CompTIA A+ Certification All-in-One For Dummies

1251 Pages·2016·82.52 MB·English

by  Glen E. Clarke

CompTIA® A+®
Certification
A L L - I N - O N E
4th edition
by Glen E. Clarke, Ed Tetz,
and Timothy Warner
CompTIA® A+® Certification All-In-One For Dummies®, 4th Edition
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CompTIA Certification
It Pays to Get Certified
In a digital world, digital literacy is an essential survival skill. Certification proves
you have the knowledge and skill to solve business problems in virtually any busi-
ness environment. Certifications are highly-valued credentials that qualify you
for jobs, increased compensation, and promotion.
Certification Advances Your Career
The CompTIA A+ credential provides foundation-level knowledge and skills nec-
essary for a career in PC repair and support.
Starting salary: CompTIA A+ Certified individuals can earn as much as $65,000
per year.
Career pathway: CompTIA A+ is a building block for other CompTIA certifications
such as Network+, Security+, and vendor-specific technologies.
More than 850,000 individuals worldwide are CompTIA A+ Certified.
Mandated/recommended by organizations worldwide such as Cisco and HP and
Ricoh, the U.S. State Department, and U.S. government contractors such as EDS,
General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman.
Some of the primary benefits individuals report from becoming A+ Certified are:
» More efficient troubleshooting
» Improved career advancement
» More insightful problem solving
CompTIA Career Pathway
CompTIA offers a number of credentials that form a foundation for your career
in technology and allow you to pursue specific areas of concentration. Depending
on the path you choose to take, CompTIA certifications help you build upon your
skills and knowledge, supporting learning throughout your entire career.
Steps to Certification
Steps to Getting Certified and Staying Certified
Review Exam Objectives Review the certification objectives, located at
https://certification.comptia.org/
training/exam-objectives, to make sure you
know what is covered in the exam.
Practice for the Exam After you have studied for the certification, take a
free assessment and sample test to get an idea what
type of questions might be on the exam at http://
www.comptia.org/certifications/testprep/
practicetests.aspx.
Purchase an Exam Voucher Purchase your exam voucher on the CompTIA
Marketplace, which is located at http://www.
comptiastore.com.
Take the Test! Select a certification exam provider and schedule a
time to take your exam. You can find exam providers
at the following link: https://certification.
comptia.org/testing/test-locations.
Join the Professional Community
Join the CompTIA IT communities at https://www.comptia.org/communities.
The free IT online communities provide valuable content to students and
professionals.
» Career IT job resources
• Where to start in IT
• Career assessments
• Salary trends
• U.S. job board
» Forums on networking, security, computing, and cutting edge technologies
» Access to blogs written by industry experts
» Current information on cutting edge technologies
» Access to various industry resource links and articles related to IT and IT
careers
Content Seal of Quality
This courseware bears the seal of CompTIA Approved Quality Content. This seal
signifies this content covers 100% of the exam objectives and implements impor-
tant structural design principles. CompTIA recommends multiple learning tools to
help increase coverage of the learning objectives.
Why CompTIA?
Global Recognition: CompTIA is recognized globally as the leading IT non-profit
trade association and has enormous credibility. Plus, CompTIA’s certifications are
vendor-neutral and offer proof of foundational knowledge that translates across
technologies.
Valued by Hiring Managers: Hiring managers value CompTIA certification because
it is vendor and technology independent validation of your technical skills.
Recommended or Required by Government and Businesses: Many government
organizations and corporations either recommend or require technical staff to
be CompTIA certified (for example, Dell, Sharp, Ricoh, the U.S. Department of
Defense, and many more).
Three CompTIA Certifications ranked in the top 10: In a study by DICE of 17,000
technology professionals, certifications helped command higher salaries at all
experience levels.
How to Obtain More Information
Visit CompTIA online: www.comptia.org to learn more about getting CompTIA
certified.
Contact CompTIA: Call 866-835-8020 ext. 5 or email [email protected].
Contents at a Glance
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Pre-Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Book 1: Setting the A Groundwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
CHAPTER 1: The 2015 A+ Exams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
CHAPTER 2: A+ Soft Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
CHAPTER 3: Protecting Yourself and Your PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
CHAPTER 4: An Overview of System Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61
Book 2: Inside the Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79
CHAPTER 1: Knowing Your Motherboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81
CHAPTER 2: Picking Your Processor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125
CHAPTER 3: What to Remember about Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165
CHAPTER 4: Telling Your BIOS from Your CMOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .193
CHAPTER 5: Managing Storage Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .223
CHAPTER 6: Working with Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .263
Book 3: Outside the Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .283
CHAPTER 1: Describing Ports, Cables, and Connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .285
CHAPTER 2: Installing and Configuring Input Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .313
CHAPTER 3: Installing and Configuring Output Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .331
CHAPTER 4: Managing Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .351
CHAPTER 5: Working with Multimedia Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .385
CHAPTER 6: Dealing with Laptops and Mobile Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .401
Book 4: Maintenance and Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .445
CHAPTER 1: Performing Preventive Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .447
CHAPTER 2: Troubleshooting Procedures and Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .469
Book 5: Operating System Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .499
CHAPTER 1: Comparison of Major Operating Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .501
CHAPTER 2: Windows Operating System Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .539
CHAPTER 3: Installing and Upgrading Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .581
CHAPTER 4: Managing Files and Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .613
CHAPTER 5: Command Prompt Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .643
CHAPTER 6: Working with System Files and the Boot Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .671
Book 6: Managing the Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .683
CHAPTER 1: Loading and Configuring Device Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .685
CHAPTER 2: Working with Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .705
CHAPTER 3: Optimizing the Windows Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .729
CHAPTER 4: Using Windows-Based Troubleshooting Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .767
Book 7: Recovering Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .803
CHAPTER 1: Managing Error Codes and Startup Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .805
CHAPTER 2: Managing Common Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .823
CHAPTER 3: Preparing for Disasters with Disaster Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .843
Book 8: Networking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .871
CHAPTER 1: Down to the Networking Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .873
CHAPTER 2: Understanding Common Wireless Communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .921
CHAPTER 3: Networking the Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .951
CHAPTER 4: Configuring Internet Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1017
Book 9: Securing Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1053
CHAPTER 1: Fundamentals of Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1055
CHAPTER 2: Implementing Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1097
CHAPTER 3: Viruses and Malicious Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1135
Appendix: CompTIA A Exam Reference Matrix . . . . . . . . . .1157
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1173