycle of the

system clock, the SDRAM completes one cycle. DDR SDRAM processes data

on the up and down beats of every system clock cycle, doubling the effective

data rate. DDR DIMMs generally use 184 pins. DDR2 and DDR3 are

improvements on the original DDR specification, using less power and

running at even quicker frequencies than DDR; in addition, DDR3 memory

can use three channels to the memory controller simultaneously, whereas

DDR and DDR2 can only use two. DDR2 and DDR3 modules generally use

240 pins.

o Rambus: Rambus is a memory manufacturer that developed a proprietary

memory standard in the late 1990s for high-performance systems. Rambus

memory modules, known as RIMMs, had 184 or 232 pins, could use a 16- or

32-bit bus, came in error-correcting code (ECC) and non-ECC versions, and

ranged in speed from 800 to 1066 MHz, which led to RIMMs’ frequent use as

video memory. However, RIMM architecture required all memory slots to be

filled, necessitating a continuity RIMM (C-RIMM) be installed if there were

more memory slots than modules available. RIMMs were also expensive, ran

very hot and had high latency periods.

o Parity vs. non-parity: Parity was an error-checking technology used with

SIMMs that used a ninth bit that was included with every byte (8 bits) of data.

The ninth bit was set to either a 1 or 0 to make the number of ones in the byte

even or odd, depending on if the system used even or odd parity. When

accessing the data, the system would check the number of ones in the byte

against the ninth bit as a confirmation; if the values didn’t match, a parity

error was generated. If using parity memory, all SIMMs had to match. The

inclusion of the extra bit required a 36-bit path instead of 32-bit, which

required different hardware and made parity memory more expensive. As a

result, the use of parity memory never took off, and non-parity became the de

facto standard.

o ECC vs. non-ECC: Error correcting code (ECC) memory uses a similar

methodology as parity, except instead of using a ninth bit, ECC memory has

an extra 8 bits to work with. ECC memory modules have an odd number of

chips, the last chip being the ECC submodule. As a result, ECC DIMMs

require a 72-bit data path. ECC memory is more expensive than non-ECC

memory – the standard in most PCs – but is more reliable. Thus, ECC

memory is normally reserved for servers. For ECC memory to work, the

motherboard and all installed memory must support ECC.

o Single-sided vs. double-sided: Unlike SIMMs, which only had memory chips

on one side of the module, DIMMs can be double-sided or single-sided,

meaning they can have memory chips on one or both sides of the modules.

Also unlike SIMMs, since they have the same data path width as the

processor, a single DIMM can be used to fill a memory bank. Double-sided

DIMMs provide twice the memory capacity, or bank, and are called dual-

ranked if the memory controller addresses one group of memory chips and

then another on successive read or write cycle; single-sided DIMMs are

single-ranked, although some double-sided DIMMs can be single-ranked as

well. There are quad-ranked DIMMs, but these are used exclusively in servers

currently.

o Single channel vs. dual-channel: On single channel systems, the memory

controller can only access one module at a time. With dual-channel systems,

the memory controller can access two DIMMs simultaneously. Triple-channel

systems exist, but only DDR3 memory can be used, whereas all presently

available DIMMs can be used in single- or dual-channel systems. The

motherboard and all installed DIMMs must support dual-channel access; in

addition, the DIMMs must match in all features, and it’s recommended they

be made by the same manufacturer.

o Speed: As mentioned earlier, memory speeds are given either in frequency

(MHz or GHz) or in PC rating, which is the data path width in bytes times two

(for DDR) times the frequency, or the maximum data transfer rate per second.

Some common speeds in memory are as follows:

PC100: 100 MHz

PC133: 133 MHz

PC2700: 166 MHz * 8 * 2 = 2700 MB/s (approximately)

PC3200: 200 MHz * 8 * 2 = 3200 MB/s

DDR3-1600: The 1600 refers to the megatransfers (MT), or

operations, per second. Multiplying the MT/s by the data path width

gives the maximum transfer rate; in this case, 1600 MT/s * 8 bytes

(64-bit) = 12800 MB/s.

DDR2-667: With DDR2, the transfer rate is determined by multiplying

the memory clock rate by 2 (for the bus clock multiplier) times 2 (for

DDR) times the data path width in bytes. In this case, the memory

clock rate is 166 MHz, so 166 * 2 * 2 * 8 = 5300 MB/s

(approximately).

Domain 1.7: Distinguish between different display devices and their characteristics

Projectors, CRT and LCD: There are three types of display device commonly used

with computers. Projectors, which are used for large gatherings and presentations, are

not common in most offices or homes. Cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors, which use

electron guns to construct an image on a screen line-by-line in the same way early

TVs worked, were the display standard for many years, but have been made obsolete

by the development of liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors, which creates images

using layers of electrodes to manipulate a sandwiched layer of easily polarized

material and a color layer. LCD monitors are lighter, use less energy and generally

responds more quickly, although CRT monitors tend to perform better at showing

motion and have higher refresh rates.

LCD technologies: In addition to the difference in display technologies, LCD and

CRT monitors differ in a number of fundamental ways.

o Resolution: For CRT monitors, resolution means the number of pixels on the

screen that can be addressed by the driver or operating system. Most monitors

can display a minimum of 800 x 600 pixels, although most support a number

of resolution standards, including:

VGA (Video Graphics Array): 640 x 480 (4:3 ratio between horizontal

and vertical pixels)

SVGA (Super VGA): 800 x 600

XGA (eXtended Graphics Array): 1024 x 768

SXGA (Super XGA): 1280 x 1024 (first standard to support 5:4 ratio

between horizontal and vertical pixels)

SXGA+: 1400 x 1050

WSXGA+ (Wide SXGA+): 1680 x 1050

UXGA (Ultra XGA): 1600 x 1200

WUXGA (Wide UXGA): 1920 x 1200

QWXGA (Quad Wide XGA): 2048 x 1152, used on 23‖ monitors

WQXGA (Wide Quad XGA): 2560 x 1600, used on 30‖ monitors

o Contrast ratio: The contrast ratio is the difference, or contrast, between true

black and true white as displayed on the screen. Larger measurements mean

better contrast.

o Native resolution: LCD monitors don’t have the range of display resolutions

that CRT monitors do; the only resolution an LCD monitor can use is the

native resolution which is the number of pixels actually built into the LCD

display device. This number is fixed, and changing the display resolution in

the operating system settings only changes the displayed area or mapping a

different resolution onto the native one, which can create fuzzy images or

slowed response time. Despite the native resolution limit, most LCD monitors

support majority of the resolution standards listed previously.

Connector types: Certain connector types can be used by all types of display devices,

but some devices require or can use more specialized connectors. The available

display connector types include:

o VGA: Standard method of passing analog signals to video card. VGA ports

send three separate signals – red, green and blue (RGB). VGA ports are 15-

pin connectors.

o DVI: Digital Visual Interface (DVI) is the first standard used by digital LCD

monitors – many LCD monitors are analog, or can use either analog or digital

– and digital TVs. DVI ports come in two varieties: DVI-I, which supports

analog and digital signals; and DVI-D, which only supports digital signals.

DVI-I ports, which have four more pins than DVI-D ports, can use adapters to

work with VGA ports.

o Composite/component: Composite ports mix RGB signals into one, and send

them together. This method is used by TV, and is commonly used with TV

tuner cards to output data to a TV. The method is simple, but does not produce

video as sharp as RGB.

o S-Video: Super-Video (S-Video) uses a port that looks similar to a composite

port, except for the four pins around the sides instead of the composite port’s

center pin. S-Video connections send one signal for color and one for

brightness, leading to sharper video than composite, but not as good for

monitors as RGB.

o HDMI: High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is the most recent

connection standard to be released. HDMI sends high-def audio and video

data through the same cable, and is used primarily for HDTV and home

theater systems. HDMI is expected to replace DVI in the long run, but HDMI-

to-DVI adapters are presently available.

Settings: Certain basic settings are common to all display devices, but some have

settings specific to their technologies.

o Refresh rate: Number of times the display is built in one second. For CRT

monitors, the minimum standard is 70 Hz, or 70 complete vertical refreshes

per second. For LCD monitors, the refresh rate, or response time, is generally

standardized at 16 ms, which corresponds to approximately 60 Hz.

o Resolution: As discussed earlier, resolution means different things to different

technologies: For CRT monitors, resolution is the number of pixels on the

screen that can be addressed by the driver or operating system, while for LCD

monitors, the only available resolution is the native resolution, or the number

of pixels actually built into the LCD display device. Any other resolution an

LCD monitor is set by changing the displayed area or mapping to a different

resolution through the operating system.

o Multi-monitor: Using a video card with two connector ports or with multiple

video cards, users can extend their desktop to span more than one monitor.

This can be done with either CRT or LCD monitors; the capacity for multi-

monitor usage is based on the operating system and graphics card.

o Degauss: CRT monitors can experience a buildup of magnetic fields, which

may cause flicker or wavy lines on the screen. This buildup is a side effect of

the CRT technology, and can be cleared by using the degauss button featured

on most CRT monitors. LCD monitors use completely different technology,

and do not require a degauss function.

Domain 1.8: Install and configure peripherals and input devices

Mouse: A mouse is one of the simplest input devices to install; in most cases, simply

plugging the mouse into the correct port and turning on the computer is sufficient.

Current models can use a PS/2 port (green, on color-coded machines), a USB port or

a wireless connection; older mice sometimes used serial ports or DIN connectors, but

those technologies are obsolete. If the mouse has special features, it may be necessary

to install driver software first.

Keyboard: As keyboards are considered basic input devices like mice, installing them

is similarly straightforward. Using the PS/2 port, a USB port or a wireless connection,

attach the keyboard and turn on the computer. If using a PS/2 port, ensure the

keyboard is plugged into the correct port (purple, if color-coded; if not, look for the

keyboard icon). As with mice, install driver software needed to use special features

first.

Bar code reader: Bar code readers, which are used to scan bar codes on products for

inventory or point of sale (POS) information, can connect to computers in a number

of ways: older readers often connected through serial or keyboard ports (using a

splitter), whereas newer readers generally connect through wireless modules, USB

ports or Bluetooth. Regardless of the connection type, installing a bar code reader

generally involves installing the device drivers first, then connecting the device to the

connection port. Bluetooth readers will need to be synced to the PC, the procedure for

which is detailed in the reader documentation.

Multimedia devices: In most cases, multimedia devices to be installed on a PC will be

USB or IEEE 1394 devices, meaning that once plugged in, the computer should auto-

detect the device and automatically install drivers. This is generally the case with

cameras, microphones and various sound devices, like Musical Instrument Digital

Interface (MIDI) devices such as keyboards, which generally connect to either the

MIDI port on the sound card or a USB port. However, in some cases, it will be

necessary to install software before connecting the device; the product documentation

will detail the steps necessary in these cases.

Biometric devices: A biometric device is an input mechanism that uses biological

information about a user to identify that user to the computer or device, such as

fingerprints, voice patterns or retinas. The most common biometric device in use

currently is a fingerprint reader, which is built into some computers, and is also

available as a wireless, USB or PC Card device. In general, installing a fingerprint

reader requires installing the software first, and then connecting the reader via the

port it is set to use when prompted.

Touch screen: Touch screens, which use a touch-sensitive grid inlay on a screen as an

input mechanism, also generally use either serial or USB connections, depending on

how old the device is. They can be built into the monitor or added as an aftermarket

device. As with multimedia devices, installation usually requires installing the drivers

and/or software first, then connecting the touch screen to the computer via USB or

serial port and plugging in the power. However, the manufacturer may specify a

different process; always consult the product documentation before beginning an

installation or cleaning the device. Keep in mind that changing the resolution of the

display will require the touch screen to be recalibrated.

KVM switch: Used to allow one set of devices to be used on multiple computers, a

Keyboard, Video and Mouse (KVM) switch is fairly straightforward to install,

because it does not require any drivers. Simply connect the devices to the switch,

connect the switch to the computers, and turn on the computers to test. However,

setting up a KVM switch does require research beforehand, as you must make sure

the available ports on the KVM switch match the type of input and output devices

you have available, such as having PS/2 ports. Some KVM switches also have sound

ports and USB connections.

Domain 1.9: Summarize the function and types of adapter cards

Video: Sends output from the computer in a visual format to a display device such as

a monitor or projector; in modern computers, often comes with separate processor,

memory and cooling unit to offload some of the processing burden from the CPU.

Draws more power than any other component. In modern computers, video cards are

generally using one of the following buses:

o PCI: Connects various expansion cards to motherboard, usually a NIC or

video card. First version had a 32-bit data path, supplied 5 V at 33 MHz and

allowed cards to run in sync with the CPU. Version 2.x expanded the data

path to 64-bit and allowed 3.3 V to be delivered.

o PCIe or PCI-E: PCI-Express is related to PCI, but uses a different architecture

and is not backward-compatible. PCI-E is intended to replace PCI and AGP in

the long term. PCI-E is a serial bus technology, which allows it to transmit

data faster by using packets, and can connect to both the South and North

Bridges. Presently, PCI-E slots have four sizes – x1, x4, x8 and x16 – which

refer to the number of lanes available for data. There are two revisions: PCI-E

1.1, which boosted the available wattage to expansion cards from 150 W to

225 W via two 6-pin connectors; and PCI-E 2, which doubled the signal

frequency, raised the number of possible lanes to 32 and raised total possible

wattage to expansion cards to 300 W through a new 8-pin connector.

o AGP: Standard video expansion bus for years, until development of PCIe.

AGP has three standard versions, a Pro version with greater slot length, four

speeds ranging from 1x to 8x, three different voltages ranging from 0.8 to 3.3

V and six different slot specifications. Maximum throughput ranges from 266

MB/s for AGP 1.0 to 2.12 GB/s for AGP 3.0.

Multimedia: Use of visual, audio and animation data to present information in as

lifelike a fashion as possible. In addition to video cards, multimedia capabilities are

present on many computers through the use of these type of adapter cards:

o Sound cards: Captures, records and plays back audio data, and in some cases,

can modify and remix audio data. Most sound cards have input ports for

microphones, optical drives and/or digital sound equipment, and output ports

for headphones and speakers. Most sound cards support the Sound Blaster-

compatible standard, as well as various compression methods.

o TV tuner cards: TV tuner cards can accept input from a TV cable, usually

coaxial, and display it on a monitor. Basic TV tuners can only display output,

although many can display and record it as a multimedia file. TV tuner cards

can also accept input from camcorders, VCRs and other audiovisual

equipment. Higher-end TV tuner cards can serve as video cards, process

analog and digital signals, connect to multiple input standards and even

include personal video recording (PVR) tasks.

o Capture cards: Capture cards are related to TV tuners, in that their purpose is

record and save display files. They are often integrated into a TV tuner card or

video card. Since virtually all sound cards have this ability by default, the

term ―capture card‖ refers only to video capture cards.

I/O: Stands for input/output, and refers to various ports and expansion slots used to

connect the computer to various devices that send data to the computer (input) and

accept data from the computer (output). Most computers have multiple I/O interfaces,

which are controlled by software – applications or device drivers – but the most

common and relevant I/O mechanisms for technicians include:

o SCSI: Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) is an older I/O standard used

primarily for storage devices in servers, though printers, scanners and optical

drives also use SCSI connections. SCSI can support up to 15 devices, though

older versions could only handle 7, and is faster than PATA devices, though

more expensive and more complicated to install and set up. SCSI generally

requires an adapter card to function, except for systems with a SCSI controller

integrated into the motherboard. Regardless of the version used, the SCSI

chain must always be terminated at one end (through a hardware terminating

resistor or through firmware), unless the host adapter is in the middle of the

chain, in which case both ends should be terminated. Every device on the

chain must draw a SCSI ID, which can be manually set or auto-configured by

the adapter software. Some devices, such as SCSI CD-changers, also require a

separate logical unit number (LUN) for each separate subsystem. The major

SCSI standards are SCSI-1 (Regular), SCSI-2 (Fast) and SCSI-3 (Ultra),

although a newer standard, serial attached SCSI (SAS), has been released that

promises more devices per chain and greater reliability, among other

improvements. Fibre Channel, a server technology that allows up to 126

devices per bus, is another variant of SCSI, though an uncommon one for PC

technicians to encounter.

o Serial: One of the first connectivity standards on PCs, also known as DB9 or

DB25 ports. Generally used for mice, external modems and specialized input

devices like bar code readers. The RS-232 standard, and its most recent

iteration, RS-232c, defines serial specifications. Serial ports send data one bit

at a time, which originally made for slow transmission, when compared to

parallel ports, although using packet technology increases transmission rates.

Serial ports are generally male connectors, and can be disabled in the BIOS.

o USB: Developed to provide a faster, simpler connection between computers

and various devices, USB 1.0 specified a 12 Mbit/s data transfer rate when

introduced in 1996. USB 2.0, or Hi-Speed USB, allows for data transfer

speeds up to 480 Mbit/s and is backward-compatible with USB 1.1. The most

current revision is USB 3.0, or SuperSpeed USB, which offers a maximum

possible data transfer rate of 5.0 gigabits per second (Gbit/s). USB devices can

be daisy-chained, regardless of version, to connect up to 127 devices. USB

connections have four wires—two for power, two for signal transmission—

and can use cables with a maximum length of three meters (9.8 feet) for USB

1.1 devices and five meters (16 feet) for USB 2.0 devices.

o Parallel: Standard connection type for peripherals such as scanners and

printers for many years, and still used today. Parallel ports transmit eight bits

(1 byte) of data at a time instead of a single bit. Originally unidirectional, later

revisions of the parallel standard -- Enhanced Parallel Port (EPP) and

Extended Capabilities Port (ECP) -- were bidirectional. Current standard for

parallel ports is IEEE 1284. Practical cable limit length is 4.5 meters (15 feet),

and most parallel cables come in 1.8-meter (6 feet) lengths. Current parallel

ports use either a 25-pin connector (DB25) or a 36-pin micro ribbon

connector, and are generally female connectors on computers.

Communications: The ability to send and receive data to other computers greatly

increases a computer’s usefulness and value, and communications technology is key

to that. For computers, there are two primary technologies that enable this function:

o NIC: Primary method for computer interfacing with a network, often through

an expansion card, although many modern motherboards have integrated

NICs. Virtually all wired NICs are Ethernet cards, using an RJ-45 jack to

connect to Ethernet cabling, generally Cat5, 5e or 6. Most cards sold currently

support Gigabit Ethernet (1 Gbps) and are backward-compatible with 10

Mbps and 100 Mbps systems.

o Modem: Short for ―modulator/demodulator,‖ modems modify an analog

signal to carry digital data, and demodulate such a signal to read the

information. The first consumer modems used the voice band of the telephone

system to carry data at relatively slow speeds, but most modems now are

broadband modems, using Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology over

phone lines, coaxial cable TV networks or fiber optic lines to transmit data at

speeds ranging from 640 kbps to 12 Mbps and faster. Modems usually

connect to a computer through USB or Ethernet connections, although some

are available as expansion cards.

Domain 1.10: Install, configure and optimize laptop components and features

Expansion devices: Given the limited space in laptops and mobile computing devices,

the use of expansion slots to add on devices is vital to effectively using mobile

devices. Laptops use a number of technologies to add on devices, the most common if

which are:

o PCMCIA cards: The Personal Computer Memory Card International

Association (PCMCIA) slot actually covers three different card specifications,

the oldest of which is PC Card, available in Type I (mostly used to add RAM),

Type II (often used for modems) and Type III (can accommodate a portable

hard drive or two Type I or Type II cards). PC Cards can be hot swapped, as

can CardBus cards, which use the 32-bit PCI bus instead of PC Card’s 16-bit

ISA bus connection. CardBus is backward-compatible with PC Card devices;

however, CardBus devices can’t be used in 16-bit PC Card slots, due to a

raised strip across the connector end of the device. CardBus slots are Type II

or Type III slots. The current PCMCIA slot standard is ExpressCard, which

uses the PCI-E or USB 2.0 standard. ExpressCard devices come in two sizes –

ExpressCard/34 and ExpressCard/54 – and are not backward-compatible with

PC Card or CardBus, but are hot-pluggable, hot-swappable and can be auto-

configured.

o PCI-Express cards: Since PCI-E is faster than PCI or AGP, and can handle

more card types than either bus type, the PCI-E bus is commonly used on

laptops. As noted earlier, the ExpressCard specification uses the PCI-E bus,

which provides connectivity for both PCMCIA cards and internal devices

through the Mini PCI Express slot standard developed for use in notebooks.

Mini PCIe slots have 52 pins on the edge connector, and come in Type I and

Type II slots, which use a 100-pin stacking connector, and Type III clots,

which are smaller than Type I/II and use a 124-pin stacking connector. Mini

PCIe slots look similar to Mini PCI slots, but are smaller and do not have clips

on the side as Mini PCI slots do. Both Mini PCI and Mini PCIe slots are often

used for wireless adapters, cellular WAN devices and Bluetooth devices.

o Docking station: A docking station is an external device that a notebook can

plug into that provides ports for an external monitor, keyboard and mouse,

power adapter, storage devices and expansion cards. Docking stations are

similar to port replicators, but offer more features and auxiliary slots than port

replicators. The advantage to a docking station, besides the ability to simply

plug in the machine without needing software, is that it offers an easy way to

expand a laptop or notebook’s capabilities quickly over multiple devices.

Communication connections: One of the primary advantages and selling points to

mobile computers is the number of communication options. Mobile computers have

many more native communication options than most desktops, including these

common technologies:

o Bluetooth: One of the newest communication technologies, Bluetooth is a

short-range – maximum range is 10 meters (33 feet) – communication and

data synchronization specification. Bluetooth transmissions can transfer data

at up to 3 Mbps and operates in the 2.4 GHz frequency range. Generally,

Bluetooth is used for wireless headsets, cell phones, mice, keyboards and

printers. Bluetooth uses encryption to protect data from unauthorized viewing.

o Infrared: Infrared has been used as a transmission medium for many years;

many remote controls used infrared, although they have mostly been replaced

by radio frequency (RF) devices. Infrared is still used to transmit data between

computers and printers, wireless mice and wireless keyboards. This is usually

done through embedded infrared transceivers, although USB or serial

transceivers are sometimes used. One disadvantage to infrared is that it is a

line-of-sight technology; anything between the transceivers will block the

data.

o Cellular WAN: A cellular wide area network (WAN) is a network that spans a

broad geographic area and uses the cellular phone network to send and receive

data. Cellular WANs can use the Global System for Mobile Communications

(GSM) standard, which is used internationally; the Code Division Multiple

Access (CDMA) standard, which is used by most domestic U.S. carriers; or

Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), an older technology used by U.S.

domestic carriers. Cellular WAN devices must be able to use the Third

Generation (3G) phone network to use the Web, video conferencing and

streaming media. All cellular transmissions, including WAN data, are full-

duplex, meaning data can be passed by both endpoints of a network segment

at the same time.

o Ethernet: The networking standard for virtually all wired networking

presently. The Ethernet standard calls for an RJ-45 jack, which looks like a

wider RJ-11 telephone jack, to connect to Ethernet cabling, generally Cat5, 5e

or 6. On an Ethernet network, every device has, through its NIC, a unique 48-

bit Media Access Control (MAC) address assigned to it at manufacture, used

to facilitate communication and assign resources. Most cards sold currently

support Gigabit Ethernet (1 Gbps) and are backward-compatible with 10

Mbps and 100 Mbps systems, although 10 Gbps Ethernet is available. For

troubleshooting purposes, it should be noted that virtually all NICs also have

status light indicators that indicate the state of network traffic.

o Modem: Although many broadband connections use devices called modems,

the term generally refers to dial-up modems, which were once the standard for

connectivity to the Internet for most consumer devices. Dial-up networking

uses the POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) network to send and transmit

data, using the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) to transmit data packets. Top

speed of dial-up connections, due to physical and electrical limitations, was

approximately 53.3 kbps in practice, although 56k was theoretically possible,

excruciatingly slow by current standards. Dial-up modems use RJ-11 jacks to

connect to phone cables, and use the V.92 standard, the most recent for dial-

up hardware. This standard has been in place for many years, and due to the

rise of broadband, is unlikely to change.

Power and electrical input devices: Since mobile computers are not tied to one

physical location, regular house current is not always an option for mobile users.

Because of the more chancy availability, mobile computer power technology has

expanded to cover a number of devices, including:

o Auto-switching: This capability of some AC adapters is a protective measure,

allowing the adapter to automatically change from providing 110 V to 220 V

of AC power. This prevents burnout of the computer components.

o Fixed-input power supplies: This type is seen in both desktops and laptops,

and can only provide one level of power to the machine. Auto-switching

adapters are gaining in popularity, but this kind is likely to be around for a

while.

o Batteries: This technology is what makes laptops and notebooks truly mobile:

the ability to use power without being tethered by a power cord or AC

adapter. Mobile computers have used a number of different battery

technologies, including the outdated nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cad) and nickel-

metal-hydride (NiMH) standards. Current mobile computers use lithium-ion

(Li-Ion) batteries, which are more efficient and are more flexible with

recharging. Future battery technology will include fuel cell standards, also

known as direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC), which are expected to have

substantially longer battery lives. When using batteries, it’s recommended to

have spare packs, recharge the batteries only when depleted (although it’s

recommended to follow the manufacturer documentation), remove the battery

from the computer if it’s not going to be used for a while and use the

machine’s power management features to effectively use the battery

resources.

Input devices: Laptops can use the input devices already discussed, but there are

several others that are either more commonly used with mobile devices or are

designed to work with mobile devices, including:

o Stylus/digitizer: A digitizer, also known as a graphics tablet, is a horizontal

device that can be drawn on with a stylus, a pencil-shaped device usually

made of plastic, to enter hand-drawn or written information into a digital

format. These devices generally connect to the computer through a USB port,

and like many USB devices, it’s usually advisable to install the drivers and/or

software before connecting the device. Digitizers can replace a mouse or other

pointing device, but are most commonly used by artists and graphic designers

with desktop publication software. To some extent, the popularity of these

devices has waned, particularly with the introduction of Apple’s iPad, which

combines many of these features into a full computer.

o Function keys: Function keys are an extra row of keys on most keyboards –

though on some laptop keyboards, the top row of keys double as function keys

when the Fn button is pressed – that have specific tasks tied to them, or can be

used as shortcuts in various applications and/or the operating system. Some

function keys can be used outside the operating system, such as interrupting

the boot sequence to enter the BIOS.

o Point devices: Most laptops, in order to save space and maximize usefulness,

include a touch pad just below the keyboard to take the place of a full-size

mouse. The touch pad controls the cursor on the screen just as a mouse does,

based on finger movements on the pad; buttons are often included to duplicate

the left- and right-click functions, though tapping the pad often serves as a

click. Some notebook manufacturers, such as IBM and Lenovo, use a point

stick as a point device; the point stick is a small knob on the keyboard (often

surrounded by the G, H and B keys) that can be manipulated to move the

cursor, similar to a joystick.

Domain 1.11: Install and configure printers

Differentiate between printer types: Communication and computer technologies

change rapidly, but printer technology is slower to advance; the basic technologies

haven’t changed in decades, although it is constantly refined. The basic types of

printer a technician can expect to see in the field include:

o Laser: Popular among businesses and large organizations for demanding

printing needs – including speed, quantity and print quality – laser printers

print one page at a time and require memory – either onboard memory or the

computer’s memory for host-based printers – to operate. For larger printers,

adding memory is a common printer upgrade to increase performance. This

memory is used when the printer breaks received data into single-dot strips, a

process known as rasterizing. Color laser printers place black, cyan, magenta,

and yellow colors on the paper one color at a time. In terms of overall

maintenance, users will replace toner cartridges most often, followed by drum

cartridges, fuser assemblies and transfer assemblies respectively. The laser

printing process is as follows:

Cleaning or preparing: The print drum is cleaned of residual toner by a

sweeping strip and blade and residual charge by erase lamps.

Conditioning: Electrostatic charging drum is conditioned by the

primary charging roller, also known as the primary corona, to receive a

high electrical charge of -600 V.

Writing or exposing: A laser beam discharges high current (-600 V) or

lower charge (-100 V) where toner is to be applied to the drum. The

beam is controlled by a coordinated motor and mirror set to make a

number of passes over the drum; for a 1200 dots per inch (dpi) printer,

for example, one inch of drum circumference is passed over 1200

times, leading to 1200 by 1200 dots per square inch.

Developing: Toner is placed on the drum where the charge has been

reduced to -100 V. The toner has been given an opposite charge,

ensuring it sticks only to where the laser wrote on the drum in previous

stage. Older printers performed all steps up to this point in one

cartridge, but current printers perform the first three steps inside the

drum cartridge and transfer paper to the toner cartridge for this step,

which reduces overall maintenance costs.

Transferring: The transfer charging roller or transfer corona produces

positive charge on the paper, which pulls the toner from the drum onto

the paper by a strong electrostatic charge. The static charge eliminator

then weakens the charge on the paper and the drum simultaneously to

avoid having the paper be attracted to the drum. Using paper designed

for laser printers is important at this stage, as paper that is too thin or

weak will get pulled into the mechanism, causing a jam.

Fusing: Heat from the fuser assembly and pressure from the fuser

rollers press the toner into the toner to the paper. The fuser must get

hot enough to melt the plastic particles that make up toner, but not hot

enough to burn or ignite the paper; for some printers, the entire device

will shut down if the fuser reaches 410 degrees Fahrenheit.

o Inkjet: Inkjet printers are a far more common, if lower-quality, type of printer.

Inkjets use liquid-filled cartridges to spray charged ink droplets onto the page

through tiny nozzles. Bubblejet-style printers, one of the most common, use

thermal-shock print heads which have a heating element around each nozzle

that, when heated, causes the ink to expand. An electrical charge is imparted

to the ink, and magnetically charged plates then shape the path of the ink to

create images. Inkjets used to be limited in resolution to 300 by 300 dpi, but

some models have as high as 5760 by 1440 dpi, due to the high number of

fine nozzles a print head contains: anywhere from 64 to 3000. While inkjet

printers can use plain paper, specific inkjet paper will allow for higher quality

output, and the higher-grade, the better; cheaper paper leads to more smudges,

and since inkjets are often slower than laser printers, poor quality can quickly

become a major issue. Inkjets can have as many as six cartridges or as few as

one, depending on whether they use individual cartridges for colors or just use

a tri-color cartridge.

o Thermal: As the name implies, thermal printers use heat to print characters on

paper. There are two types of thermal printers:

Thermal wax transfer: The print head melts wax-based ink from a

transfer ribbon onto the page. Printer uses an equivalent panel of ink

for every page, regardless of how much print is transferred, and the

controller changes the characters by modifying which pins in the page-

wide print head are heated. This style was commonly used for printing

receipts and bar codes, among other retail uses.

Direct thermal: This method was used in many early fax machines.

The printer burns dots onto coated paper when the paper passes over

heating elements.

Although not thermal printers in the same sense, solid ink and dye

sublimation printers are sometimes lumped into the thermal printer

category. Solid ink printers liquefy solid wax ink sticks into reservoirs.

The ink is squirted onto paper as the transfer drum passes it by the

page-wide print head. Solid ink printers are considered reliable, quality

printers, their major drawback being the print head can take up to 15

minutes to warm up to operating temperature. Dye sublimation printers

work by heating the ink so that it turns from a solid into a gas. These

are most often used in graphic arts and photographic applications, as

the print quality is photographic-level since color is applied as a

continuous tone, rather than in dots. Special paper is required and

generally prints at speeds less than one page per minute.

o Impact: As the name implies, these printers print by striking the paper, driving

ink into the page. The best-known impact printer type is the dot matrix printer,

which fires pins or print wires at an ink ribbon (which lubricated the print

heads as well as providing ink) and thus placing ink on the paper leaving a

printed impression. The print head contains the pins and moves left to right

across the paper, line by line. Dot matrix printers are an obsolete technology,

due to their slowness, poor quality and lack of flexibility, but they are still

commonly used in some industries because they use continuous tractor feeds

of paper, which is useful for creating ongoing log printouts; they can print on

carbon copies and original forms simultaneously; and are mechanically

reliable, lasting for an impressive length of time. For maintenance purposes,

the print head will occasionally need replacement; to lower the need to replace

the print head, keep the printer cool and well-ventilated, and don’t print more

than 75 pages or so at a time to allow the printer to cool down between jobs.

Local vs. network printers: A local printer is one that is directly connected to the

computer using it, usually through a USB or parallel connection, though printers can

connect to computers using a variety of methods, including SCSI, IEEE 1394,

wireless or serial port. A network printer, on the other hand, is connected to the local

network through an Ethernet port and is accessed via a network driver. Many printers

have more than one type of connection, and can be both a local and network printer

simultaneously.

Printer drivers (compatibility): Regardless of whether a printer is local or networked,

the drivers a technician or user installs for the printer need to be not only the correct

ones for the printer, but compatible with the operating system as well. This means not

only that the driver version matches the OS – which can be avoided if using the

embedded drivers in later versions of Windows, such as Vista or Windows 7 – but

also whether the driver is 32-bit or 64-bit. Depending on the types of jobs and

applications the printer will be used with, it may also be necessary to match the

printer language to the correct driver; e.g., PCL 6 or PostScript.

Consumables: Consumables refer to those printer supplies that normal operation uses

up and which must be replaced on a regular basis to keep the printer functioning.

Common consumables include paper, toner cartridges, ink cartridges and the fuser for

laser printers; depending on the printer type being worked with, consumables may

also include image drums, transfer belts, ink ribbons and color sticks. Always check

with the printer documentation if unsure about which components are consumables,

and how to replace or refill them when necessary.

Domain 2.0: Troubleshooting, Repair and Maintenance

Domain 2.1: Given a scenario, explain the troubleshooting theory

Identify the problem: This may be the first point where the technician interacts with

the user, so both technical and customer service skills will come into play here. Not

only is the technician searching for specific symptom-related information and

background on specific computer settings, but he or she is getting a sense of the

user’s priorities and background information. Technicians must actively listen and

understand how to use open-ended questions to get the user to feel comfortable and

talk freely about the symptoms. When discussing the symptoms with the user, or

when examining the machine in person or remotely, the technician’s focus should be

on obtaining as much information as feasible to generate a complete and accurate

symptom description. To that end, the information needed will include:

o System configuration details, including the hardware components, the

installed applications and the operating system version.

o Specific error message, if one is displayed. Multiple error messages may

appear in order; each error message text should be recorded and the order in

which they appear.

o The actions the user was performing when the symptoms and/or error

messages first appeared, including any active or open applications.

o Time frame and frequency of the symptoms.

o Reproducibility of the symptoms, as being able to reproduce the symptoms at

will helps point to potential causes or mitigating factors, and offers a way to

test the symptom occurrence.

Before doing anything else, the technician should ensure that the

system is backed up before making any changes, to protect the

technician and user against data loss and any resultant downtime.

Establish a theory of probable cause: Once the information is gathered, the technician

should try to reproduce the symptoms reported, if they haven’t already appeared. This

tests that all the information gathered so far was accurate, and also ensures the

technician understands the context of the symptom within the system, as well as

gathers information the user may not have noticed or understood. Once this is done,

the technician can develop a theory about what might be happening.

o When creating a theory, technicians should be careful not to make any

assumptions about what the issue might be. This is where reproducing the

symptoms can be of great help, because it allows the technician to see what is

actually happening, not just someone else’s perception or idea of the issue.

o Try to eliminate the obvious things before doing anything else. Check the

connections, power switches and the presence of the disc or file in question.

Hardware is generally easier to check, so checking connections is never a bad

idea. You might also decide at this point where the problem most probably

lies: hardware or software.

o Once you’ve decided where to begin looking, it’s time to take your best guess

as to what the problem may be, not to make a decision but to define what path

you’ll start with. Never be reluctant to turn to system documentation,

manufacturer knowledge bases, search engines or user forums in an effort to

get more information or brainstorm places where you can begin.

Test the theory: In some cases, following the previous steps will solve the problem,

and the technician can move on. However, in most cases, it will be necessary to put

the theory to the test. One approach, especially if hardware is the likely cause, is to

swap suspect hardware for known good hardware, or alternatively, take the suspect

hardware and put it in a working machine to see if the problem travels with it.

However, in most cases, technicians will want to follow a ―divide and conquer‖

strategy, which consists of a few basic steps:

o Split the problem into two parts, with one part easily testable. As an example,

if trying to track down an application error, start by examining the error

statement, which may point to a video driver issue. That gives you something

that can be tested – the video driver.

o Test that aspect to either verify it’s the source or eliminate it. In this example,

you may decide to remove that driver and allow Windows to substitute the

basic Plug-and-Play (PnP) adapter driver, then run the program with that

driver and find out if the problem still happens.

o If it is the source, move on to the next step. If the application error disappears

when using the PnP driver, the video driver is likely the problem.

o If it isn’t the source, eliminate it from consideration and reframe the problem

into two aspects again. In this case, if the error happens again with the PnP

video driver in place, the video driver can be eliminated.

o Repeat as needed until the root cause of the issue has been identified, taking

notes and starting over through reboots as needed. This strategy is simple and

effective, but keep in mind it’s easy to go down an incorrect path if

information is incomplete and the technician has made wrong assumptions.

Establish a plan of action to resolve the problem and implement the solution: Once

the source of the issue is identified, the technician can make a plan to resolve the

issue. While the causes can be varied, the steps to resolve an issue once it’s

troubleshot to the root cause fall within a narrow range, including:

o Hardware replacement. In virtually all cases, the cost/benefit ratio favors

replacing a part if the issue is defective hardware. Most computer components

are field replaceable units (FRU), and it’s almost always more efficient and

cost-effective to replace a defective part, particularly if the machine is still

covered by a warranty.

o Removal/reinstallation of an application. Repairing software can involve an

update, but such an update will likely have been part of the maintenance

cycle. If not, that will be the place to start, but otherwise reinstalling the

application will be the next likely step. After that, removing and reinstalling

the application is likely next. Before removing and/or reinstalling, be sure to

have any license information handy.

o Removal/reinstallation of operating system. OS repair usually has more

options than with an application: Service Packs or Software Updates (for

Macs), hotfixes, driver updates, even certain boot options such as Last Known

Good Configuration. However, there will be times where starting over is the

only realistic option, and in some cases, it may be necessary to format the hard

drive and reinstall from scratch.

o Whichever option the technician chooses, a good rule of thumb is to take the

least invasive action first, in order to minimize potential problems. Similarly,

as part of the planning process, technicians should always know where to

start, meaning that the tech should know what’s working and what isn’t before

trying to fix an issue; otherwise, a symptom may appear that the tech doesn’t

know if it was part of the original problem or something created by the tech’s

work.

Verify full system functionality and, if applicable, implement preventative measures:

Replacing the hardware or repairing the application and/or OS is just the beginning.

To make sure the issue’s resolved, the technician must test the solution to ensure the

tech addressed the issue and didn’t break anything else. If the issue was an occasional

event or only happened in specific circumstances, the tech needs to test under

everyday conditions before testing specific circumstances. To verify the repair

addressed the original symptoms and didn’t introduce new problems, ask the

following questions while testing:

o Did the symptom disappear?

o Did the correct symptom disappear?

o Did the correct cause get fixed; i.e., did the fix address the identified cause or

did it do something else?

o Did another issue appear be caused by the technician’s efforts; i.e., did the

tech break something else?

o Once these questions have been answered and the fix verified, the technician

needs to take steps to try and prevent the issue from happening again. If a

hardware fix is in order, such as a surge protector, the tech should install it;

same with software fixes, such as a firewall. More importantly, educate the

user on what happened and how to avoid it. This teaches the user and, if user

error was the problem, hopefully prevents this user from making the same

mistake in the future. It also involves the user in the support process, and

demonstrates a level of sharing and trust in the user. This is both good

technical practice and good customer service.

Document findings, actions and outcomes: After fixing the problem, the technician

must document the symptom as originally reported, a full description of the actual

issue and the resolution that was found. This builds onto the technician’s and the

organization’s institutional knowledge, making future troubleshooting efforts easier.

Having a knowledge base of issue descriptions and resolutions is a valuable resource,

because it protects future technicians – yourself included – from having to reinvent

the wheel in trying to address an issue you don’t recall how to fix, or one another tech

has solved but you’ve never seen. While documenting, it’s also a good idea to tell

other technicians about the problem and how it was fixed. This can save other users

from downtime, and other technicians from trying to solve a problem that’s already

been solved.

Domain 2.2: Given a scenario, explain and interpret common hardware and operating symptoms

and their causes

OS-related symptoms: These are symptoms or behaviors that are generated by the

OS; while they may be caused by hardware in some cases, techs need to address them

at the OS level first. Some of the common symptoms and their causes include:

o Blue screen of death (BSOD): A BSOD is caused when a kernel mode

process, meaning the process has full access to all system resources, is

corrupted or is unable to continue, causing Windows to do a complete halt.

When the BSOD appears, it will have an error code and message telling the

general reason for the process shutdown; this can be looked up to get more

information. BSODs can be generated for a number of reasons, but they’re

commonly caused by defective or incompatible hardware, drivers or software;

registry issues; and viruses and malware. A restart will clear the BSOD, but

unless the underlying cause is addressed, it will likely reoccur.

o System lockup: As the name suggests, this is when the computer locks up or

freezes, and must be restarted. There are generally no error messages to

indicate what the problem might be, but freezes are often caused by the

system overheating; hardware/driver issues with the motherboard, video card

or memory; configuration issues in the BIOS, most often with RAM; or even

CPU issues. Using the Event Viewer applet can help narrow down causes, as

can diagnostic tools like Windows Memory Diagnostics or DxDiag (to check

DirectX drivers, another common cause). Visual and audio cues from the

computer, such as a change in pitch or volume of system noise, can help as

well.

o I/O device: Issues with I/O devices can appear as unusual behavior, such as

hesitation or jerky movement of the cursor; static when typing or moving the

cursor; or simple failure to work at all. The key indicator of an I/O device

issue is often seen in the Device Manager, where a yellow exclamation mark

icon may indicate a device conflict, or the device may not be listed at all.

Issues with I/O devices may be caused by BIOS configuration issues,

Windows and/or driver configuration issues, poor cabling or connection and

even defective port hardware.

o Application install: Sometimes, when installing a new program or application,

the installation won’t finish or stops after generating an error message. The

installation program may generate an error message that details the issue, but

common causes for application install issues include a lack of space on the

hard drive being installed to (usually the root drive, C:); the computer not

meeting minimum requirements for the application, usually RAM or CPU

speed; the root folder for the install not having sufficient space, which is more

of an issue for systems running on an older File Allocation Table (FAT)

system; and incompatibility with the version of Windows running on the

computer.

o Start or load issues: Once installed, applications sometimes may not start, or

be unable to complete the load process. An application failing to load may or

may not present an error message, as in many instances, the application may

simply not appear, or the process may appear in Task Manager but not launch

the user interface. In these cases, the issues preventing the application from

loading can include an invalid working directory; a missing or damaged

shortcut used to launch the application, either from the Start Menu or the

desktop; incompatibility issues with the hardware, system configuration, or

operating system; and application components improperly listed in the system

registry.

o Windows-specific printing problems: Technicians may occasionally run

across printing issues where a test page can be generated from the printer

successfully, but Windows can’t print to the device. After eliminating

hardware issues, such as a bad or loose cable, two of the more common

Windows printing issues involve the printer not printing at all due to the print

spooler stalling – which is a service in Windows that may need to be stopped

and restarted – or, if the printer prints pages of incomprehensible characters, a

corrupted, incompatible or incorrect printer driver, which can be removed in

Device Manager or updated through either Windows Update or the printer

manufacturer’s update tool.

Hardware-related symptoms: In many cases, errors or performance issues on a

computer may be due to the hardware itself failing or malfunctioning. Some of the

common symptoms and signs of hardware issues include:

o Excessive heat: Due to their small size and circuit density, the CPU, chipset,

motherboard and RAM, in addition to all the other chips inside a computer,

are extremely sensitive to heat. Too much heat will cause a computer to

behave erratically, lock up, shut down at random intervals or refuse to come

on at all. When this happens, the first place to look are the various fans in the

system: the power supply fan, the case fans, the CPU fan on top of the heat

sink and the auxiliary fans in the system, such as the video card fan if

applicable. Dirt and dust can cause fans to slow down or fail altogether, or

prevent air movement if there are too many clogged vents or dust bunnies.

Another potential cause of overheating is installing incorrectly sized fans and

cooling devices inside a system, which can interfere with the airflow inside

the case, or simply be inadequate for the system heat load. Even missing slot

covers can interfere with airflow, causing overheating.

o Noise: The normal operational noise of a computer can vary substantially

from model to model, but if a user notices a change in volume or pitch after

using the computer for a time, it may be a sign of hardware issues. If a

computer makes less noise, it may mean a fan has slowed or completely

stopped working; alternatively, if a fan gets louder, that may be a sign it’s

become gummed up with dust and dirt, and is not working as efficiently or

smoothly. A hard drive also makes noises when running, but if a drive makes

a high-pitched noise or starts to click and thump, those are frequently signs of

imminent problems.

o Odors: Odors coming from a computer generally indicate either a spill of

some kind or a potential electrical issue; in the latter case, the smell of smoke

or ozone will be unmistakable, and a sign to quickly shut down the computer

until the source can be tracked down and addressed. A spill, while not

necessarily damaging, should be cleaned up right away, and the system should

be checked carefully to ensure no electrical damage was caused.

o Status light indicators: Some devices, like NICs and some laptop batteries,

have light-emitting diode (LED) status indicators built into them. These status

indicators can indicate if network traffic is getting through, in the case of

NICs, or the charge level for laptop batteries. In the event of a suspected

hardware issue, these status indicators should be checked to see if an issue is

indicated. Other status indicators include power lights and hard drive lights on

computers.

o Alerts: Alerts are tasks in Windows set to go off when a certain condition is

met, such as low battery power. While not error messages themselves, they

can point to hardware issues if alerts are appearing far more frequently than

they should.

o Visible damage: One of the things that techs should immediately look for if an

unusual odor is detected is visible damage. Such damage includes stripped or

burned cables, cracks in cases, smoke and melted plastic. Visible damage

should always be checked after an electrical event or impact to a system, even

if the system works fine immediately afterward.

User documentation and resources: When researching symptoms and possible

solutions, there are certain resources that a technician should start with, particularly if

working on a system or technology that’s unfamiliar. These resources include:

o User/installation manuals: Most user or installation manuals that come with a

computer or related equipment includes a section on possible error conditions

and how to address them, as well as troubleshooting instructions.

o Internet/Web-based resources: Virtually every hardware or software

manufacturer maintains a Web site with a support section, containing

manuals, support documents and downloads of drivers, applications and often,

diagnostic software. Always start with the manufacturer, as they know the

product best and are most likely to have the necessary information. This holds

true for the OS developers such as Microsoft and Apple as well, and beyond

the official sites, there are a myriad of hobbyist and informative third-party

sites that have valuable information.

o Training materials: In many cases, a new product or program suite will come

with training from the manufacturer, which has study materials and reference

manuals included. These materials often have troubleshooting steps and tips

included, and should be considered a valuable resource.

Domain 2.3: Given a scenario, determine the troubleshooting methods and tools for printers

General printer troubleshooting: As with computers, troubleshooting printers should

follow the logical process detailed earlier. However, with printers, there are fewer

things that can go wrong, as printers are overall not as complex. The general

troubleshooting process for printers follows this basic outline:

o Check that the printer is switched on (always check the obvious).

o Check that the printer is plugged into the wall socket or power strip.

o Ensure the printer is online.

o Check the cable connection between the printer and the computer or network.

o Once the obvious hardware issues have been settled, techs should look at the

interaction between the printer and the computer.

Manage print jobs: Techs should check to see what jobs have been sent, as a

corrupted or excessively large print job can cause apparent issues. This is done by

opening the print spooler, or print queue. To view these jobs, techs can double-click

the icon for the printer in the Windows system tray (which is in the lower-right corner

of the desktop, next to the clock), or open Printers and Faxes from within Control

Panel and double-click the icon for the printer. The jobs can be deleted from this

window.

Print spooler: If canceling or pausing the jobs does not help, the spooler can be

entirely cleared by selecting Cancel All Documents from the Printer drop-down

menu. Taking the printer offline from the same menu and bringing it back online can

help as well; power cycling the printer may have the same effect.

Printer properties and settings: After checking the jobs in the print spooler, the tech

may need to check the printer properties and settings to make sure those are set

correctly. The printer may need to be set to the system default printer, which can be

down from the Printer drop-down menu. Other options to check are the driver version

– which may need to be updated, through Windows Update or the manufacturer – the

port the printer is set to, and any errors or alerts the printer may have generated in

Event Viewer. It may be helpful to temporarily modify some settings, such as

disabling print spooling or printing at a lower resolution.

Print a test page: If all the settings look good, sending a test page to the printer, both

from Windows and from within the printer (if available), should be performed. If the

test page prints, the tech should check the device settings on the page to ensure they

match the printer’s actual settings and specifications.

Domain 2.4: Given a scenario, explain and interpret common laptop issues and determine the

appropriate basic troubleshooting method

Issues: Because of their highly specialized design and lack of standardization across

manufacturers, laptop repair is generally more advanced than technicians in the field

will likely be able to perform, particularly for machines under warranty. In most

cases, laptops with internal hardware issues will be dealt with by either sending the

mobile computer to the manufacturer or authorized repair depot for service, or using

an external component to replace an internal device. There are only a few relatively

simple procedures, like replacing a hard drive, most technicians will be able to do on

their own. However, troubleshooting hardware issues is still possible, and will be

necessary to perform before worrying about hardware replacement. Some of the

common issues techs will see in the field and troubleshoot include:

o Power issues: Mobile computers can be powered by an AC adapter, which

plugs into a wall socket, or an internal battery providing DC power.

Troubleshooting power issues involves first figuring out which system is not

functioning. To start, techs will want to ensure the mobile computer is

plugged into a working outlet, which can be checked with an outlet tester, a

voltmeter or a multimeter to make sure the outlet is live and providing the

correct levels of power. Checking the connections on the AC adapter at the

outlet and the computer is next; if the adapter cord isn’t working, it needs

replacement. The adapter also should be tested with the voltmeter or

multimeter to ensure the output voltage is within tolerances, usually +5% of

its rating. If the adapter works but the battery doesn’t, the tech should first

check if the battery is installed properly, and that it can hold a sufficient

charge. The voltage output should be tested as well. The system should be

tested on a fully charged battery; if it doesn’t run the system or runs it for a

very limited time, the battery should be replaced; similarly, if the battery is

excessively hot or warped, it should be replaced.

o Video: Since mobile computers come with a display panel built into the unit,

one of the quickest ways to troubleshoot video issues is to connect an external

monitor to the system and see if the issue is apparent on the external monitor.

If the issue is intermittent, performing a test such as extending the desktop or

switching between the internal and external displays is next. If the external

monitor works fine, the problem is limited to the integrated LCD panel. If the

problem persists, the tech will need to look at the graphics controller or the

motherboard. In those cases, the next step is determining what kind of issue is

being displayed; if the internal display fails displaying a white picture, but the

external monitor works, the connector between the display and the

motherboard might be loose. Since the instructions for accessing the display

panel components will vary across models, the tech will need manufacturer

instructions for this step. If a display section is white constantly, the LCD is

cracked and will need replacement. Another potential issue is the LCD cutoff

switch, which turns off the LCD lighting bulb and normally comes on when

the lid closes. If the switch fails, repairing or replacing it requires opening up

the display panel. An apparently dead screen may be due to a backlight

failure; look closely to see if you can make out items on the screen, such as

the desktop or any logos. If you can shine a flashlight on the screen and see

items, the backlight has failed. Replacing the backlight can be done in the

field, but most warranties require this type of repair to be done by the

manufacturer or authorized repair center. Another potential issue is dead

pixels, which won’t light up or only displays red, green or blue light. A certain

amount of dead pixels are considered acceptable -- manufacturers have

varying policies regarding dead pixels – so if a tech sees one or more dead

pixels, the laptop manufacturer should be consulted on options. Sometimes,

lightly tapping the screen over the dead pixel can fix it.

o Keyboard: As with display issues, one of the most effective ways to

troubleshoot keyboard issues is connect an external keyboard to the mobile

computer and test it by opening a simple text program – Notepad comes with

all Windows versions – and typing some random characters. If the external

keyboard doesn’t work, the motherboard has failed and needs replacement;

otherwise, the problem is the keyboard assembly. The tech should shut down

the computer, disconnect all power sources and disconnect the external

keyboard, then disassemble the keyboard and keypad assembly using the user

or service manual instructions, and then disconnect and reconnect the

keyboard assembly from the motherboard, and then reconnect it. If it’s

necessary to replace the keyboard assembly, ordering from the manufacturer

is the best bet.

o Pointer: With most laptops, the track pad or pointer mechanism is part of the

keyboard assembly, so the steps to troubleshoot it are identical. Attaching an

external mouse is the first step, and if it works – the machine may need to shut

down and/or rebooted, especially if using a PS/2 mouse – the pointer

mechanism will need replacement.

o Stylus: Styluses and digitizers, or graphics tablets, are commonly integrated

packages on mobile computers, so troubleshooting one will involve the other.

Determining where the stylus is used and checking that area for loose

connections or hardware issues is the first step. If the digitizer pad is part of

the keyboard assembly, the tech will need to proceed as detailed in the

previous subsections; if the digitizer function is performed by a touch screen,

however, it will be necessary to disassemble the chassis to check the

connection to the motherboard, and may be necessary to replace the entire

display assembly, depending on the model.

o Wireless card issues: Since virtually all mobile computers have wireless NICs

built into them, issues with the card often translate to antenna issues.

Technicians should start with Device Manager; if it shows the wireless NIC is

working, and other devices are connecting to the wireless network, the

antenna connected to the wireless NIC may be loose or damaged. Open the

access panel covering the NIC and check to ensure the antenna is connected to

the right area. Sometimes, removing and reinstalling a wireless NIC can lead

to reversed antenna wires; if the wires are fine, the wireless transceivers could

be damaged, which will likely require replacing the display assembly, as that

is where most wireless transceivers are located.

Methods: As detailed in the previous sections, some of the basic laptop

troubleshooting steps – for several categories of issue – include the following:

o Verify power – Check the status LEDs on the machine, and test the incoming

power and output of the battery and AC adapter using a voltmeter or

multimeter. Swap AC adapters, if available; try a different battery pack.

o Remove unneeded peripherals – Disconnecting all external devices reduces

the power load and eliminates potential hardware conflicts. This includes not

only USB and other external devices, but any PCMCIA devices as well.

o Plug in external monitor – Using an external device allows easy testing

without disassembling the computer to swap parts. Good for video issues, but

using external parts works for keyboard and mouse issues as well.

o Toggle Fn keys or hardware switches – Toggling with Fn keys and/or

hardware switches allows quick testing of various functions, specifically with

display issues and LCD cutoff switches. On older laptops, hardware switches

were available for various functions, including wireless NICs, so having that

capability can be handy for testing other hardware.

o LCD cutoff switch – A failed switch can prevent the screen from coming on

or turning off, and since such switches are mechanical, they’re usually easier

to work with and simpler to replace than an entire display panel. Ensuring that

switch functions can save time and money, especially on out-of-warranty

machines.

o Verify backlight functionality and pixilation – A dark screen should be

checked with a flashlight; if icons or any data is visible on the screen, the

backlight needs replacing, which is simpler and less expensive than an entire

display panel. A few dead pixels are acceptable under most quality standards

– it’s a limitation of current display technology – so consult with the

manufacturer before taking any steps, although tapping the screen on the dead

pixel area can resolve the issue.

o Check switch for built-in Wi-Fi antennas or external antennas – On some

laptops, the wireless NICs can be turned off. Before disassembling the

machine to check the antennas, ensure that the switch, if present, is turned on.

Domain 2.5: Given a scenario, integrate common preventative maintenance techniques

Physical inspection: Regularly looking over the computer and its immediate

environment helps keep the technician apprised of how dusty or dirty the equipment

is, and how often it needs to be cleaned. Additionally, it allows the tech to ensure the

computer is in an environment of safe usage, where electrical and environmental

hazards can be caught and corrected.

Updates: Keeping the computer as up-to-date as possible is necessary for continued

efficiency and security, as equipment and software that isn’t up to date could

potentially be exploited. Technicians should be regularly updating the following

aspects of a system:

o Drivers: Making sure all hardware on the system is using the latest drivers is

vital to keeping them functioning at peak efficiency. This can be done

manually through the manufacturer’s Web site or software utility, through an

operating system application such as Windows Update, or through a third-

party utility or Web site.

o Firmware: Firmware, or the programming that controls a hardware device

from a chip built into the device (the CMOS chip in a PC is an example of

firmware), is occasionally updated by manufacturers. Check the

manufacturer’s Web site for firmware updates; in some cases, such as with

Dell computers, firmware updates can be downloaded through an update

utility.

o OS: Both Windows and Apple’s Mac OS X have automatic update utilities

built into them that can check for updates and download them without user

interaction, though they can be activated manually as well. These utilities can

also download device drivers and certain application updates.

o Security: It is absolutely vital to have a number of security programs running

on any machine that is connected to a network or shares files with any other

machine; at a minimum, a computer should have anti-virus software installed,

and it’s best if the computer has anti-malware/spyware software and a firewall

installed as well. These programs are only as good as their signature files,

however, so these programs should be kept as up-to-date as humanly possible,

updating at least once a day. Virtually all such programs auto-update, but

techs should make sure these programs are doing their job when it comes to

updating.

Scheduling preventative maintenance: Many maintenance tasks on a computer can be

automated, set to run when the computer isn’t being used and thus run interrupted

without affecting user uptime. These maintenance tasks, which techs should schedule

to run regularly, include:

o Defrag: Over time, as files are erased and added to the hard drive, the blocks

of data that make up system and user files become fragmented, stored on

different areas of the drive. The Windows tool Disk Defragmenter, as well as

several third-party utilities, can move these blocks on the drive so that data is

stored in contiguous sections, increasing read speeds and decreasing overall

resource usage.

o Scandisk: Scandisk is an older version of a disk checking utility that scans a

hard drive for bad sectors and marks them as such, so the system doesn’t try to

use them. It can fix data errors, but can’t repair the sectors themselves. This

utility was created for Windows 9x systems.

o CheckDisk (chkdsk): The modern version of Scandisk, introduced with

Windows 2000. Chkdsk can attempt to recover data from bad sectors, but

can’t fix the sectors. It can be run from the command line or the Tools tab in

the Properties window of the hard drive, accessible through the right-click

context menu in the My Computer or Computer window.

o Startup programs: One of the most common drags on system resources is the

insertion of startup programs, which boot with Windows and use system

resources that put extra demand on the computer. There are several places on

a computer where startup programs are loaded from, including the registry and

the Startup folder in the Start Menu, but the msconfig tool is the quickest and

most effective of these. Running the tool from the Run box from the Start

Menu opens a window where startup programs can be unselected; this can be

done with services as well.

Use of appropriate repair tools and cleaning materials: When working in and around a

computer, a technician needs to have the right tools and material to clean the work

area, protect him or herself and ensure no damage happens to the computer. These

tools and materials include:

o Compressed air: Compressed, or canned, air is useful for cleaning out dust and

dirt from fans, cases, some drives and electronic circuit boards where the tech

wants to minimize the possibility of electrostatic discharge (ESD) damage.

Canned air needs to be used carefully, as prolonged usage can chill the can to

the point where skin damage can occur and holding the can incorrectly can

lead to the internal chemicals spraying on components.

o Lint-free cloth: Used where regular cloths might scratch or cause ESD

damage to delicate components, these cloths are useful for using cleaner in

areas where it can’t be just sprayed on, such as over exposed circuit boards or

CPUs that need old thermal grease removed.

o Computer vacuum and compressors: Regular vacuums generate excessive

ESD, so in cases where canned air is insufficient or blowing the dust and dirt

might worsen the issue, computer vacuums should be used to clean the area.

Compute vacuums are handheld units made from antistatic materials, so they

will not generate ESD, and they don’t spread dirt and dust around, which

makes them useful in tight quarters. Also, they come with brushes and tips

that are useful for cleaning keyboards and cases.

o Power devices: Whenever possible, a computer should not be plugged directly

into a wall socket; to protect against power spikes and blackouts, a computer

and monitor should always be at least plugged into a power strip with built-in

surge protector or line conditioner, which evens out the current flow and

prevents spikes that can destroy components. Another alternative is an

uninterruptible power supply (UPS), which acts as a backup battery, allowing

time to shut down the computer in an orderly fashion in case of power outage;

they generally have surge protection and line conditioning properties as well.

Ensuring proper environment: Portable computers will work in a myriad of

environmental conditions, but for best performance, it’s best to keep these machines

in conditions that won’t damage the machine. Ideally, the operating temperature

range will stay between 50 and 95°F (10–35°C); if the machine is in storage or not

being used, the typical safe temperature range is between -4 and 140°F (-20–60°C).

These ranges can vary by model, so techs should always check the system

documentation first. Keep in mind batteries will discharge faster at higher

temperatures. Use external fans or a cooling pad to keep the machine cool if it must

be used in an excessively hot environment. Besides temperature, air quality is a

concern if a portable computer is used in a very dirty or dusty environment, such as a

smoking-allowed workplace, sawmills, manufacturing plants, mines and so forth. In

these environments. Use an air filter over the machine’s intake vents and make

cleaning or replacing the filter a regular task.

Backup procedures: Before doing any work on a machine, the tech or the user should

always back up the machine. Never work on a machine that hasn’t had its data backed

up. If a backup needs to be setup, the tech should be sure to follow these general

steps:

o Decide on the backup media to be used, whether it’s tape, external hard drive,

flash drive, optical storage or network attached storage (NAS) system. Make

sure it’s accessible and has sufficient storage, and if possible, have it stored

off-site.

o Select the backup software to be used. Windows has a built-in backup utility,

but there are several third-party solutions that offer an impressive array of

capabilities and features.

o Set up a schedule for backing up. Full backups are unnecessarily expensive in

time and media, so set a plan that does full backups every once in a while, and

backs up only data that has changed on a daily basis. There are different

methodologies that can be used, such as incremental and differential.

o Log the backups with time and date information, along with any other

identifying information that will be needed if the backups are needed to

rebuild a system.

o Verify the backup set after creating the first one to ensure it captured what it

should have and can be used. This can be done simply by deleting a file and

recovering it from the backup set. Document how to do this recovery for

future reference.

o Store the backup sets in a safe area, preferably off-site, and test them on a

regular basis. Since sensitive data will almost certainly be on these sets, be

sure to keep them in a secure location with whatever security measures can be

implemented.

Domain 3.0: Operating Systems and Software

Domain 3.1: Compare and contrast the different Windows operating systems and their features

(Windows versions: Windows 2000, XP Professional/Home/Media Center, Vista Home/Home

Premium/Business/Ultimate, Windows 7 Starter/Home Premium/Professional/Ultimate)

Windows 2000, Windows XP 32-bit vs. 64-bit, Vista 32-bit vs. 64-bit, Windows 7

32-bit vs. 64-bit: Windows 2000 was a 32-bit only OS that was built on the NT

kernel, and used the classic Windows graphic user interface (GUI) introduced with

Windows 95. Intended for corporate environments, it was not backward-compatible

with many older hardware and software products. Windows XP, on the other hand,

was an OS designed to offer the broadest range of options to users; it was also based

on the NT kernel, but was designed to bridge the gap between business and consumer

OS offerings. XP was backward-compatible with many consumer and business

products, and merged the consumer-level attributes of the Windows 9x/Me family

with the network and business needs of corporate-level users. It was available in 32-

bit and 64-bit versions, and had two main categories: XP Professional and XP Home,

although specialized versions existed as well, such as Media Center. It was the first

version of Windows to allow simultaneous logins of multiple users, and had a

different, brighter GUI, as well as a two-column personalized Start Menu and the first

incarnation of Windows Firewall. Windows Vista is an upgrade to XP, offering a

different GUI (including a revamped Windows icon for a start button), rearranged

directory structure and 3D user interface called Aero. It comes in 32-bit and 64-bit

versions, although 64-bit hardware had become more common by the time of its

release. Due to its heavy system requirements and lack of compatibility with many

legacy products, Vista was not as readily adopted, despite its impressive list of

features and upgrades – it comes in five versions, ranging from Home Basic to

Ultimate. Windows 7 is an upgrade to Vista, and due to Microsoft’s increased

attention to security and fixes for common Vista complaints, has been met with

greater approval. Windows 7 is available in 32-bit and 64-bit form, and has five

versions as well, ranging from Starter to Enterprise.

Sidebar, Aero, UAC, minimum system requirements, system limits: Introduced in

Windows Vista, the Windows Sidebar is a windowpane that loads on the right side of

the Windows desktop by default. The Sidebar houses gadgets, which are small applets

that provide a number of user-configurable services, such as Web access to weather

updates or Internet radio. Gadgets are available for download from Microsoft. Aero, a

3D user interface, was also introduced with Vista; it features translucent windows, a

3D view of open application windows and a taskbar altered to have the same

translucent appearance. As expected from the changing interface options and

additional features, the minimum system requirements for Windows 2000, XP and

Vista are quite different: Windows 2000 required a 133 MHz processor, 64 MB of

RAM, 650 MB of free space on a 2 GB partition and either a CD-ROM or floppy

drive; Windows XP required a 233 MHz processor, 64 MB of RAM, 1.5 GB of free

space on a 2 GB partition and a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive; and Vista requires an

800 MHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, 15 GB of free space on a 20 GB partition and

a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive. Windows 7 has even more stringent minimum

requirements than Vista: 1 GHz processor, 1 GB of RAM, 16 GB of free space and a

DVD-ROM drive. Although technicians are extremely unlikely to run into this issue,

it’s worth noting that these operating systems have limits to certain hardware aspects;

as noted previously, 32-bit systems can only address about 4 GB of RAM, and even

64-bit systems – which can in theory address 1 TB of RAM – are limited to 128 GB

of RAM for 64-bit Vista and 192 GB of RAM for 64-bit Windows 7.

Windows 2000 and newer – upgrade paths and requirements: Despite Windows OS

being built on the NT kernel ever since Windows 2000, upgrading from one version

to another is not just a matter of running the install. When looking to perform an

upgrade, Windows generally offers two options: an upgrade, which can be run over

the top of the existing OS and preserves user files and settings; and a clean install,

which installs a clean version of Windows which the user must then modify.

o Following are a list of upgrades that can be performed over the top of an

existing OS; if not listed here, a clean install is needed to get from the starting

OS to the newer version.

Windows 2000 -> XP Professional

XP Home -> XP Professional

XP Professional -> Vista Business 32-bit, Vista Ultimate 32-bit

XP Home -> Vista Home Basic/Home Premium/Business/Ultimate 32-

bit

XP Media Center -> Vista Home Premium 32-bit, Vista Ultimate 32-

bit

Vista Home 64-bit -> Any 64-bit Vista version

Vista Business -> Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, Ultimate

Vista Enterprise -> Windows 7 Enterprise

Vista Home Basic -> Windows 7 Home Basic, Home Premium,

Ultimate

Vista Home Premium -> Windows 7 Home Premium, Ultimate

Vista Ultimate -> Windows 7 Ultimate

Windows OS Upgrade Advisor: The Upgrade Advisor is a program that examines the

system specifications and installed software to determine which OS version the

machine can be upgraded to successfully. This can be accessed by clicking the Check

Compatibility Online button when inserting the Windows Vista or Windows 7 DVD,

or clicking Check System Compatibility from the Welcome to Windows XP menu,

and then click Check My System Automatically. This version of the advisor is only

available on a Windows XP disc now, as Microsoft no longer supports XP and has

taken this version from their Website; the versions for Vista and Windows 7 are

available for download. Before upgrading, technicians should download any drivers

or application update available; in some cases, having or not having these updates can

seriously affect the upgrade process.

Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit: This tool is an enterprise-level tool that

performs automated discovery and system assessments in order to more effectively

plan migrations and upgrades. It supports all versions from Windows XP going

forward, and performs the same functions as the Upgrade Advisor, but on a far larger

scale. The toolkit is available for download from Microsoft currently.

Terminology (32-bit vs. 64-bit – x86 vs. x64): The terms ―x86,‖ ―x64,‖ 32-bit‖ and

―64-bit‖ are often used interchangeably, which can be confusing to novices to the

computer world. x86 is a reference to older processor types, which ended in 86 when

PCs first started to penetrate the consumer market. The term generally refers to 32-bit

CPUs which, as stated in previous sections, only allow for 4 GB of address space

(RAM). x64, or x86-64 as it is sometimes called, is a reference to 64-bit CPUs. This

technology, which has been around for years but didn’t start to get into consumer

machines until Vista was released, can run 64-bit and 32-bit software, and addresses a

theoretical maximum of 1 TB of address space.

Application compatibility, installed program locations – 32-bit vs. 64-bit, Windows

compatibility mode: Most commercial applications should run properly on Windows

7/Vista/XP, but some commercial and custom legacy applications might not run

properly on newer versions of Windows. The Program Compatibility Wizard, which

is built into Windows, can be used to run legacy applications, as can using the

Compatibility tab located in the Properties windows from the right-click context

menu of the program’s executable file, which allows the application to run in a

selected compatibility mode. In Windows Vista, click Start, Control Panel and then

click Programs, then click Use an Older Program with This Version of Windows

under Programs and Features. In Windows XP, click Program Compatibility Wizard

under Start -> Programs -> Accessories to start the wizard. The tech can select from

programs already installed, select the program in the CD-ROM drive, or manually

select the program. The factors that can be modified to assist in compatibility include

the color palette (256 Colors), screen resolution (640 by 480) and disabling visual

themes. It should be noted that the Program Compatibility Wizard won’t work with

all old Windows programs, and should not be used with anti-virus, disk or system

utilities incompatible with current Windows versions. Microsoft periodically offers

Application Compatibility Updates through Windows Update, which help increase

compatibility with older applications. Windows 7 offers another method for dealing

with older applications: XP Mode, essentially a virtual version of XP that can be used

to run certain applications. It can be downloaded from Microsoft’s Web site, although

it’s not supported with all versions of Windows 7; check the product documentation

before downloading and installing.

User interface, start bar layout: As mentioned before, Vista and Windows 7 support a

3D user interface known as Aero. With the ability to modify the opacity of

application windows and the taskbar, use animations and display certain aspects in

3D, Aero is a substantially different visual approach for Windows. Not all versions of

Vista and 7 support it – Vista Basic and Windows 7 Starter can’t run Aero – but most

versions can, and to turn it on or make modifications to Aero, right-click the desktop

and select Personalize, then click Windows Color and Appearance. One of the other

changes in the user interface is in the Windows taskbar, specifically with the Quick

Launch option. In Vista and XP, it’s directly to the right of the Start button, although

it’s disabled by default in XP. To enable it, right-click the taskbar and select

Properties, then click the Show Quick Launch checkbox. In Windows 7, the far right

end of the taskbar is the Quick Launch button, which minimizes all open windows,

and mousing over the button will turn all the open windows on the desktop

transparent if Aero is enabled.

Domain 3.2: Given a scenario, demonstrate proper use of user interfaces

Windows Explorer: Windows Explorer, or just Explorer, is the file and directory

management interface used by Windows, and is used for local drives/network

resources and Internet content. For XP, Windows Explorer integrates tightly with My

Computer and Internet Explorer, but in Windows 7, Vista and Windows XP systems

using Internet Explorer 7 or higher, Explorer launches a new process for Web sites.

Files kept hidden by the OS and system files are not shown by Explorer by default

unless the View options are changed. Windows Explorer can be started from the Start

menu by clicking Start -> All Programs (Programs in Vista and Windows 7) ->

Accessories -> Windows Explorer; opening the Run prompt in the Start Menu, typing

Explorer and pressing Enter; or opening My Computer (Computer in Vista and

Windows 7) to start Explorer automatically.

o When you open My Computer in XP, the default view is Common Tasks,

which displays the properties of the selected object and, if available, displays

a preview. The contents and name of the left-side task pane change according

to the characteristics of the selected or displayed object. For example, display

My Computer, and the task pane is titled System Tasks, with a choice of

options such as View System Information, Add or Remove Programs, or

Change a Setting. The contents of Other Places also changes to display related

objects.

In Windows 7, this pane shows Libraries, which is a new directory

arrangement.

o Windows Explorer’s default view hides the following pieces of information:

File extensions for registered file types, such as .doc, .exe and .pdf.

Full path to the current folder.

Files and folders with hidden or system attributes. Concealing this

information was designed as a protective feature from user error, but it

makes management and troubleshooting more difficult. However, this

information can be revealed with these steps:

Start Windows Explorer.

Click Tools -> Folder Options, and select the View tab. In

Windows Vista and Windows 7, the Menu Bar is hidden by

default. To show it temporarily, press Alt+T to reveal the Tools

menu. It can be made permanent by clicking Organize ->

Layout -> Menu Bar.

Select the options wanted. When troubleshooting an end user

system, change these settings back to defaults when finished.

Click OK to close the window.

Files and folders can be displayed in several ways within Explorer:

o Tiles: Similar to Large Icons; default view.

o Icons: Similar to Small Icons in earlier versions. Icons can be resized in Vista

and Windows 7.

o List: Displays objects in a single column.

o Details: Same size icons as List, plus size and date last modified.

o Thumbnails: Shows small-sized graphic sample of previewable files and

folders, such as graphic files, and uses tiled icons for files that can’t be

previewed.

o Filmstrip: Shows larger preview of selected file, with smaller thumbnails

below. Buttons below large preview can be used to rotate or select a different

file.

My Computer: My Computer, or Computer in Vista and Windows 7, is a separate

window, but wholly integrated with Explorer. My Computer/Computer is in all

Windows versions, but Explorer is preferred by many users thanks to its more

complete feature set. My Computer/Computer allows users to view all local drives

and network drives available on the computer, as well as installed imaging devices –

such as cameras and scanners – and the Control Panel. XP’s version allows users to

use the left pane to view system information, run the Add or Remove Programs applet

and change settings, while in Vista’s version, users have to look under the menu bar

to access these options. Right-clicking the My Computer/Computer icon in the Start

Menu allows users to select Properties, Manage – which allows the Computer

Management Console to become active – Search/Find and a number of other options.

Control Panel: The Control Panel is the central repository for all the applets in

Windows for modifying user interface and hardware settings. By default, the Control

Panel is set to open in Category view, but experienced users and technicians often set

the Control Panel to Classic view in order to more easily reach specific applets for

configuration and troubleshooting. To open the Control Panel, users can click Start ->

Control Panel in Vista and Windows 7 or Start -> Settings -> Control Panel if using

the XP Classic menu, open My Computer/Computer or open Windows Explorer and

access it from the left pane. Icons in Control Panel will lead to the present settings for

the devices mentioned; in Vista and Windows 7, a single click will open them, as well

as in the Web view in XP, otherwise double-click the icon.

o Several shortcuts to specific Control Panel applets are available through

various Properties sheets, including:

Right-click My Computer/Computer -> System.

Right-click the Taskbar, select Properties -> Taskbar and Start Menu

Properties

Right-click desktop in XP, select Properties -> Display. Right-click

desktop in Vista and Windows 7 -> Personalize, which opens a

window where several applets can be selected.

Right-click Network in Vista, select Properties -> Network and

Sharing Center. Right-click My Network Places in XP, select

Properties -> Network Connections.

Command prompt utilities: Used more for advanced computer and network

troubleshooting, some of the more common utilities technicians will use here include:

o telnet: Allows a user to make a text-based connection to a remote computer or

device and use it as if the user was physically at the machine. To use telnet,

open a command prompt and type telnet a.computer.com, where

a.computer.com is the remote computer. Note that remote computers must be

configured to accept telnet access, and TCP port 23 must be open for a telnet

connection to work.

o Ping: Used to discover if a specific IP address is available and/or receiving

traffic. Generally used with loopback address (127.0.0.1) or to see if traffic is

reaching an address on a network. Syntax: ping <switches> <destination

address>. Switches and other information can be looked up by typing ping /?.

o Ipconfig: Used to display network configuration information of computer,

such as IP address and default gateway. Often used to discover if settings have

been erased or corrupted, and can also be used to reset information. Using

command without switches displays IP address, subnet mask and default

gateway of host. Syntax: ipconfig <switches>. Switches and other information

can be looked up by typing ipconfig /?.

Run line utilities: These utilities can be activated from the Run box in the Start Menu,

or Search field in XP, and used to modify or check various system settings. Some of

the more common of these utilities include:

o Msconfig: Starting with Windows XP (it will work in Windows 2000, but

wasn’t included), the Microsoft System Configuration Utility, or msconfig,

can be used to selectively disable startup programs and services. This is very

helpful in troubleshooting slow operation, intermittent issues or

startup/shutdown issues. To run msconfig, click Start -> Run, type msconfig

and hit Enter. The tabs allow users to select the type of startup -- Normal,

Diagnostic (clean boot) or Selective Startup (where the user selects which

items and services are loaded) – launch System Restore or modify the startup

applications and processes.

o Msinfo32: The System Information utility details the settings and

specifications for the hardware and software installed in the computer, ranging

from audio codecs to print jobs to the amount and type of RAM. Most

commonly used to check system memory and BIOS version, msinfo32 can

also be used to check which drivers successfully loaded at startup.

o Dxdiag: Dxdiag is a utility used to analyze and diagnose the video card,

specifically with regard to DirectX drivers. To run the utility, open the Run

prompt, type dxdiag and press Enter. The utility will prompt to check whether

the corresponding drivers are digitally signed, meaning they have been

verified by Microsoft as compatible with the OS. Dxdiag will also identify

which version of DirectX – a collection of multimedia applets that enhance

video and audio, and is of great importance to video gamers and other

multimedia professionals – is installed on the system, show all the DirectX

files that are loaded, check their date and discern if any issues with the files

are present. Information about the video and sound cards, their hardware

acceleration level and tests for components such as DirectDraw and Direct3D

are also available. The current version of DirectX is 11.

o Cmd: Using cmd in the Run prompt opens a DOS-like window where

technicians can type in various commands for troubleshooting and diagnostic

purposes. This is also available by clicking Start -> All Programs/Programs ->

Accessories. In Vista and Windows 7, it may be necessary to run in elevated

mode, which can be activated by hitting Ctrl-Shift-Enter after typing cmd in

the Run prompt. Once in the command prompt window, technicians can use

either internal commands – included in the command interpreter cmd.exe – or

external commands – stored elsewhere on the drive – to carry out various

tasks. Note that to get help for any internal or external command function or

program, one can type the program or command name followed by /?.

o Regedit: As implied by the name, regedit is the Windows Registry Editor,

used to make changes or fixes to the registry. Open the Run prompt, type

regedit and press Enter to invoke the utility. While changes are automatically

saved when you exit Regedit, it’s recommended to log off and lock back on,

or restart the system, for those changes to take effect. Technicians should be

very careful in editing the registry; it’s not generally necessary, and can have

severe consequences if done incorrectly. There are circumstances, however,

where it might be required, such as:

Viewing a system setting invisible to regular methods.

Add, modify or remove a key that cannot be changed through regular

methods, which is sometimes needed to delete all traces of a program

or driver that was uninstalled improperly, or to allow a new device or

program to be installed.

Back up the registry, which should always be done before editing.

My Network Places/Home Group/Location of basic settings: XP uses the My

Network Places folder to manage dial-up and network connections; in Vista and

Windows 7, the Network folder has succeeded My Network Places. When My

Network Places or Network is opened, a list of network locations is displayed, both

those on the local machine and on remote computers, as well as network shares,

which may be only folders as opposed to computers. Both My Network Places and

Network can be accessed from the Start Menu, or the left pane of the My

Computer/Computer window. On Vista and Windows 7 machines, click the Network

and Sharing Center button to manage network connections. Click Manage Network

Connections in the new window, and changes can then be made to the network

connection. The default network adapter is labeled ―Local Area Connection.‖ In XP,

the same actions can be done by right-clicking the network connection in My

Network Places and selecting Properties. The resultant Properties sheet for the

network connection will show the configured protocols – usually TCP/IP, unless the

computer is on a Novell NetWare network that’s using IPX/SPX – services, such as

File and Printer Sharing and whatever network clients may be installed. Note that in

order to connect to other computers on the network, the computer must be configured

to have the same client, the same protocol and a unique name and IP address on the

network.

o In addition to the other network features, and domain-joining capabilities

available in all Professional/Ultimate/Enterprise versions of Vista and

Windows 7, there is a network feature added to Windows 7 for home users

called HomeGroup that allows users to create a password-protected network

to share media files and libraries. Any version of Windows 7 can join a

HomeGroup, but only the Home Premium/ Professional/Ultimate/Enterprise

versions can create one.

Taskbar/systray: In virtually all Windows installations, there will be a few programs

running as soon as the system boots, and frequently, these programs will have icons

appear in the System Tray, also known as the systray, located in the lower-right

corner of the desktop. Programs launched by users also put icons in the systray, but

most automatically started programs that put icons there start from one of these

locations:

o Start Menu’s Startup folder

o Load= or Run= statements in Win.ini, accessible through msconfig

o Shell=explorer.exe filename in System.ini, accessible through msconfig

o Registry keys, such as

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\R

un and

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\R

unServices

Every icon in the systray can be right-clicked to show what program it

represents and what it does. For troubleshooting purposes, programs

that appear in the systray can be disabled by using msconfig. The

systray is considered part of the taskbar, which displays running

programs that aren’t in the systray. Windows sets the Taskbar to

display one row of program icons by default, reducing the amount of

space given to each program as more are opened. To see the Taskbar’s

properties, right-click an area of the Taskbar with nothing in it and

select Properties. The Taskbar can be resized or moved by dragging its

top edge up or down, or click-and-hold the Taskbar and drag it to

where the user wants it; this can be prevented by selecting the Lock

the Taskbar option in Properties. Users can set the Taskbar to auto-

hide in Properties as well; once set, it will only appear if the mouse is

moved to the edge of the screen or by pressing Ctrl+Esc to bring up

the Start Menu.

Administrative tools: Windows comes with certain tools and applets built-in to allow

users with administrative-level access to make configuration changes and perform

certain tasks on a system. These tools include:

o Performance Monitor: The Performance Monitor – System Monitor, in XP –

is often used to determine the memory usage on a computer and whether more

should be added. It can be accessed by typing perfmon.exe in the Run prompt

and hitting Enter, then clicking Performance Monitor, or through the

Administrative Tools applet in Control Panel. Many different performance

factors can be determined through the measurement of objects, which include

physical devices such as the processor and RAM and software such as

protocols and services, with counters. One of the more common counters is

for the processor, known as % Processor Time, but the most frequent use for

the Performance Monitor is for checking memory capacity and usage, which

is done through the Paging File object and the counters % Usage and

Pages/Sec. Paging file performance can often be improved by setting its

minimum and maximum sizes as equal; moving the paging file to a physical

disk or partition that is used less frequently; using a striped volume for the

paging file; creating multiple paging files on multiple physical disks in the

system; and moving the paging file off the boot drive.

o Event Viewer: Windows generates a number of log files in the course of

everyday use that technicians can consult during troubleshooting or diagnosis.

Windows provides a built-in tool called Event Viewer to examine these log

files, which can be viewed by right-clicking the Computer/My Computer icon

on the desktop or entry in the Start Menu, clicking Manage and clicking Event

Viewer; it’s also available from the Administrative Tools applet in Control

Panel. Event Viewer captures a number of different logs, but the three most

useful to technicians are usually the Application, Security and System logs. In

Windows 7 and Vista, they are accessible from Event Viewer\Windows Logs,

but in XP, they’re directly available inside Event Viewer. To view an entry,

click on a log in the left pane and entries will appear in the right pane.

Double-click the event, or right-click it and select Event Properties/Properties,

to open it.

o Services: A service is program designed to run in the background without user

intervention and perform specific tasks. In Windows, the Services console

controls the various Windows and third-party services installed on the

computer. The console can be reached from the Administrative Tools applet in

Control Panel, or typing services.msc in the Run prompt and hitting Enter. In

Vista and Windows 7, it may be necessary to respond to the User Access

Control (UAC) box with administrative credentials, as with the other

administrative tools mentioned. In the console, the service name will be on the

left, with a description of what it does to the right, its status right next to that

and the startup type to the right of the status. Startup type can be Automatic

(Delayed Start), meaning it starts after Windows boots to avoid delaying user

login; Automatic, or starting with Windows; Manual, or starts only when

needed; or Disabled. Startup types, dependencies and active status, among

other settings, can be changed here.

o Computer Management: Unlike most of the other programs mentioned here,

Computer Management isn’t a tool in itself, but more of a handy one-stop

interface for using the others. It’s usually simpler to use Computer

Management, as it has most of the configuration tools – Event Viewer, the

Device Manager, Local Users and Groups, Services, and disk tools such as

Disk Management – in one window. Computer Management can be accessed

by these methods:

Click Start -> Right-click Computer/My Computer -> Click Manage

Click Start -> All Programs/Programs -> Administrative Tools ->

Computer Management

Press Windows+R to open the Run prompt (or open the Start Menu)

and type compmgmt.msc.

MMC: Fortunately for technicians who frequently work on the same computers in a

corporate or governmental setting, Windows offers a tool to custom-create consoles

with the tools needed most frequently: the Microsoft Management Console (MMC).

The MMC allows the use of ―snap-ins,‖ console windows that can be added or

removed as needed, and since the MMC remembers the consoles, the tool can be

easily customized. To access the MMC, open the Run prompt by pressing

Windows+R and type MMC, which will open a blank MMC console. Use the File

menu and Add/Remove Snap-in to add console windows, and click Add to select the

needed consoles. Technicians can change the user mode for the MMC if needed, in

case a tech needs some tool access but not full administrative control. By default,

Vista and Windows 7 are loaded with MMC version 3.0, and XP has MMC version

2.0, though MMC version 3.0 for XP can be downloaded from Microsoft.

Task Manager: To get a sense of what’s ―under the hood‖ in Windows, Microsoft

provides the Task Manager utility, which shows the processes of Windows and active

applications in real time. Task Manager can be displayed using these methods:

o Right-click the taskbar and select Task Manager.

o Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc.

o Press Windows+R and type taskmgr.

o Press Ctrl+Alt+Del and select Task Manager from the Security dialog box (in

XP, if the Welcome Screen option is turned off) or the list of options in Vista

and Windows 7.

Within Task Manager, the available tabs include:

Applications, which shows active programs

Processes, or the active program components in system

memory

Performance, which shows the statistics for the CPU, memory,

paging file and cache

In XP: Networking, which lists network utilization by the

adapter in use, and Users, which lists current users.

In Vista and Windows 7: Services, which displays the active

services and their status

o To determine if an application has quit working, access the Applications tab;

highlighting an application and pressing End Task will shut down the

program. Access the Processes tab to determine which processes are using the

most memory, along with msconfig to determine if unneeded startup

applications are loading and should be disabled. If a program can’t be ended

in the Applications tab, the processes can be stopped in the Processes tab, but

this should be considered a last-ditch resort. Consult the Performance tab to

determine if additional RAM should be installed or if the paging file size

should be increased, and access the Networking tab to monitor network

performance.

Start Menu: The Start Menu is one of the most distinctive parts of Windows, marking

a major change in user interfaces from early versions of Windows to Windows 95,

where the Windows GUI as known today was first introduced. It’s also very flexible;

the Start Menu has a default configuration, and most programs add at least one

shortcut to it during program installation, but users can add items to the Start Menu,

place shortcuts to frequently used programs in the Taskbar, remove items, create or

remove folders, relocate items between folders and switch between icon sizes, as well

as do a sort on the menu by right-clicking the menu and selecting Sort By Name.

Follow these steps to add items to the default Start Menu:

o Right-click Start.

o Select Explore to add a shortcut visible only to the currently logged-in user, or

select Explore All Users to make a globally available shortcut.

o The Start Menu folder will open in the left window, while shortcuts are in the

right window. Additional folders can be viewed by clicking or mousing over

All Programs (in Vista and Windows 7) or the plus sign (+) next to Programs

in XP.

o Click the folder in the left window where you want to create the shortcut to

open it in the right window to create a new folder, then right-click an empty

area in the right window and select New -> Folder. Type in the name of the

new folder.

o Select a folder for the shortcut by clicking the folder in the left window to

make the folder’s contents appear in the right window.

o If Explore was selected in Step 1, click File -> New -> Shortcut to start the

Shortcut Wizard.

o Type in the path to the program – for example,

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe – or click Browse button to search the

computer for the program, then click Next.

o Click Finish to keep the name displayed for the shortcut, or change the name

and click Finish.

o Click OK, and the new shortcut and/or new folder will appear on the Start

Menu.

If using the Classic Start menu, follow these steps:

o Right-click a blank area of the Taskbar and select Properties.

o Select the Start Menu tab and click Customize.

o Click Add.

o Type in the path to the program – for example,

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe – or click Browse button to search the

computer for the program, then click Next.

o Select the folder to place the shortcut in, or click New Folder to create a new

folder. Enter a name for the new folder if desired.

o Click Next.

o Click Finish to keep the name displayed for the shortcut, or change the name

and click Finish.

o Click OK, and the new shortcut and/or new folder will appear on the Start

Menu.

Removing an item from the Start Menu is similar; follow the steps to add an item, but

click Remove and select the shortcut to remove. Alternatively, if using the Explorer

view, press Del to send the shortcut to the Recycle Bin or Shift+Del to discard the

shortcut.

If modifying the appearance of the Start Menu, right-click the taskbar and select

Properties to open the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties window. Click the Start

Menu tab and click Customize to select from these options:

o Clear shortcuts to recently opened documents

o Clear Internet Explorer browser history (only available if using Classic Start

Menu)

o Select objects from list to appear on Start Menu and Taskbar

o Automatically add most frequently used programs to Start Menu (Default

Start Menu only)

o Icon size

Click the Advanced tab to modify the following options:

o Automatically open submenus

o Highlight newly installed programs

o Standard items to include on Start Menu and listing as links or menus

o List most recently used documents

Domain 3.3 Explain the process and steps to install and configure Windows

File systems: When installing Windows, one of the choices that must be made is the

type of file system that will be used on the hard drive. A file system is essentially a

set of rules for describing how data and drives are organized. The file system for a

hard drive determines how large a logical drive – the drives seen in My Computer

that are assigned drive letters – can be and how the physical disk can be subdivided;

the storage efficiency of the drive; the inherent security of the drive; and if the drive

can be used by more than one operating system. Currently, Windows supports a file

system for floppy disks, FAT, and two file system types for hard drives: FAT32 and

NTFS.

o FAT32: FAT32 is an older file system, introduced in 1995 for Windows 95,

and is supported up through Windows 7. FAT32, as implied by the name,

supports a 32-bit file allocation table, which allows for 268,435,456 entries

per drive, which can be a folder or an allocation unit used by a file. FAT32

uses an 8 KB allocation unit size for drives as large as 16 GB, meaning the

smallest unit that can be assigned to a file or empty space is 8 KB. FAT32 can

handle logical partitions sizes up to 2 TB, and can be used for hard drives,

flash memory and removable media. However, FAT32 is only recommended

for hard drives if backward compatibility is needed with older Windows

versions, such as a Windows 9x/Me installation, which doesn’t support NTFS.

o NTFS: The New Technology File System (NTFS) was first developed for use

with the Windows NT operating system, and is the native file system for

Windows 7, Vista, XP and 2000, although the versions are different. NTFS is

widely considered the superior file system, as it has many upgrades and

additional features, including the ability to configure access control for objects

ranging from individual files to entire drives; native ability to compress files,

folders and drives; a theoretical partition limit of 16 exabytes (EB); individual

Recycle Bins for each account; support for encryption; the ability to mount

drives and treat them as regular drives, which allows the use of removable

media; disk quota support; the ability to hot-swap drives and the Indexing

service, which is a faster method of finding information than traditional search

techniques. Along with the lower overhead of maintaining the system, NTFS

represents a performance boost on computers, so Microsoft has made

available a tool, Convert.exe, to enable switches from FAT32 to NTFS. To

check the file system before trying Convert.exe, open the My

Computer/Computer folder, right-click a drive and select Properties; under the

General tab, the file system will be identified. If it’s FAT32 and the drive

needs to converted, open a command-prompt window – in Vista and Windows

7, this will need to be run in elevated mode – then type Convert x: /fs:ntfs,

where x: is the drive to be converted, and press Enter.

Directory structures: Windows orders its files and folders, both those created by the

OS during installation and those added later by users, into a hierarchical directory

structure. The basis for this structure is the root folder – usually the C: drive – from

which the top-level folders – Windows, Program Files – are based, and so on.

o Create folders: In order to create new folders in a Windows install, first open

in Windows Explorer the folder inside which the new folder will be created,

even if it’s the C: drive. The folder’s contents will be visible in the right pane.

Right-click anywhere in the right pane that’s empty and click New -> Folder,

then enter the folder name and press Enter. To delete a folder, right-click the

folder and select Delete, then click Yes on the Confirm Folder Delete dialog,

which moves the folder and anything inside it to the Recycle Bin.

Alternatively, holding down the Shift key and selecting Delete bypasses the

Recycle Bin.

o Navigate directory structures: Windows offers a number of ways to navigate

between folders in Windows Explorer, including the following:

Click the plus (+) sign next to the folder name in the left Explorer pane

to see all the subdirectories.

Click the folder in the left Explorer pane, and the contents of the folder

appear in the right pane.

Click the left-hand arrow above the address bar to revisit the previous

view.

Click the right-hand arrow to move to the next view.

Click the up arrow/folder button to ascend to the next higher folder in

the hierarchy.

Files: Files are the smallest pieces of data that are accessible at the user level, created

by applications to be used in normal functioning. Windows offers a number of

creation and manipulation options for files, including:

o Creation: Creating a new file in Windows outside of an application is virtually

identical to creating a folder. First open in Windows Explorer the folder inside

which the new folder will be created. Right-click anywhere in the right pane

that’s empty and click New, then select the file type from the list of registered

file types listed in the context menu. Enter the file name and press Enter;

double-click the file to edit it.

o Extensions: A file extension is the set of letters that follows the period in the

file name – e.g., if a file is named example.txt, txt is the file extension. The

file extension indicates the program that uses the file, what kind of content is

contained in the file and its overall organization or format. By default,

Windows hides file extensions such as .BAT, .DOC, and .EXE for registered

file types. However, you can change this default in Windows Explorer/My

Computer. Overall, Windows recognizes two broad file types: text and binary.

Text files are considered fairly basic files, and can be read with an ordinary

text editor such as Notepad. However, this isn’t to be confused with word

processing files, which contain both text and formatting data that text editors

can’t read. Binary files can only be read by operating systems, such as

application binary files, or the application that created the file or a compatible

application, in the case of binary data files.

o Attributes: File attributes, and folder attributes as well, indicate certain

conditions and historical actions, such as:

Which files/folders have been backed up

Which files/folders need to be backed up

Which files/folders should be hidden from normal display

Which files/folders are used by the system

When a file/folder was created and last modified

When the NTFS file system is used on a drive

Encryption and compression

To set or change attributes, the attrib command can be used from a

command line, although advanced attributes require the Windows GUI

to be used. The basic file attributes include:

Archive: Files with the archive attribute have not yet been

backed up. When a file is backed up with XCOPY or any

backup program, the archive bit is turned off. A file’s archive

attribute can be changed to force a backup if ―changed files

only‖ are being backed up.

Read-only: Files with the read-only attribute cannot be deleted

or overwritten at a command prompt or overwritten within a

32-bit Windows application. A read-only file can be deleted in

Explorer, but only by overriding the read-only attribute, which

protects against accidental deletion or changes.

System: System-attributed files are used by the OS and

generally have the hidden attribute in addition. Explorer will

warn users if they try to delete system files.

Hidden: Hidden files cannot be copied with COPY or

XCOPY, and are invisible to the default Explorer settings.

Some log files created by Windows are stored as hidden files.

A file or folder can have multiple attributes, and in many cases, editing

a file requires changing the attributes before editing begins. If using

the attrib command, it will be necessary to use switches with the

command. Common switches – which are not available in all versions

of Windows – include:

+: Sets an attribute.

-: Clears an attribute.

R: Read-only.

A: Archive.

S: System.

H: Hidden.

/S: Processes files in all directories in the specified path.

/D: Processes all folders in specified path.

To view attributes in Windows, open Explorer or My

Computer/Computer, then right-click a file or folder and select

Properties. The General tab will indicate read-only or hidden attributes

for the file or folder. Windows also displays the creation date of the

file, the date of last access and the date of most recent change. In order

to modify the archive attribute, click Advanced. To set encryption and

compression – note that you can do one or the other to a file or folder,

but not both – which are only supported by Windows 7 Vista, XP, and

2000 drives formatted with NTFS, use the command-line programs

Compact or Cipher, or in Windows, open Explorer/My

Computer/Computer, right-click a file or folder and click Properties.

Click the Advanced button, and choose Compression to reduce the

file’s disk space or Encryption to restrict access to the file. Click OK

to apply either option; if encrypting, also encrypt the folder containing

the file, which will encrypt the file. Keep in mind that only the user

who originally encrypted the file or an administrator can open and

view an encrypted file.

o Permissions: Windows systems formatted with NTFS have an additional tab

on the Properties sheet for files and folders called Security, which is where

file permissions can be set. The Security tab has two sections: the top section

shows the users and groups with access to the selected file or folder, which

can be modified by users with the right level of access, and the bottom section

allows the specification of available permissions for a selected user or group.

These file permissions control what level of access users have and what

control is available for those files. The permissions available on this tab

include:

Full Control: Enables any and all changes to a file, including deletion.

Modify: File content can be changed.

Read & Execute: File contents can be read and executed.

Read: File contents can be read.

Write: File contents can be overwritten.

List Folder Contents: Folder contents can be shown.

Verification of hardware compatibility and minimum requirements: During the

installation process, Windows Setup will check to ensure the machine has the

minimum hardware required to run the OS version being installed. As noted earlier,

these requirements differ widely between OS versions: Windows 2000 required a 133

MHz processor, 64 MB of RAM, 650 MB of free space on a 2 GB partition and either

a CD-ROM or floppy drive; Windows XP required a 233 MHz processor, 64 MB of

RAM, 1.5 GB of free space on a 2 GB partition and a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive;

Vista requires an 800 MHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, 15 GB of free space on a 20

GB partition and a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive; and Windows 7 requires a 1 GHz

processor, 1 GB of RAM, 16 GB of free space and a DVD-ROM drive. Various

system analysis programs and tools are available to verify a system’s hardware will

be compatible with various Windows versions. The following tools can be used for

systems with an OS already installed:

o Windows Vista Compatibility Center:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/

o Windows Vista Logo’d Products List:

http://winqual.microsoft.com/HCL/Default.aspx?m=v.

o Windows XP Logo’d Products List (formerly the HCL):

http://winqual.microsoft.com/HCL/Default.aspx?m=x.

o System Information: The Windows System Information tool can be accessed

by typing msinfo32 at the Run prompt.

o Belarc Advisor: Currently a free download, this program can be found at

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html. It will automatically install,

search for updates and create a profile of your computer that runs in a browser

window, listing all the hardware-related and software-related information on

one screen as well as system security status.

o SiSoftware Sandra Lite (http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/).

o For computers without an installed operating system, use self-booting

diagnostic programs, which include:

#1-TuffTEST (http://www.tufftest.com/)

PC Check (http://www.eurosoft-uk.com)

Installation methods: Windows is designed to be installed from a number of source

media, including:

o Boot media such as DVD, CD or USB: This method is generally used to

install Windows to an individual PC, or create a master PC that can be used to

make disk images.

o Network installation: This can be used for a system or systems that are on a

network. In order to use this method, the network adapter needs to be set to

boot to a network location.

o Install from image: Once a master PC has been set up, a disk image can be

created from that PC by running the sysprep utility, which removes all

computer-specific configuration ID, installing whatever applications are to be

part of the image and then using a third-party disk imaging program, such as

Ghost, to create the disk image. The install can then be run from the bootable

media the image is stored on (this is generally part of the image process).

o Recovery CD: Some vendors – Dell, HP and Gateway, to name just three –

provide a recovery CD that contains an image of Windows, complete with

system-specific drivers and whatever software the vendor bundled with the

machine. When run using the program built into the disc, the image can

restore a system to factory configuration.

o Factory recovery partition: As an alternative to recovery CDs, some vendors

place the recovery image on a small non-system partition on the system’s hard

drive. The recovery program runs the same, but makes certain issues more

complicated; if a vendor has to replace a hard drive, the correct software build

has to be placed on the replacement drive first. Recovery partitions can be

accessed through a vendor-specific boot menu.

Operating system installation options: Installing Windows requires choices to be

made and many different stages of the process. Among the first few choices that must

be faced are:

o File system type: By default, Vista and Windows 7 will go with NTFS as a

file system; XP allows the user to choose between NTFS and FAT32. Unless

backward compatibility is required or the system will be set up as a dual-boot

machine with an older Windows version, NTFS is recommended for any new

Windows installation.

o Network configuration: Windows Setup for Vista Windows 7 automatically

will recognize and install the majority of networking devices. XP also

recognizes dial-up modems, network adapters, and IEEE 1394 adapters as

network devices, but may give the following prompts during setup:

If a dial-up is modem installed, Windows will ask for dialing

information, such as the area code for the line used by the modem and

whether 9 must be dialed to get an outside line.

If a network adapter is installed, Setup will prompt the user to select

either Typical or Custom as the network type and specify the network

name and type, either workgroup or domain name. Select Custom to

fine-tune the network configuration, such as preventing the network

from treating an IEEE 1394 adapter as a network device by clearing

the network component checkboxes for the adapter or installing other

protocols, services or clients. Use Typical if an IEEE 1394 host

adapter isn’t installed and the system is on a network that doesn’t have

older Windows systems.

o Repair install: Windows Setup will prompt the user during the install if the

user wants to perform a repair instead of a full install. This option checks for

existing installations, and replaces OS files and settings with the default

information on the installation media.

Disk preparation order: Internal hard drives – PATA, SATA, SSD or SCSI – cannot

be used until it is properly prepared. Preparing a hard drive for an OS installation has

two steps:

o Creating partitions and logical drives

o Formatting partitions and logical drives, which assigns drive letters

o A partition on a hard drive is a logical structure which details:

Drive’s bootable status

Number of drive letters the hard disk will have

If any hard drive space is reserved for future use

o Even if the drive will be used as a single large volume, it must go through the

partitioning process. Windows supports two major partition types:

Primary: A primary partition has a single drive letter and can be made

active, or bootable. Although a single drive can hold up to four

primary partitions, only one primary partition is needed on a drive with

just one operating system, and only one primary partition can be

active. If setting up a dual-boot configuration with an already-installed

OS, the new Windows install can be installed in a different folder on

the same drive or in an additional primary partition. A non-Windows

operating system might require its own primary partition to dual-boot

with Windows, or third-party software.

Extended: An extended partition can’t itself take a drive letter, but can

contain one or more logical drives, which can each take a drive letter.

In addition, an extended partition can’t be bootable, nor can any drive

inside the extended partition. Only one extended partition can be

stored on each physical drive.

o When partitioning a drive for use with an OS, there are three options that can

be pursued:

Primary partition occupies 100% of the drive: Typical method of

setting up a hard drive for computers sold through retail outlets, as

well as the Windows default disk preparation method. If the hard drive

is the only one installed, this method is fine, or if the drive is simply an

additional drive that can be used for boot, but drives for data storage

should not be set up in this way.

Primary partition takes up part of the drive, and an extended partition

takes up the rest: This method allows the OS to be stored on the

primary partition, and the applications and files to be stored on one or

more separate logical drives. This configuration is best used for the

only drive or first drive in a multi-drive system, and is commonly used

for mobile computers.

Extended partition takes up 100% of the drive: Any logical drives set

up in this setup can be used as data or application storage, but not for

the OS, since as noted earlier, an extended partition cannot be made

active. This setup is good for additional hard disk drives in a system.

Unpartitioned space can also be left on the hard drive for future usage,

such as another logical drive or OS.

o Format: After the partition or partitions have been created, the logical drive(s)

must be formatted to install the file system. This can be done during Setup, or

within the OS itself. If the drive is new, or if it didn’t have much data on it, a

quick format can be selected. A format will functionally erase all existing data

on the drive, so it’s an option that should be used carefully.

o Start installation: Once the format has been finished and the drive letter or

letters have been assigned, the actual installation begins. Files are copied from

the installation media to the hard drive, expanded from their compressed state,

and various features are installed. If a network connection is detected, the

Setup for Vista and Windows 7 will ask for permission to download updated

files.

Device Manager: Device Manager is the main tool for managing hardware in

Windows; it provides a graphical method of viewing hardware configurations and

resources, including drivers. Device Manager can be used for several tasks, including

disabling/enabling a device, view device status or roll them back. Device Manager

can be accessed by typing devmgmt.msc at a Run prompt and hitting Enter, or right-

clicking My Computer/Computer – from the desktop or the Start Menu – and

selecting Properties. Other uses for Device Manager include:

o Verify: By viewing properties for a device in Device Manager, a user can

check that the device is recognized by the system, that it has the correct

drivers and whether there are any resource conflicts, which are indicated by

various icons, such as a red X.

o Install and update device drivers: Under the Driver tab for a device, Windows

makes Update Driver, Roll Back Driver, Disable and Uninstall options

available in Vista and Windows 7; Roll Back Driver isn’t available before

Vista. Update Driver launches an update wizard that will automatically search

for newer drivers or will go to a file location of the user’s choosing, while

Roll Back Driver will remove the present driver and put an older driver in

place, which can be useful in troubleshooting. Disable is used to put a device

out of commission temporarily without removing it from the system, which

can help resolve resource conflicts, and Uninstall removes the driver

completely.

o Driver signing: In the Driver tab, there are several pieces of information about

the particular driver being used, one of which is the Digital Signer field. This

field identifies if the driver has been digitally signed or not, meaning it has

been verified as meeting a certain level of testing, the identity of the creator

has been confirmed and the file has not been changed.

User state migration tool (USMT): The User State Migration Tool (USMT) is a

command line tool, available for download from Microsoft, used to migrate user files

and settings for one or more computers. The USMT utilizes two utilities:

Scanstate.exe, which saves all the user files and settings, called the user state, on a

computer; and loadstate.exe, which is responsible for moving the user state data to the

destination machine or machines. The USMT has several options to select from while

using these utilities, including the ability to selectively migrate users and work from

uncompressed, compressed or compressed and encrypted data stores, and the USMT

can use scripts to make the transfer of user state data over a network automated.

Virtual memory: Virtual memory, also known as the paging file, is simply a part of

the hard drive that is used as backup storage for the OS when RAM is full. Virtual

memory is far slower than RAM, but can be of assistance when the system is using

large amounts of memory. As noted in an earlier section, paging file performance can

often be improved by making a number of changes to the default settings, including

moving the paging file to a physical disk or partition that is used less frequently;

using a striped volume for the paging file; creating multiple paging files on multiple

physical disks in the system; and moving the paging file off the boot drive.

Configure power management: Power management, or the control the computer has

over its power-saving and full-power modes, is a vital aspect of how a system runs

and responds. Inadequate power management is known to cause many issues, ranging

from operational freezes to shutdown problems, so it’s important to understand the

various states and conditions. Most modern computers use an ACPI (Advanced

Configuration and Power Interface) BIOS, which allows a wider range of power

configuration options than the earlier APM (Advanced Power Management) BIOS.

These states include:

o Suspend: Also known as ―sleep‖ for non-9x versions of Windows, suspend or

sleep mode saves some data to the hard drive, saves some work to memory

and puts the machine into a low-power mode, where only enough power is

drawn to keep the data in memory refreshed and an LED indicator blinking or

lit to indicate its status. In this mode, the computer can still do some scheduled

tasks, including Windows Updates, and can quickly be woken up by pressing

a key on the keyboard, moving the mouse or pressing the power button. In

ACPI terms, this mode is known as S3.

o Wake on LAN: This is a modification of power-saving modes, where the

computer can be brought back to operational mode (though not necessarily

full operation) by detecting network activity directed at it, either wirelessly or

wired. This feature must be activated in BIOS and configured in the network

adapter properties. It’s not generally recommended for mobile computers, as it

can easily drain battery power.

o Sleep timers: These are settings within the power management plans that

dictate when a machine will go on standby, sleep or hibernation modes,

among other options. These timers control when the hard drive spins down,

when the display turns off and when the machine goes into the low-power

mode configured by the user.

o Hibernate: In hibernate mode, which is also known as S4 sleep state in ACPI

terms, the computer creates a file called hiberfil.sys, which stores the system’s

current state of operation, and then shuts down. When the system comes out

of hibernation, the same programs and files are open as when the system was

shut down. Hibernation takes more resources, particularly in hard drive space,

and is slower to respond than standby, so by default, hibernation is disabled

on Windows systems. To activate hibernation, use the Power Options applet

in Control Panel, or in Vista and Windows 7, open an elevated-mode

command prompt and type powercfg.exe/hibernate on; it will then show up

as an option in the Shut Down menu. To turn it off, type

powercfg.exe/hibernate off.

o Standby: Another term for suspend or sleep mode.

Demonstrate safe removal of peripherals: When removing peripheral devices,

regardless of whether a computer is a desktop or mobile unit, there are certain steps

that are common to any device. If the device connects through a USB connection, the

user should click on the USB connection icon in the systray and stop the device

before disconnecting it. In virtually all cases, shutting down the device to be

disconnected should be done before disconnecting; if the device isn’t a USB or some

other hot-swappable connection, it’s often recommended to shut down the computer

itself before disconnecting the device. ESD protection, such as ground straps, is

always a good idea to use, just to be safe. Once the hardware has been safely

disconnected, the drivers and/or associated software can be uninstalled.

Domain 3.4: Explain the basics of boot sequences, methods and startup utilities

Disk boot order/device priority: The boot order of a machine, or the sequence of

devices the machine looks to for a bootable set of instructions at power up, is defined

in the BIOS for the machine. This can be modified by a user if needed.

o Types of boot devices: By default, virtually all machines can boot to a floppy

disk (A:\), hard drive or optical drive; most newer machines can also boot to a

USB device, such as a flash drive with a bootable image on it, or to the

network. As noted previously, these options can be set in the BIOS. The BIOS

specifies which order to look for a boot sector, so if for example, the DVD

drive is first in the order but has no disc in it, the BIOS will go to the next

device in line to search for a boot device.

Boot options: Although not generally visible during boot, Windows provides the

option to interrupt the normal boot and bring up the Advanced Boot Options menu by

pressing F8 during boot. These options are of great use during troubleshooting, and

include:

o Safe Mode: Booting into Safe Mode the system with a minimal set of drivers,

which can be used to start System Restore or to load the Windows GUI for

diagnostics. Variations on Safe Mode that are available from the Advanced

Boot Options menu include Safe Mode with Networking, which provides

network support, and Safe Mode with Command Prompt, which starts with

the same minimal driver load but starts with a command prompt instead of the

familiar GUI.

o Boot to restore point: In Windows Vista and later versions, the option to boot

to the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) is available, either through

booting to a special partition with WinRE installed or booting to the original

OS installation disc. Once booted into WinRE, a user can perform a startup

repair, system restore, a complete PC restore or run the Windows Memory

Diagnostic Tool, among other options. If WinRE is installed to a hard drive

partition, there will generally be a ―Repair your computer‖ option listed in the

Advanced Boot Options menu; if not present, using the installation disc will

be necessary.

o Recovery options: In addition to the WinRE options, there are several other

Windows recovery options available for technicians to use. These options

include:

Automated System Recovery (ASR): Although not a full a true

disaster-recovery backup program, the Automated System Recovery

(ASR) option included in the XP utility NTBackup can restore the

system state – which includes user accounts, drive and network

configuration, video settings, hardware and software settings and OS

boot files. In order to perform an ASR restore, the user needs to have

the following components:

Windows XP Professional installation CD

ASR backup

ASR floppy disk

Floppy drive installed

In order to create an ASR backup, the user must follow this process:

Open NTBackup, switch to Advanced Mode if NTBackup

starts in Wizard mode and click the Automated System

Recovery Wizard button.

Click Next when the wizard’s dialog box opens.

Select the location where the backup will be stored. Click Next.

Click Finish to complete the wizard, and the backup will begin.

When prompted to provide a floppy disk to store configuration

files, load a floppy disk and continue. If the system doesn’t

have a floppy drive installed, obtain a supported USB floppy

drive and connect it before beginning this process. The ASR

floppy disk will contain three files: asr.sif, which has storage

device information; asrpnp.sif, which has Plug and Play (PnP)

information; and setup.log, which lists system state and critical

files that were backed up.

To perform an ASR restore, boot the system with the Windows XP

Professional CD, then press F2 when prompted to begin the ASR

process. Insert the ASR floppy disk and provide the backup file

location when prompted. Since the ASR only addresses system state

information, all the applications will need to be reinstalled and the

system will have to be restored from the most recent backup to reclaim

all the user data.

Emergency Repair Data (ERD): Windows 2000 came equipped with

an emergency repair feature that could fix some startup problems,

known as the Windows 2000 Emergency Repair Disk (ERD), which

was created by the Windows 2000 Backup program. An ERD could be

created by following this process:

Boot the machine with the Windows CD, or the Windows

setup floppy disks if CD boot wasn’t available. Insert the CD

when prompted.

Select Repair when prompted, then Emergency Repair.

When prompted, select Choose Fast Repair, which performs all

three listed options under Manual Repair: Inspect Startup

Environment, Verify System Files and Inspect Boot Sector.

If available, insert the ERD when prompted.

After the damaged or missing files are replaced, remove the

ERD as prompted and reboot the computer.

Recovery console: Available for Windows 2000 and XP, the Windows

Recovery Console is a command line interface that allows users to

perform disk repairs and copy files as needed. It can be used in place

of the ERD process – for replacement of individual files, for example

– and since XP doesn’t have access to the ERD process, the Recovery

Console is often the best, if not only, option. The Recovery Console is

recommended for usage when boot files are missing or corrupted, or

when Safe Mode is unavailable due to system file issues. The

Recovery Console can be started by installing it from the Windows XP

CD on a working system, which will make it available as a startup

option, or booting the system with the XP CD and selecting the

Recovery Console as an option under the Repair menu. In order to

start the Recovery Console from the XP CD, follow this process:

Boot the computer from the Windows XP CD.

Press R to start the Recovery Console when prompted. In

Windows 2000, press R for Repair, then C for the Recovery

Console.

To log into the Recovery Console, choose the correct installation of

Windows to log into, then provide the administrator credentials. In

order to copy the Recovery Console from the XP/2000 CD, insert the

Windows CD into the optical drive, then open the Run prompt and

type x:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons, where x is the optical drive’s

letter. Click Yes in the Windows Setup dialog box and restart the

computer; after reboot, the Recovery Console will be available in the

startup options menu.

Domain 4: Networking

Domain 4.1: Summarize the basics of networking fundamentals, including technologies, devices

and protocols

Basics of configuring IP addressing and TCP/IP properties: An IP address is a 32-bit

logical address, or 128-bit for IPv6 addresses, for a host on a Transmission Control

Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) network. They are usually expressed in four-octet

form (aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd) where each octet (set of 8 bits, or 1 byte) ranges in value from

0 to 255. A subnet mask is used to partition IP addresses into a network ID and a host

ID. The mask allows the formation of subnets, or mini-networks, within a larger one,

essentially by borrowing bits from the host ID octets to create additional network IDs.

Subnets are usually conjoined with routers. In older versions of Windows, the

information about IP addresses, subnet masks, gateways and other configuration

information, such as Domain Name Service (DNS) servers – which contain lists of

servers that map human-recognizable fully qualified domain names to IP addresses –

had to be entered manually. Starting with XP, however, Windows defaults to seeking

this information automatically from Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)

servers. DHCP provides all the information needed to get on the network

automatically, including IP addresses. While Windows supports IPv4 and IPv6, IPv4

is still the standard, so any reference to IP will refer to v4.

o Although much of the network configuration process is automated in current

versions of Windows, it may be necessary to install a protocol or adapter

manually occasionally. Follow this procedure to install a network protocol in

Windows:

Open the Network Connections window; in Windows 7 or Vista, click

Start -> Control Panel, then double-click Network and Sharing Center

and click Manage Network Connections under Tasks. For Windows

XP/2000, click Start -> Control Panel, then double-click Network

Connections, or Network, icon in Control Panel. Alternatively, right-

click My Network Places and select Properties.

Right-click the connection to be changed and select Properties.

Click Install.

Click Protocol.

Select the protocol to be added and click OK. Select the protocol and

click Properties to adjust its setting after installation is complete.

o IP addresses are divided into three basic classes:

Class A: Reserved for large corporations, ISPs and government

agencies. The first octet range is 1–127; the IP address range is 0.0.0.0

to 127.255.255.255; and the default subnet mask is 255.0.0.0.

Class B: Reserved for mid-sized corporations and ISPs. The first octet

range is 128–191; the IP address range is 128.0.0.0 to

191.255.255.255; and the default subnet mask is 255.255.0.0.

Class C: Reserved for small offices and home networks. The first octet

range is 192–223; the IP address range is 192.0.0.0 to

223.255.255.255; and the default subnet mask is 255.255.255.0.

o Note the following about IP addresses:

The network ID cannot be 127.

The network ID and host ID cannot both be 255.

The network ID and host ID cannot both be 0.

The host ID must be unique for a given network ID.

Bandwidth and latency: Bandwidth refers to the width of the ―pipe,‖ or data

connection, in amount of information. When referring to bandwidth, the number of

bits that can be sent over the network over a given time (generally one second) is

what’s being discussed. Latency refers to the delay time in transmissions, and is

measured by the length of time a data packet takes to make a trip from its source to its

destination and back again.

Status indicators: Most NICs and other network devices, such as routers, have

hardware status indicators built into them. In the case of NICs, these indicators are

generally a set of LEDs; the colors vary, but in general, a steady green light indicates

network connectivity, and a blinking yellow light indicates the NIC is sending and

receiving traffic. A steady orange light generally indicates a lack of connectivity.

Protocols: Windows supports a number of different protocols, or set of guidelines that

define how messages are formatted and interpreted. For most networking, however,

there are two protocols that technicians will focus on:

o TCP/IP: By far the most common protocol available – it’s the basis for the

Internet – TCP/IP is actually a suite of protocols that has become the standard

for networking, a multiplatform protocol used for both Internet access and for

local area networks. TCP/IP is the standard for local area network (LAN) use

in Novell NetWare 5.x and later and Windows 7/Vista/XP/2000, replacing

several older protocols. Among the protocols that are part of TCP/IP are:

HTTP/HTTPS: Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), used by Web

browsers – Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and

Opera, among many others – to view Web content. Regular Web

traffic uses http:// when accessed in a browser, whereas secured sites

use https:// (and will show a closed padlock on the browser to indicate

security).

SSL: Secure Socket Layers (SSL), a form of encryption technology

used to secure Web sites. Browsers must support identical encryption

levels as the site in order to access the content; the current standard is

128-bit encryption, as well as the same SSL version, currently 2.0 or

3.0.

TLS: Transport Layer Security (TLS), a replacement for SSL,

prototyped by SSL 3.0. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), a

body created to formalize standards, ratified the TLS standard in 1999,

but SSL terminology is still widely used.

HTML: Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), the coding language

used to create Web pages. HTML pages are special-format text files

using tags – bracketed commands – to format and present multimedia

files, written documents, hyperlinks and other rich media features.

Web pages generally have file extensions such as .HTM, .HTML,

.ASP (Active Server Pages) and others.

FTP: File Transfer Protocol (FTP), designed to allow access to

specialized servers for file transfers up and down to users. FTP is used

by both specialized FTP clients and Web browsers. FTP sites use the

prefix ftp://. FTP sites often allow anonymous access, but some require

specific credentials. FTP is relatively insecure – credentials are often

sent as open text – so FTP has been supplanted by many administrators

by Secure FTP (SFTP).

SSH: Secure Shell (SSH), designed to create a secure channel for data

transmission between computers. More secure than FTP and telnet;

generally requires port 22 open.

o NETBIOS: NetBEUI (NetBIOS Extended User Interface) is the simplest

network protocol. Although NetBEUI is actually an extension of NETBIOS

(Network Basic Input/Output System), the terms are often used

interchangeably. NetBEUI was mainly used to establish peer-to-peer networks

and small Windows NT-based networks, as well as direct cable connections

between two computers. NetBEUI cannot be routed or connect to the Internet,

so its usefulness to modern networks is virtually nonexistent; in fact, it’s not

officially supported from XP on, although it can be installed from the XP

installation CD.

Full-duplex and half-duplex: As noted in an earlier section, full duplex means data

transmission is bidirectional; data can be passed by both endpoints of a segment

simultaneously. Half duplex means data can be sent or transmitted by a given device,

but not both simultaneously. Full duplex capability doubles network speed, but

increases chances of a network snarl.

Basics of workgroups and domains: A workgroup is a logical grouping of computers

and users that share resources and do not have a centralized administrator or control;

each workstation controls its own resources and security. A domain, on the other

hand, is a group of networked devices and computers that are united by a centralized

database that provides user access information, security and other services for the

group. Workgroups are used in peer-to-peer networks, which have no centralized

control, whereas domains are used in client/server networks. Every current Windows

version supports workgroups, but only the Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate

editions of Windows can join a domain or be part of an Active Directory – the

organization structure for a user or device database used by server versions of

Windows since Windows 2000.

Common ports: In the context of Internet traffic, a port is a specific communications

channel that can be used by a service or process, and by convention are used by

protocols to send and receive certain types of traffic. There are a number of ports –

Windows recognizes 65,536 on a computer – but most of these should be blocked by

firewall software, such as Windows Firewall. Common ports and the type of traffic

they transport include:

o FTP: 21

o SSH: 22

o Telnet: 23

o Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP): 25

o DNS: 53

o HTTP: 80

o Post Office Protocol (POP): 110

o HTTPS: 443

LAN/WAN: A local area network (LAN) is a network that usually covers only one

physical site, containing one or more buildings housing the network. LANs are used

by small companies and organizations. A wide area network (WAN) is a larger

version of a LAN that can encompass several sites and buildings, and may even span

a large geographical area. The Internet is the prime example of a WAN.

Hub, switch and router: In networking, there are several pieces of equipment that will

end up in most, if not virtually all, configurations. A hub is a central connecting point

on a network that sends messages to all computers connected to it, and subdivides the

network bandwidth among its connected devices. By comparison, a switch is a device

directs data from one system to another on a set path. Switches can be combined with

routers or wireless access points, and are much faster than hubs, as they support the

full network bandwidth at each port. Routers are the smartest type of network device,

as they can route data from one network to another, across different protocols and

topologies. As noted earlier, they are often integrated with wireless access points and

switches.

Virtual private networks (VPN): A VPN is a way of sending data securely over public

networks; it works by establishing a secure channel of communication between a user

and a server called a tunnel, which allows the data packets to be encrypted, even

though the connection is over the Internet, a public network. The tunnel is created

once the user has authenticated against the server, which can use Extensible

Authentication Protocol (EAP), Shiva Password Authentication Protocol (SPAP),

Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP) or Microsoft CHAP (MS-

CHAP) to check the user against authorized credentials. Once the user is

authenticated, the VPN software uses one of four protocols – Point-to-Point

Tunneling Protocol (PPTP), Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP), Secure Sockets

Layer (SSL) or IP Security (IPSec) – to create the tunnel. PPTP is the weakest of the

four, while SSL and IPSec are the most popular.

Class identification: As noted earlier, there are three common types of IP address

class:

o Class A: Reserved for large corporations, ISPs and government agencies. The

first octet range is 1–127; the IP address range is 0.0.0.0 to 127.255.255.255;

and the default subnet mask is 255.0.0.0.

o Class B: Reserved for mid-sized corporations and ISPs. The first octet range is

128–191; the IP address range is 128.0.0.0 to 191.255.255.255; and the

default subnet mask is 255.255.0.0.

o Class C: Reserved for small offices and home networks. The first octet range

is 192–223; the IP address range is 192.0.0.0 to 223.255.255.255; and the

default subnet mask is 255.255.255.0.

o There are two other classes of IP address: Class D and Class E. Class D

addresses begin with octets 224-239, and are commonly used for sending

messages to multiple hosts, a practice known as multicasting. Webinars are

one example of this. Class E addresses start with octets 240-254, and are

reserved for research and experimental purposes; addresses on the Internet set

to Class E ranges will not work properly.

IPv6 vs. IPv4: IPv4 is the standard addressing method for TCP/IP networks, and has

been in use since the early 1980s. IPv4 addresses use 32 bits; IPv6 addresses, in

comparison, use 128 bits, which provides a vastly larger address space.

o Address length differences and conventions: IPv4 addresses use four octets of

8 bits apiece, for a total of 32 bits. IPv6 addresses use eight octets of 16-bit

hexadecimal digits – which create a 64-bit network ID and a 64-bit host ID –

for a total of 128 bits. The difference in total number of addresses is

staggering: IPv4 addressing can create 4.3×109 unique addresses, or 4.3

billion, while IPv6 addressing can create 3.4×1038

unique addresses. In

addition, IPv6 is expected to create greater flexibility in routing, simplify

certain assignment and renumbering tasks and, in the long run, eliminate the

need for network address translation (NAT), thus creating savings in overhead

costs. However, IPv6 and IPv4 are not compatible, which has hampered

adoption of IPv6, despite it being fully supported since XP Service Pack 2.

Domain 4.2: Categorize network cables and connectors and their implementations

Cables: Despite the rising popularity of wireless networking, wired networking is still

the standard in corporations and government organizations, due in part to its existing

infrastructure and partly due to its more robust security. There are a number of

different types of cables used in networking, including:

o Plenum vs. PVC: Most network cables, particularly Cat5/5e/6 cable, are

sheathed in polyvinyl chloride (PVC), an inexpensive and readily available

polymer. However, PVC cable presents a potential health hazard if used in the

spaces between floors in buildings, because PVC gives off toxic fumes if

burned. These spaces are called plenums, and a special type of networking

cable called plenum cable is designed to be used in those spaces; plenum

cable is coated with Teflon, which doesn’t give off toxic fumes if burned. The

networking performance is the same, but due to the difference in coating,

plenum cable is currently two to three times more expensive than PVC.

o UTP: Most Ethernet networking cable is twisted-pair cable, meaning it has

four pairs of twisted wires, for a total of eight, running into an RJ-45

connector. Unshielded twisted pair (UTP) is the most common variant, and

the least expensive. Twisted-pair cable ranges from Cat3 – the least

expensive, but the slowest transmission speeds supported – all the way up to

Cat6, which has the least crosstalk – electromagnetic interference from other

wires – and supports the highest network speeds. Cat5/5e cable supports 100

Mbps (Fast) and Gigabit Ethernet, while Cat6 supports 10 Gbps Ethernet.

o STP: Shielded twisted pair (STP) cable is the same cabling standard and

construction as UTP, but has an extra covering around the wires inside the

cable sheathing that offers added protection from outside electromagnetic

interference sources, like appliance motors and electrical lines. STP is more

expensive than UTP.

o Fiber: Fiber optic cables use glass strands to transmit pulses of light as

information. Fiber optic speeds are incredibly fast, but the cable is fragile and

difficult to use; the strands are surrounded by gel or yarn to protect them, and

have to be installed very carefully to prevent path interruption. Fiber optic

cable is available in single mode – which has the highest performance, but is

thin, expensive and difficult to use – and multimode, which uses multiple light

paths, is cheaper and much easier to use. Fiber optic cables can use straight tip

(ST), standard connector (SC), local connector (LC) and mechanical transfer-

RJ (MT-RJ) connector types, any of which can use single-mode or multimode

cables.

o Coaxial cable: Coaxial cable, still used for cable TV, is the oldest networking

cable type, and consists of a core copper wire with a braided shield

surrounding that. The original Ethernet standard, 10Base5, used RG-8 cable,

which was very thick and was thus called Thick Ethernet. A later standard for

coaxial, RG-58, was used for 10Base2 Ethernet (Thin Ethernet or Thinnet)

and used the BNC connector, which was standard for some time. The most

commonly used coaxial cable types were RG-59, used for older LANs, cable

and satellite TV installations; and the current standard, RG-6, which uses the

same connectors but has better interior shielding, and is used with cable,

satellite and cable Internet modem installations. Coaxial cable fell out of favor

partly due the fact that it requires a bus topology, meaning networks using it

must be terminated at either end and, more importantly, can’t use a hub or

switch.

o Connectors: Different cable types have used different connectors – coaxial

cable networks, for example, used both BNC connectors and ―vampire taps,‖

and fiber optic networks can use four different types – but the most common

type of connectors for most network devices are:

RJ-45: The connection standard for Ethernet, RJ-45 looks like a wide

phone jack, and has eight wires inside; the more technically correct

term for it is 8P8C (8 position, 8 contact). It’s used on UTP and STP

cables.

RJ-11: The connection standard for telephones, RJ-11 has two or three

pairs of wires and can be found in virtually every home and business.

Telephones, dial-up modems and DSL all use RJ-11 jacks to connect.

Most RJ-11 jacks are wired either as 6P2C or 6P4C connections.

Domain 4.3: Compare and contrast the different network types

Broadband: The term broadband is a general term for high-speed Internet service –

generally 300 kbps and faster. In addition to their speed, broadband connections are

distinguished from their dial-up antecedents by the fact that each of these can be used

simultaneously with phone service. The primary methods for delivering broadband

Internet service are:

o DSL: Digital subscriber line (DSL) uses the telephone line to deliver Internet

service. There are two major types: ADSL (Asynchronous DSL), which is

faster downstream than up (meaning faster downloads than uploads) and

SDSL (Synchronous DSL), which provides identical speeds in either

direction. A DSL modem, which sends and receives signals at different

frequencies than the voice band uses, connects the computer to DSL service,

and typically connect through the computer’s Ethernet port or a USB

connection. Although DSL uses a different frequency range, regular phones

can interfere with the service, so microfilters must be put on every non-DSL

device on a phone line in a residence or business using DSL service, unless a

separate DSL line is run in. DSL connections use an always-on connection,

although some ISPs use Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE), which

requires user authentication to connect.

o Cable: Cable Internet service is delivered through the same coaxial cable that

provides a cable TV signal. Nearly all current cable Internet service is a high-

speed duplex signal that shares the fiber-optic network used for digital cable

and music services. Cable Internet can reach download speeds anywhere from

1Mbps up to 10Mbps or faster; upload speeds generally are restricted at 128

kbps, but some plans offer higher upload speeds. It’s generally not necessary

to get cable TV in order to get cable Internet service. When cable TV and

Internet service share the same cable, a splitter must be used to prevent the

signals from interfering with each other. Virtually all cable modems are

external devices that plug into a RJ-45 or USB port. Cable Internet

connections are configurable using the Network Properties dialog box or with

specialized software from the ISP.

o Satellite: Satellite Internet service uses parabolic dish antennas to send and

receive signals between geosynchronous satellites – meaning approximately

22,000 miles (around 35,000 kilometers) above the Earth, so they remain in

the same general location in the sky at all times – and home receiving stations.

Satellite modems connect the computer to the satellite dish through a USB or

Ethernet port, similar to DSL or cable modems. It should be noted that the

Federal Communications Commission requires professional installation for

satellite Internet service, as an incorrectly aligned satellite dish with uplink

capabilities could interfere with the satellite and interrupt service.

o Fiber: Although not as common as the previous technologies, fiber is another

alternative. A dedicated line from the ISP to the business or residence, known

as a point-to-point (PTP) connection since it isn’t shared with any other entity,

is established, and can be fiber to a neighborhood boundary and coaxial cable

from there or fiber all the way to the business or residence. Prices, and speeds

upstream and down, vary by carrier.

Dial-up: The oldest consumer-level technology for connecting to the Internet, a dial-

up connection uses an analog modem to connect over regular phone lines to an

Internet service provider (ISP). ISPs that provide dial-up access have several modems

and dial-up numbers that their customers can access, which in turn are connected via

high-speed network trunk lines to the Internet. Although dial-up access is not

common anymore, Windows Vista and 7 does support it and can create dial-up

networking (DUN) connections through the Network and Sharing Center. Windows

XP and 2000 can create DUN connections through Network Connections in XP or

Network and Dial-Up Connections in Windows 2000. To create a dial-up connection,

the ISP must provide:

o Client software, including the preferred browser, dial-up information and

TCP/IP configuration information

o Dial-up access numbers

o Modem types supported (33.6Kbps, 56Kbps, v.90, v.92)

o User name and initial password

o Record all of the above information in case a manual configuration or

reconfiguration is ever needed.

Wireless: The ability to connect to the Internet without being physically tied to a wall

or adapter has proven to be a boon for productivity and expanding the Internet’s

presence in everyday life. Some of the key technologies in enabling this wireless

explosion include:

o All 802.11 types: 802.11 is the blanket term for a set of wireless protocols

compatible with wired Ethernet, also known as wireless LAN (WLAN)

standards. Wireless Ethernet is commonly known as Wi-Fi, named for the

Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) Alliance, a trade group promoting interoperability

between different brands of hardware. These standards include:

802.11a: Runs in the 5 GHz range, with a maximum data throughput

of 54 Mbps. Needs dual-mode (802.11a/b or 802.11a/g) hardware to

run on current machines; 802.11n networks support 5 GHz frequency.

802.11b: Uses 2.4 GHz range, with maximum throughput of 11 Mbps.

Interoperable with 802.11g

802.11g: Uses 2.4 GHz range, with maximum throughput of 54 Mbps.

Interoperable with 802.11b, 802.11n.

802.11n: Uses 2.4 GHz range (standard), can use 5 GHz range

(optional). Maximum throughput up to 600 Mbps, but 300 Mbps is

typical maximum. Interoperable with 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11a on

networks also supporting 5 GHz frequency.

Wireless Ethernet hardware supports both the star (infrastructure)

network topology –uses a central wireless access point to transfer data

between devices, or nodes – and peer-to-peer topology, where every

device in the network communicates directly with another device.

o WEP: Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) was the first encryption protocol for

wireless networks, defined in 802.11b. WEP used 64- or 128-bit encryption

keys, though since the user only had access to 40 of the 64 bits, it was often

referred to as 40-bit WEP encryption. WEP is no longer considered secure for

several reasons – including the use of unencrypted data for parts of the

handshaking procedure – and is not recommended for modern wireless

networks; it’s not even supported in 802.11n.

o WPA: Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) was developed in part to address

certain disadvantages WEP presents. WPA comes in two levels of security:

WPA, which uses TKIP encryption, and the more robust WPA2, using AES

encryption. WPA/WPA2 supports a key length from 8 up to 63 alphanumeric

characters, including punctuation marks and other characters not permitted

with WEP, and allows a RADIUS authentication server to be used in

organizations. All clients and wireless access points (WAP) or wireless

routers on a network must use the same encryption standard, the highest level

supported by all devices on the network. WPA2 is recommended for all

devices, even though WPA2 encryption may require upgraded drivers and

firmware for older network adapters, WAPs and wireless routers.

o SSID: The Service Set Identifier (SSID) is essentially the name of the wireless

access point’s network, and all wireless networks must have an SSID; by

default, the manufacturer’s name or the device’s model number is frequently

used as the SSID out of the box. For security reasons, it is highly

recommended to change the default SSID to something not easily guessed or

deduced, and also to disable SSID broadcast, which is a default setting.

o MAC filtering: Most wireless routers and WAPs allow users to specify the

allowable MAC addresses so that only these devices may use the network. In

some cases, routers can be set to block specific MAC addresses from

accessing the network. While MAC address filtering can block casual hackers

from gaining access, it is possible to change the MAC address of a network

device, and since MAC addresses are not encrypted – and thus detectable by

network hacking software – MAC address filtering is not a foolproof security

method.

o DHCP settings: Virtually all WAPs and wireless routers are configured to act

as DHCP servers, which is convenient for users trying to set up a wireless

network but a headache for users trying to secure one. The most

recommended setting for wireless routers and WAPs is to disable DHCP and

assign static IP addresses to devices. If that isn’t feasible, the next best setting

is to limit the number of IP addresses that can be assigned and specify a

narrow range of addresses that can be assigned.

Bluetooth: As noted in an earlier section, Bluetooth is a short-range wireless network

technology designed to operate in peer-to-peer, or ad hoc, mode between computers

and devices such as printers, smart phones, mice and keyboards. Bluetooth uses the

same 2.4 GHz frequency used by IEEE 802.11b/g/n networks, but minimizes

interference by using spread-spectrum frequency-hopping signaling. Integrated

Bluetooth adapters have become popular in mobile computers and other devices, and

external Bluetooth modules connecting through USB ports are also widely available.

Cellular: The same networks used for cell phone calls can be used for Internet access

and remote networking, making mobile work and play even simpler. A cellular

modem with a data access plan purchased from a carrier is needed to allow a mobile

computer to use a cellular network for data access; these modems can be connected to

USB ports or installed into CardBus or ExpressCard slots. Modems can be bundled

with a data access plan or bought separately, but if purchased from a vendor different

than the cellular carrier, make sure it supports the access method used by the carrier.

Domain 5.0: Security

Domain 5.1: Explain the basic principles of security concepts and technologies

Encryption technologies: Encryption, or the encoding of information to make it

unreadable except by parties with the correct key to decode it, is an important part of

security practices. Windows offers many options for encrypting information,

including:

o EFS: The Encrypted File System (EFS) allows files and folders to be

encrypted within Windows. To run EFS, the hard drive must be formatted

with NTFS, and the OS must be a Professional, Business, Ultimate or

Enterprise version of XP, Vista or Windows 7. When using EFS, a folder that

is encrypted automatically encrypts any file inside it or copied to it, although

encryption can be specified to be only for that folder or all of its subfolders.

Encrypted files stay encrypted if moved to another folder on the same or

another NTFS drive, even if the destination isn’t encrypted. When using EFS,

it’s recommended to encrypt at the folder level. EFS files can be opened only

by the encrypting user, an administrator or by EFS keyholders, meaning

individuals who have been provided with the EFS certificate key. Explorer

and My Computer/Computer show files encrypted with EFS with green

filenames. In order to encrypt a file, use these steps:

Right-click the file in Explorer or My Computer and select Properties.

Click Advanced on the General tab.

Click the Encrypt contents to secure data checkbox.

Click OK.

Click Apply. When prompted, select the option to encrypt the file and

parent folder, or just the file, and click OK.

Click OK.

o BitLocker: Available starting with Vista, BitLocker allows a user to encrypt

an entire volume, and any other volume, on the drive. Intended to work in

conjunction with file and folder encryption, BitLocker – which is based on the

Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and uses a 128-bit encryption key – is

one of several drive encryption schemes available, though it’s the only one

native to Windows. To use BitLocker, a user will need:

A Trusted Platform Module (TPM), which is a motherboard module

that stores the encrypted keys, or an external USB key to store the

encrypted keys. The Group Policy will need to be changed in order to

use BitLocker without a TPM.

A hard drive with two volumes, preferably created during Windows

installation. One volume, which will be encrypted, is for the OS, while

the other is the active unencrypted volume so the computer can boot. If

the computer was configured with only one drive, download the

BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool from Windows Update.

o VPN: As detailed in an earlier section, VPNs send data securely over public

networks by establishing a secure channel of communication between a user

and a server called a tunnel, which allows the data packets to be encrypted.

VPNs use a number of encryption protocols to encode data after

authentication has been achieved, including Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol

(PPTP), Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP), Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)

or IP Security (IPSec).

o Hardware technologies: Besides the various software technologies listed,

some hardware comes with built-in encryption. This hardware includes some

flash drives, external hard drives and laptops.

o Secured connections: For users who wish to double up on their security

measures, there are software technologies available that can encrypt e-mail

and other messages sent over secured connection protocols such as HTTPS.

Two of the better known ones are Public Key Encryption, which requires the

use of public keys and private keys – its best-known implementation is PGP,

or Pretty Good Privacy – and Public-key Infrastructure (PKI) standards, which

cover the use of digital certificates on the Internet.

Data wiping/hard drive destruction and/or recycling: Hard drives can present a

security risk to an organization even after the computer no longer belongs to the

organization. When disposing of a computer for resale, recycling or scrap for parts,

take one or more of the following steps to ameliorate potential security risks and

prevent confidential company or client information from being accessed:

o Take out the hard drive or drives, and smash their platters into pieces with a

hammer or other device; recycle the scrap afterward. Use this method when

preserving the hard drive is unneeded or unwanted.

o Overwrite the hard drives – sometimes referred to as zero-filling – with a

program that fulfills, at a minimum, common data-destruction standards such

as the U.S. Department of Defense 5220.22-M (7 passes) or computer scientist

Dr. Peter Guttman’s 35-pass maximum security method. Using these methods

destroys existing data and circumvents future attempts at data recovery or

forensic analysis. This is the recommended method when prepping a machine

for donation or resale, where preserving its working condition is required. A

number of commercial and freeware tools are available for this process,

known as disk scrubbing or disk wiping. These processes should also be used

on external hard disks. On the other hand, floppy disks with sensitive

information can be physically destroyed or bulk-erased; CDs and DVDs can

be shredded.

Software firewall: Firewalls check data packets sent over a network to make a

determination, based on various data in the packet and rules programmed into the

firewall, on whether to block the packets or send them on to the intended destination.

Most firewalls were hardware for years, but software firewalls have gained in

popularity with the rise of the Internet and personal computing. Firewalls can protect

against inbound threats only – known as a one-way firewall – or against both

unauthorized inbound and outbound traffic, known as a two-way firewall. Windows

Firewall in XP and Vista is a one-way firewall, though Vista’s implementation can be

used in two-way functionality if configured correctly. In comparison, many third-

party firewall programs are two-way firewalls, such as Zone Alarm. Software

firewalls can allow traffic between certain IP addresses and block incoming and

outgoing Internet traffic on a per-application basis, depending on the firewall’s rules

and exceptions. Organizations often use a proxy server with a firewall as a direct

connection between the Internet and the internal network, and use the firewall to

protect internal resources. Two of the central technologies that make firewalls

effective include:

o Port security: This feature of firewalls allows individual ports to be locked

down entirely, or only allow certain types of traffic from specified users or

addresses.

o Exceptions: This feature allows an administrator to allow certain users or

addresses to utilize ports or capabilities that are disabled or unavailable to

most other entities. Exceptions help maintain security by allowing

administrators to shut certain points of entry into a network to all but those

who really need it.

Authentication technologies: Authentication is the process of verifying a user’s

identity in order to protect machines and networks from an unauthorized user gaining

access. Authentication can be based off a number of specific qualities: something the

user knows (a PIN, for example), something the user has (an RFID badge), something

the user is (voice print) or something the user does (signature). Authentication

technologies are those used to verify a user’s identity using one or more of those

qualities, and they include:

o User name: A user name is a label assigned to an account attached to one

specific user; the user name is what the various permissions and

authorizations are assigned to in a network security database.

o Password: A password is what proves a user is who he or she claims to be; it

demonstrates the user owns the account that is attempting to access the

system, and so is entitled to the assigned privileges.

o Biometrics: Biometrics use physical characteristics to authenticate a potential

user. Most commonly, biometric systems are based on fingerprints, but other

systems that use voice prints and retina and iris scans are available. Biometric

systems use a scanning device to analyze the characteristic that is the base of

the system and breaks it into a series of data points, which is then compared

against a database of approved users’ recorded points for a match. Biometric

information is almost always encrypted to protect against unauthorized access,

as all authentication data should be.

o Smart cards: Smart cards are devices that store data and often contain a

microprocessor or a radio-frequency identification (RFID) chip. Smart cards

store ID data for use in security applications, prepaid telephone or debit card

services and hotel guest room access. A smart card–based security system

includes smart cards, card readers and a back-end system with a database of

approved cards for each secured location. Such systems are also used to

secure individual PCs. Smart card systems may also require users to input a

PIN number or security password, as well as provide the smart card at secured

checkpoints.

Basics of data sensitivity and data security: Data sensitivity is a measure of how

limited access to data should be, who needs to have access to it and what the

boundaries of that access should be, while data security is the system put into place to

enforce the policies of data sensitivity. When considering the levels of sensitivity and

security for an organization’s data, there are a couple of factors to consider:

o Compliance: Depending on the type of data under consideration, it may fall

under federal, state or local regulations regarding access, in addition to any

organization policies that may be in effect. The person or group in charge of

compliance for an organization should be consulted regarding any plans

regarding access modification, and get that entity’s approval.

o Classifications: When deciding on data access levels and restrictions, the

entities who ―own‖ the data, or at least responsibility for it, and the entities

that require access to it must be considered. The process of classification is

one of determining categories for the organization’s data to be collated into

and then determining the requisite security levels. Keep in mind that backup

media of the organization’s data must be considered as falling into the same

data classifications as the information on it.

o Social engineering: All the data security precautions at the computer and

network level must be matched with protections against social engineering,

which is an effective technique precisely because it targets people instead of

machines, and often doesn’t appear to be an attack. Social engineering works

by deceiving people into providing information based on their own

friendliness, frustration or a desire to help others. There are several methods

involved in social engineering, including:

Pretexting: This involves pretending to be from a service provider for

the company, such as telephone or Internet provider, and asking the

user to provide login credentials to allow routine maintenance or to

solve a computer problem.

Phishing: This technique uses bogus websites or fraudulent emails to

trick users into providing personal or financial information. A

variation, phone phishing, uses an interactive voice response (IVR)

system the user has unwittingly called to fool the user into revealing

information.

Trojan horse: Current iterations involve malware programs disguised

as popular videos or website links that trap keystrokes or transmit

sensitive information.

Baiting: This practice involves leaving physical media (such as an

optical disc or flash drive) with what appears to be confidential

information somewhere easily found. When inserted, the media

automatically runs and delivers various malware payloads, including

backdoor access to an organization’s network.

To protect against social engineering attacks, users should be trained

to:

Ask for ID when approached in person by somebody claiming

to be from a service provider.

Ask for a name and supervisor name when contacted by phone

by someone claiming to be from a service provider.

Obtain contact information for the service provider and call an

authorized contact person to verify the service call or

information request is legitimate.

Log into systems themselves and provide the tech the

computer, rather than giving out login information.

Change passwords immediately after service calls.

Report any potential social engineering calls or in-person

contacts, even if no information was exchanged. Social

engineering experts can gather background information from

several users and use it to create a plausible narrative and thus

gain restricted system access.

Domain 5.2: Summarize the following security features

Wireless encryption: Encryption on a wireless network is based on exchanging a

passphrase between a client and the wireless access point (WAP) or router before the

client is allowed to access the network. Present methods of wireless encryption

include:

o WEP and WPAx: Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) was the first wireless

encryption protocol, defined in 802.11b. WEP used 64- or 128-bit encryption

keys, though since the user only had access to 40 bits, it was often referred to

as 40-bit WEP encryption. WEP is no longer considered secure for several

reasons – including the use of unencrypted data for parts of the handshaking

procedure – and is not recommended for modern wireless networks, or even

supported in 802.11n. Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) was developed in part

to address the disadvantages of WEP. WPA presently comes in two levels of

security: WPA, which uses TKIP encryption, and the more robust WPA2,

using AES encryption. WPA/WPA2 supports a key length from 8 up to 63

alphanumeric characters, including punctuation marks and other characters

not permitted with WEP, and allows a RADIUS authentication server to be

used in organizations. All clients and wireless access points (WAP) or

wireless routers on a network must use the same encryption standard, the

highest level supported by all devices on the network. WPA2 is recommended

for all devices, even though WPA2 encryption may require upgraded drivers

and firmware for older network adapters, WAPs and wireless routers.

o Client configuration (SSID): The Service Set Identifier (SSID) is essentially

the name of the wireless access point’s network, and all wireless networks

must have an SSID. Although not an encryption method, as it does nothing to

encode the data, it is highly recommended to change the default SSID to

something not easily guessed or deduced, and also to disable SSID broadcast,

which is a default setting.

Malicious software protection: Although not known for its inherent security features,

Windows from XP forward includes Windows Defender, a real-time, scan-based

protection tool against malware such as Trojan horses and worms. However,

Defender by itself is not sufficient; for complete protection, a computer must also

have an antivirus program installed. Since these types of program depend on up-to-

the-minute definition files to keep protection valid, Microsoft provides the Security

Center, accessible through Control Panel, to check and report on the status of both

Microsoft and third-party security programs. When installing security programs that

support Security Center, select the option to use Security Center to provide warnings

to avoid duplicate messages and false errors. The types of malware these security

programs look for include:

o Viruses: Computer programs created to infect a computer and make unwanted

modifications to the OS, and replicate themselves if executed.

o Trojan horse: Programs that appear as utilities or file converters, but install

various types of harmful programs, including spyware, remote access tools –

programs that enable unauthorized control of a system and are most frequently

used to establish botnets, networks of compromised computers known as

zombies – and rootkits, establish themselves on a system and obtain

administrative access, allowing high-level exploits of a machine.

o Worms: Self-replicating malware programs that use a network to create and

send copies of themselves to other network devices. Worms are designed to

carry out this function without requiring user intervention.

o Spam: Indiscriminately sent bulk messages delivered over electronic paths,

generally e-mail. Spam is often used as a vehicle for malicious payloads, and

even if one is not present, it’s considered annoying enough to qualify as an

infection, as well as a resource burden.

o Spyware: Software that observes system activities and transmits Web search

information or other activity-related information to remote systems.

o Adware: Software that displays popup ads and banners related to Web

searches and activities.

o Grayware: General term for dialers, joke programs, adware and spyware

programs; not all of these programs are malicious, but they approach a line

between annoyance and maliciousness, hence the name.

BIOS security: Security for the BIOS of a machine, or measures that are instituted

before the OS loads, are becoming increasingly more common with the rise of mobile

computing. Some of the available measures include:

o Drive lock: When enabled, a drive lock, or HDD password, prompts for a

password to be entered for the hard drive when the machine boots. If the user

doesn’t enter the correct password, the drive will lock down, preventing the

OS from booting. This password is empty by default on most machines, but if

the password has been set and then forgotten, it can generally be reset within

the BIOS.

o Passwords: Virtually all machines have this feature available to prevent

unauthorized users from altering BIOS information. One caveat: If the setup

password is lost, the CMOS chip used to store BIOS settings can usually be

reset through a jumper setting on the motherboard or by removing the CMOS

battery for several minutes, which may be handy in some cases but could

represent a problem if an unauthorized user gains physical access to the

machine.

o Intrusion detection: Fortunately, another option for BIOS security is intrusion

detection, which uses a sensor connected to a set of pins on the motherboard

to detect if the case is opened. If it is, an interrupt is sent by the sensor, which

is recorded by the BIOS.

o TPM: A Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is a motherboard chip used to store

encrypted keys for various encryption methods, including BitLocker. It

provides security because, even if an unauthorized user simply removed the

hard drive from a system, the drive would not allow access without the TPM’s

encrypted keys. Note that if a system using BitLocker has a motherboard

failure, a backup copy of the keys will be needed to access any data.

Password management/complexity: If using passwords to authenticate access, as most

organizations do, there are certain practices that should be enforced regarding

managing these passwords, including:

o Change passwords periodically

o Provide warning in advance that passwords are about to expire

o Enforce a minimum password length, generally 8-16 characters

o Require complex passwords, including the use of lower case letters, upper

case, alphanumeric and special characters

o Prevent old passwords from being reused for several cycles

o Wait a certain number of minutes after a specified number of unsuccessful

logins before another attempt is allowed

Locking workstation: For optimum security, a workstation a user is not sitting at or

using should be locked. This can be done with both hardware methods and software.

o Hardware: BIOS passwords can be used when the system is powered down to

prevent access to the BIOS, while drive locks can prevent drive access.

o Operating system: In order to lock the computer automatically after the screen

saver comes on, select the On Resume, Password Protect check box on the

Screen Save tab on the Display Properties box in Windows XP/2000, or the

On Resume, Display Logon Screen check box under Screen Saver Settings in

the Personalization windows in Windows 7 and Vista. Alternatively, users can

lock a computer immediately by pressing Windows + L on the keyboard or by

pressing Ctrl + Alt + Del and selecting Lock Computer.

Biometrics: As discussed previously, biometric devices can be used to provide

security by tying authentication to physical characteristics of a user. Although several

possibilities exist, the most common is the fingerprint scanner.

o Fingerprint scanners: Built into many laptops, a fingerprint scanner can be

configured to prompt a user for an authorized fingerprint when attempting to

log onto a machine or wake it up from sleep mode. The user places a finger,

usually the index, against the scanner and waits for the system to read the

fingerprint, match it against the data points of authorized users, and grant or

deny the user access.

Domain 6.0: Operational Procedure

Domain 6.1: Outline the purpose of appropriate safety and environmental procedures and, given

a scenario, apply them

ESD: Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is one of the largest dangers to components in the

field. ESD is the discharge of electrical energy that occurs when two objects of

opposite charge and differing potential come into contact. Part of the trouble with

ESD is that it takes a discharge of 3,000 volts for humans to feel it, but a discharge as

low as 30 volts is enough to damage components. Memory, hard drives and adapter

cards are particularly vulnerable to it, and given that a technician can build up a

20,000-volt charge just by walking across a carpeted room, it’s too easy to cause ESD

damage. ESD damage often leads to intermittent failures, making it even tougher to

diagnose. To protect against ESD damage, technicians should follow these

procedures:

o Use proper equipment when performing electrical tests. If testing power input

and/or input, or working inside a case, make sure to have the correct tools.

These include an AC/DC multimeter with ohm and continuity outlets, for

testing power in the case and at power outlets; a grounded AC circuit tester,

for testing home and/or office wiring; an antistatic mat and wrist strap, to

equalize electric potential and prevent ESD altogether; electrical tape, as a

temporary fix for work insulation; and a battery tester, to ensure the CMOS

and other batteries are in fully functioning condition.

o Take ESD precautions every time you work on components and/or computers.

These include wearing a properly fitted wrist strap that is grounded to an

antistatic mat, which equalizes electric potential; attach the mat to the

computer or component being worked on with an alligator clip, if available;

grounding the antistatic mat to an equally grounded power supply; using

antistatic cleaning spray and carpet spray in carpeted offices, especially in

winter, when central heat dries out the air; not plugging in a computer that’s

being worked on, as modern computers draw current even when off; and using

antistatic floor mats instead of carpeting in the bench or work area.

o Store components properly. This means using antistatic Faraday cage bags to

store individual components and machines; not laying components on the

outside of these bags, which conducts electricity; use work mats and wrist

straps with high resistance; and store components in appropriate boxes and

antistatic padding.

o Handle components properly. Never touch the chips on a memory module or

circuit board; hold adapter cards only by the brackets, avoiding the

connectors, chips and circuitry; wear natural fibers as much as possible to

avoid generating ESD potential; and use antistatic sprays and cleaning

products.

EMI: Electromagnetic interference (EMI) is not the danger to computers and

components that ESD is; EMI causes performance issues, but doesn’t necessarily

damage components. However, depending on the device, EMI – which is caused by

the magnetic field generated when electricity flows – can cause power fluctuations,

signal degradation and network traffic issues. EMI is most often an issue with the

following:

o Network interference: When EMI interferes with the network traffic, it’s

known as crosstalk, which can corrupt data and cause network usage issues.

Crosstalk is most often caused when unshielded data cables are run too close

to other unshielded cables or sources of EMI, such as power cables or

fluorescent lighting. Rerouting the cables when possible is one way to

diminish EMI; another way, although more expensive, is to use shielded data

cables.

o Magnets: Since magnetism and electricity go hand in hand, magnets are a

major source of EMI. Unfortunately, magnets are very common in computer

hardware, specifically hard drives, power supplies and older CRT monitors.

Whenever EMI is suspected, devices using magnets should be moved away

from the cables in question. Cordless phones, laser printers, TV sets and

microwave ovens are other common sources of EMI.

RFI: Radio frequency interference (RFI) is the same thing as EMI, except in the

frequency range of radio waves. If a device is suspected of causing RFI, there are a

couple of ways to test this. One simple way is to simply move the device and see if

the RFI/EMI continues to occur; such interference is usually short-range, and doesn’t

require a large relocation. Another way to test is to put an AM radio next to the

suspected device and see if static is heard on the radio. If the RFI/EMI is caused by

static in the power flow, a line conditioner can be used to smooth out the current;

otherwise, moving the device or putting it on a different circuit is probably going to

be best. Two common sources of interference are:

o Cordless phones: Cordless phones operate in the 2.4 GHz frequency range,

which is where some wireless hardware operates. Consequently, the

possibility of interference is very strong.

o Microwave ovens: Microwaves not only use a good deal of power, which

requires a large power supply and thus a good-sized magnet, but generate

microwave radiation, which is similar in frequency to wireless networking and

cordless phones. Thus, microwave ovens are also common sources of

interference.

Electrical safety: Although many computers and components are relatively low-

power items, it’s still possible to get unpleasant shocks and burns from not following

electrical safety procedures. Technicians should follow these straightforward

procedures to practice sound electrical safety:

o Remove jewelry, including rings, bracelets and necklaces. Jewelry – being

frequently made of gold and platinum, both excellent conductors – provides

an easy path for current.

o Use rubber gloves for extra insulation. Rubber gloves prevent contact with

metal parts; however, such gloves are insufficient to insulate a technician from

a live system.

o Work with one hand outside the system, if possible. This is intended to keep

electricity passing through your chest if your arms complete a circuit.

o Keep hands and body dry. The body’s natural shock resistance is almost

nonexistent when the skin is even the slightest bit damp.

o Turn off and disconnect the device from power, regardless of the service

provided. This will help prevent both shock and mechanical hazards.

o Along with general electrical safety, there are specific steps or concepts to

keep in mind when working with specific devices, such as:

CRT: Cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors store an impressive amount of

charge in their capacitors, so much so that it is possible to receive a

lethal shock through incorrect handling of the inner components. In

order to work inside a CRT safely, it is necessary to discharge the

high-voltage anode first. This should only be done by a technician

certified to work with CRTs. Note that working in CRTs is an

exception to the usual ESD precautions, as using a wrist band provides

a path for the current and could potentially injure or kill a technician.

If it is necessary to work inside a CRT, follow these steps to discharge

the high-voltage anode safely:

Turn off the monitor and unplug it.

Carefully remove the housing.

Attach a large alligator clip and wire from a long, flat-bladed,

insulated screwdriver to the monitor’s metal frame.

Slide the screwdriver blade under the insulator until the tip touches the

metal anode clip.

Hold the screwdriver in place for several seconds to fully discharge the

anode. Be prepared for noise—anything from crackling to a loud

pop—as the anode discharges.

Slide the screwdriver out without twisting it to avoid damaging the

CRT.

o Power supply: Due to the high levels of voltage stored in the coils of a power

supply for quite some time, there is no level of work inside a power supply

that is considered acceptable; it is safer, cheaper and far more cost-effective to

simply replace a power supply. Working inside a power supply runs a

significant risk of incurring a lethal electric shock.

o Inverter: An inverter, which converts DC power into AC, is a device most

often found in AC adapters and laptops. While not as high voltage as power

supplies, inverters still do carry quite a charge, and should not be opened up;

even in laptops, inverters are usually easily replaceable circuit board

assemblies. Inverters are safer and easier to simply replace.

o Laser printers: Laser printers, unlike impact and inkjet models, typically use

DC current at a high voltage; inkjet and impact printers use high-voltage AC

power. In any case, any printer must be turned off and unplugged before being

serviced. If ink or toner spills have occurred, water or other liquids should not

be used to clean up unless the printer is turned off and disconnected, due to

the possibility of incurring a potentially lethal electric shock.

o Matching power requirements of equipment with power distribution and

UPSs: When purchasing an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) for a

computer and associated equipment, it’s important to buy a UPS that is

adequate to handle the load provided by the entire setup. A general rule of

thumb for selecting a UPS is to make sure the wattage capacity for the UPS is

25-30% higher than the total wattage load for the system in question. It’s

important to make sure the UPS doesn’t run at full capacity, particularly an

inline UPS, because a UPS running at full capacity all the time will generate

excessive amounts of heat, which will shorten the battery life and may cause

issues with other components.

Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS): An MSDS is a vital piece of safety equipment

for any area that has any chemicals in it, no matter how innocuous or common. The

MSDS is divided into 16 standardized sections, and details how to correctly and

safely handle substances, and includes toxicity, first aid, health effects, disposal and

spill procedures, among other data. Often packaged with the product, MSDS can also

be found on the Internet.

Cable management: Even in the era of wireless networking, cables are a necessary

evil of most computer setups. For safety and efficiency, it’s necessary to exercise

good cable management principles to avoid crosstalk and safety issues. Good cable

management practices include bundling cables together to keep their presence

manageable, anchoring them to keep them from hanging or running loose.

o Avoiding trip hazards: The major concern of cable management is to avoid

trip hazards, as the majority of cables in organizational settings run below

waist level. Cables should be tied or wrapped together and kept out of

walkways or areas where people can trip on them and fall, potentially injuring

themselves and others and damaging equipment. If a cable must run across a

floor, it’s best to use a cable concealer or even simply tape the cables down to

keep them in place and minimize trip dangers. If possible, it’s often best to use

cable trays and raceways to elevate cable runs to ceiling height or just below

in order to keep walkways and work areas clear.

Physical safety: Physical safety is of prime importance in the workplace, particularly

when working with devices that carry some level of risk. In addition to the safety

concerns already mentioned, two other areas technicians must be aware of in the

workplace are:

o Heavy devices: If moving a heavy device is necessary, be sure to remove and

label all cables and cords before moving equipment. Use carts to transport

heavy and/or bulky equipment, and carry cables and small components in

containers. Avoid uneven floors and loose rugs/carpet as much as possible. If

transporting equipment to different floors, use elevators as much as possible.

If it is necessary to lift a heavy item, obey the following lifting rules:

Place feet shoulder-width apart to provide the best balance and base

for lifting.

Lift with back straight, not bent over, to better handle the load.

Lift the load with the legs; using your back can lead to injury.

o Hot components: Some components, such as the fuser assembly in a laser

printer, are designed to get tremendously hot, so whenever working inside a

computer or printer, be sure to leave sufficient time for all components to cool

down and stop presenting a hazard.

Environmental – consider proper disposal procedures: Virtually everything in a

computer will need to be disposed of at some point, and due to the chemical and

physical makeup of a computer and its components, simply throwing them away is

not an option in many cases. There’s a right way to get rid of or recycle virtually

every component, and as a rule of thumb, the more ―durable‖ a computer-related item

is, the more likely it should be recycled when it reaches the end of its useful life. The

items every technician should know how to safely and responsibly dispose of include:

o Batteries: Batteries are no longer made with significant amounts of mercury, a

highly toxic chemical that can cause memory loss, vision impairment, and

other health issues in high exposures, but batteries today are still not safe to

simply toss into landfills. Depending on the type of battery, there might be

more than one option for disposal:

Look for drop-off bins at hardware and electronics stores for watch

and calculator batteries; a depleted CMOS battery could be disposed of

this way.

Hardware stores and home centers often feature drop-off bins for Ni-

Cd, NiMH or Li-ion rechargeable batteries, such as those found in

computer, PDA or cell phone power supplies or power tools.

Search out companies that specialize in battery disposal or recycling in

the local Yellow Pages or do a Web search on ―battery recycling.‖

o Toner and printer cartridges: Manufacturers of laser toner and inkjet printer

cartridges generally want consumers to recycle the empty cartridges, and

provide postage-paid envelopes or mailing labels to spur customers to return

empty cartridges. Contact local rebuilders of laser toner or inkjet cartridges;

some companies may pay to have empty cartridges of popular models

delivered to them.

o Chemical solvents and cans: Check the labels of cleaning products for

instructions on proper container disposal. Depending on the product, it may be

possible to recycle the plastic container in household recycling, if it is citrus-

based and/or mild, or the container may require toxic material handling

procedures. If there’s any doubt, it’s always a good idea to consult the MSDS

for the product in question.

o Obsolete monitors and computer hardware: Millions of pounds of obsolete

computer equipment go into landfills every year, which is not only a waste of

what is often still-working equipment, but may have environmental impacts

long down the line, as heavy metals and plastic byproducts leach out of old

equipment into the soil. Instead of driving your old computer to the landfill,

try:

Try to donate your working, cast-off equipment to a school or charity.

These organizations might be able to wring an additional year or two

of useful life out of the equipment, and are generally grateful for free

equipment.

o Check with an electronics trade school to see if the students need non-

operational equipment for classroom use. Some service facilities will accept

defective monitors with a small disposal fee.

o Do a Google search on terms like ―e-waste,‖ ―computer‖ and ―recycling‖ to

find options for constructive disposal of both working and non-working

equipment.

Domain 6.2: Given a scenario, demonstrate the appropriate use of communication skills and

professionalism in the workplace

Use proper language – avoid jargon, acronyms, slang: When discussing an issue with

a customer, explain the situation and the solution in clear, everyday language. This

helps educate the customer, and reassures him or her that you understand the problem

and understand how to resolve it. It helps establish credibility, and keeps the customer

in the loop.

Maintain a positive attitude: A positive attitude on the part of the technician sets the

tone for the entire experience. It helps establish a good relationship with the

customer, and helps set his or her mind at ease. It also makes the customer feel as if

the issue at hand is important to the tech, even if the resolution is trivial. Making the

improbable happen is part of every technician’s job duties.

Listen and do not interrupt a customer: Listening is one of the most important skills a

technician can have; many times, customers will share information they didn’t know

they had, or something they thought was unimportant will shed new light on the issue.

Additionally, listening establishes respect and trust, which helps create a solid

relationship. Interrupting the customer is rude, and implies that the technician has

better things to do than listen, which is not the right way to go. Plus, it’s difficult to

listen and learn if the tech keeps interrupting what the customer is saying. Keep

focused.

Be culturally sensitive: Cultural expectations define how many people approach

problems or define good service. Some cultures require more social graces; some

have a lower tolerance for uncertainty and change. Listening closely and

communicating clearly are a technician’s main tools for navigating cultural

differences and finding a common ground, along with patience and tolerance. It’s the

technician’s responsibility to develop these points of similarities in order to build the

all-important customer relationship.

Be on time: When a technician makes an appointment with a customer, he or she is

making a promise. Keeping that promise develops trust, and the customer’s

perception of the technician as an ethical person. Failing to be on time, even if just a

little, is breaking that promise, which doesn’t speak well for the technician’s work

ethic or reliability, and by extension, the company’s. Being on time shows the

customer that the technician respects the customer’s time.

o If being late is unavoidable, the technician should call the customer as soon as

possible, apologize, explain the situation and reschedule the appointment.

Developing respect and trust is key to forming the client relationship.

Avoid distractions: When a technician is working with a client, over the phone, IM or

face-to-face, the client deserves the tech’s full attention. Doing anything that distracts

from fixing the client’s issue – such as taking personal calls, talking to co-workers

and personal interruptions – is disrespectful and tells the client what the tech is doing

is not important to him or her. That’s a good way to lose business, and a terrible way

to treat a client, who may be facing personal or professional issues if this problem

isn’t resolved. Everyone wants to feel respected, and distractions on the tech’s part

take away from that. When working with a client, everything else must go to one side

for the tech: no personal calls, wait until later to talk to co-workers, no interruptions.

Dealing with a difficult customer or situation: Eventually, every technician gets one:

the angry, ignorant or obstreperous customer who won’t take no, won’t follow

directions and is loud and possibly abusive. The reasons for this kind of behavior on

the client’s part are numerous, but there are strategies that a technician can follow to

minimize this type of behavior:

o Avoid arguing with customers and/or being defensive: Why be defensive

about what a customer says? In virtually every case, the customer is

expressing frustration at the situation, the company, the computer, the

weather, whatever…but not with the technician as a person. A tech needs to

understand that getting defensive is just a way of making the customer’s

frustration personal, which solves nothing and just makes working together

harder. Along those lines, arguing with the customer is of no use. If the

customer is mistaken about something, that’s of no relevance to the work, and

if the tech is mistaken, why broadcast that and possibly reduce the customer’s

trust? Save the energy for working on the problem.

o Do not minimize customers’ problems: Regardless of how many times the

tech might have seen this or a similar problem before, it’s not the same for the

customer. This is probably his or her first experience with it, and it affects

them: it is important to the customer, and therefore, it is important to the

technician. Treat it as an issue worthy of respect, because it is.

o Avoid being judgmental: Some customers come across as rude and insulting,

or having more confidence than knowledge. That perception may or may not

be true, but it is not relevant to working on an issue for the customer; the

technician’s job is to establish a rapport and resolve an issue, and squabbling

over what should have been done or asking why did the customer do this

doesn’t work toward either goal. Keep in mind that the customer is under

stress already since the machine isn’t working as it should; dealing with a

tech’s approbation just adds to that for no good reason. Remain polite and

professional at all times, and resist the temptation if it appears.

o Clarify customer statements: As stated before, listening and clear

communication is among a tech’s major tools, and the customer is a primary

source of information about a problem. It behooves a technician to ensure that

the customer is clearly getting the information across, so clarifying a

customer’s statements is good standard practice. To make sure that happens, a

technician should always take pains to do the following:

Ask open-ended questions to narrow the scope of the problem: Open-

ended questions do not call for ―yes‖ or ―no‖ answers; instead, they

invite the customer to expand upon a situation, and provide more

information. Asking open-ended questions not only elicits more

information from a customer, it gives the information more context,

which helps the technician get a clearer picture of the issue and the

background that may help illuminate it.

Restate the issue or question to verify understanding: When a

technician restates the question or issue, he or she shows that the

information has been heard and processed, and the technician has

obtained a grasp on the idea. Simply repeating the customer’s words

indicates the technician has heard the customer, but might not have

been listening or thinking about the issue enough. It’s both a

communication tool and a way to show the customer that the tech

respects the customer’s time and effort.

Set and meet expectations/timeline, and communicate status with customer: Part of

keeping communication open between the customer and the technician involves

keeping the customer in the loop: explaining what’s being done and why, going over

the steps in the process, relating the thinking behind attempts at a solution. A

customer’s time is important, and he or she probably has other things to address in his

or her life, so it’s important that the technician communicate clearly what’s

happening and the timeframe over which the next steps will happen, as well as how

long overall it should take to fix. Most customers will understand that things happen,

and the expectations may change, but it’s important to provide a rough guideline of

what to expect. If things do change, the technician has several options to pursue:

o Offer different repair/replacement option if applicable: In some cases, there

may be multiple paths to fixing an issue: replacing one small part might do it,

but it may be easier to replace a larger bundle of parts that includes the

original part, use an alternative method or replace the machine altogether. If

complications arise and the original repair path is invalid, discussing

alternatives with the customer and offering options is an excellent way to

provide service, as it demonstrates a dedication to resolving the customer’s

issue.

o Provide proper documentation on the services provided: This serves as both a

written record of what was done, which provides a problem history for the

company/technician and details what work was performed for the customer,

and a way to provide guidance for future issues. Knowing what past work was

performed helps point out possible resolution paths and places to begin

looking for causes.

o Follow up with customer/user and a later date to verify satisfaction: This

demonstrates to the customer that the technician values the work done and the

customer’s perception of it, which goes a long way to forming the customer-

technician rapport and a long-term mutually beneficial relationship. Also, it

shows dedication, and provides a way to perform after-work research to check

the efficacy of the resolution.

Deal appropriately with customers’ confidential materials: Customers have a right to

privacy, just as technicians do, and the tech’s need to access the computer does not

negate the customers’ rights. A technician should never read or view a customer’s

confidential materials, or any materials that aren’t strictly necessary to do the work. If

a printed report is lying in the printer, turn it over so it can’t be read and hand it to the

customer. If personal or professional documents are on the desk, the tech should let

the customer know so the customer can put them away. If something is on the screen

of a personal or business nature, the tech should step away and suggest the customer

close down the document or material and clear the screen. The customer’s right to

privacy does not stop when the technician is on the job.