CompTIA ITF Flashcards
Questions possibly on exam
1
Q
1) True or false? All types of computers use CPU and system memory.
A
True
2
Q
2) What type of computer is most likely to need peripheral devices?
A
Desktop computer—you could also call this a Personal Computer (PC) or a workstation. An All-in-one PC also uses peripheral devices, with the obvious exception of a monitor.
3
Q
What type of computer is best suited for using in a job where you have to make notes and be able to move around easily?
A
A tablet or smartphone or possibly a hybrid laptop/tablet. Note-taking is supported by a touchscreen-based device.
4
Q
Why don’t laptops make good servers?
A
There is no room for expansion and you are paying for components and design (maximum portability) you do not need.
5
Q
Why isn’t a smartphone a good tool for writing a report?
A
Touchscreen or mini keyboards are not optimized for writing lots of text, though it is possible to attach them as peripheral devices.
6
Q
What type(s) of IoT appliance are less likely to be controlled via a home automation hub?
A
Modern cars and medical devices are unlikely to interface via a hub. Home automation hubs link to kitchen and domestic appliances, streaming media players, and potentially security systems.
7
Q
What should you do before attempting to set up a new computer system?
A
Verify that the environment is suitable and that the installation will be safe.
8
Q
When setting up a desktop computer, what factor should you consider when deciding on the location of the system case?
A
You do not want to leave trailing wires over walkways so you need to consider the position of power outlet(s) and where peripheral devices will be placed. You also want to ensure adequate air flow around the system unit.
9
Q
What factors should you consider when positioning input and output devices?
A
Ensure that they can be used without exerting strain, especially on the arms/wrists and back/neck. Ensure that cabling is not a trip hazard. Avoid locations that cause excessive screen glare.
10
Q
You have to sign in to Windows—does it matter if the CAPS LOCK light on the keyboard is activated?
A
Yes—passwords are case-sensitive.
11
Q
You have to open a word processing application but you cannot see an icon on the desktop. What should you do?
A
Look for the shortcut in Start Menu or Start Screen—not all programs add shortcuts on the Desktop.
12
Q
Your colleague has to run many applications at the same time and finds it difficult to know which icon to choose when switching between them. What alternative method could you suggest?
A
Press Alt+Tab—this shows previews of the window. Windows can also show previews of the window contents when pointing at the taskbar icon.
13
Q
Your colleague is using a laptop and you notice that he laboriously clicks the mouse repeatedly to scroll through the document you are co-editing. What technique could he use to be more productive?
A
Use the mouse scroll wheel (or if it doesn’t have one drag the scroll button in the scroll bar).
14
Q
What function of an operating system is performed by the “shell?
A
Interface between the user and the computer.
15
Q
What type of file in an OS is the main means of providing coordination of hardware components?
A
A driver (or device driver).
16
Q
What is an example of an open source operating system?
A
Linux, Chromium, or Android
17
Q
What type of computing device(s) is macOS designed for installation on?
A
Desktop computers/workstations and laptops.
18
Q
True or false? Windows 10 is the first 64-bit edition of Windows.
A
False—Windows 10 is better described as a version than edition and there have been 64-bit editions of Windows versions since Windows XP.
19
Q
You have to open a file located on a network server. What should be your first step?
A
Open the Network object from Explorer and locate the server (computer) hosting the file
20
Q
What is the technical term for a web address?
A
Uniform Resource Locator (URL). In fact, Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is now preferred in web standards documentation but URL is more widely known and used.
21
Q
What key combination can you use to force the browser to ignore any locally cached files when refreshing a page?
A
Ctrl+F5
22
Q
What is the registry and how does it distinguish Windows and Linux?
A
The registry is a database of configuration settings supporting the Windows OS. Linux uses individual text files to store settings.
23
Q
What term is used to describe terminating a process that is not responding to user input?
A
This is often called “killing” the process.
24
Q
Why might you use the Services snap-in to manage background processes rather than Task Manager?
A
Task Manager allows you to start and stop services but the Services snap-in also allows you to configure service properties.
25
The Task Scheduler allows you to run a process automatically in Windows. What is a widely-used Linux equivalent?
cron is widely used to run tasks automatically in Linux.
26
What part of the system memory setup is most user-configurable?
Use of virtual memory or a pagefile, where disk space is used to supplement system RAM.
27
What two things are configured on a disk to make storage space on the disk available to the Windows OS?
The disk must contain at least one partition, typically allocated a drive letter, and the partition must be formatted with a suitable file system.
28
What is a CLI?
A Command Line Interface allows the user to interact with the OS using typed commands or scripts rather than a GUI.
29
What protection feature in Windows is designed to prevent a script or software from making unauthorized changes to the OS configuration?
User Access Control (UAC). UAC means that the user must input their credentials or click through an authorization prompt before the configuration change can be made.
30
True or false? A standard user cannot change their own password.
False—ordinary users can change their own password but cannot change anyone else's.
31
You are advising a colleague about best practices when troubleshooting. You have identified the following techniques to use to identify a problem: gather information, duplicate the problem, question users, identify symptoms, and approach multiple problems individually. If you are following CompTIA's troubleshooting model, what other piece of advice should you give?
Determine if anything has changed—this is one of the most useful troubleshooting techniques.
32
You have asked a senior manager to authorize your plan of action for resolving a fault in a software application. What name is given to the process you are following?
This is escalating the problem. You might escalate a problem to more experienced staff or seek help with a solution plan that is beyond your authority to put into action.
33
Your computer locks up periodically and feels hot to the touch. Could these things be related?
Yes, many lockup problems are caused by overheating. The first step would be to clean the fan exhaust vents of dust.
33
What crucial piece of information would you need when trying to locate support information about a computer system on the manufacturer's website?
The model number or a service code.
33
You are setting up a new computer, but it doesn't seem to be working. Should you check anything or contact the manufacturer?
It would be best to double-check you have connected the cables correctly (especially power).
34
If you do not have a support contract, what is likely to be the best option for obtaining advice about a problem with an application?
A product support or community forum.
35
You are looking for content on a topic but your search is returning millions of matches that are not particularly helpful. What two methods could you use to get better search results?
Use more search keywords (ideally with 'uncommon' words) or search for an exact phrase by enclosing it in quotes.
36
You want to find something on a particular website, but the site does not have a search tool. Could you use a general search engine, and if so, how?
Yes—you use an advanced search form or use the site: operator (for example 'certification site:comptia.org').
37
Which notation system supports presenting the largest numbers using the fewest digits: Binary, Decimal, or Hexadecimal?
Hexadecimal. Each hex digit can store 16 bits of information. A single decimal digit stores 4 bits while binary obviously stores 1 bit.
38
What is the decimal number 75 in binary and hexadecimal?
0100 1011 in binary and 4B in hex. Hex notation is often indicated using 0x to precede the hex digits, so you may see this written like 0x4b. To work out the answer without a calculator, write out the place values for each notation system. For binary you'd have columns for 64, 32, 16, 8, 4, 2, and 1 and put a 1 in each column you need to add up to 75 and a 0 in the others. For hex you only need 16 and 1 (75 divided by 16 is 4 remainder 11, which is represented as "B" in hex).
39
Which data type provides for whole numbers only?
Integer.
40
What is the difference between the char and string data types?
Char stores a single textual character in a fixed length field (typically 1 byte). A string is a variable length field for storing a sequence of characters.
41
Which data representation format can encode the widest range of characters?
Unicode can represent millions of characters (glyphs). ASCII's 7-bit data structure can only support 128 characters, some of which are non-printable control characters.
42
What type of legal protection could be obtained for a novel software algorithm?
Patent provides the best protection as it can enforce ownership even if someone tries to write the algorithm in a slightly different way. Software code is often protected both by patent and by copyright however.
43
What data protection technology could you implement in order to restrict the type of activity that users could employ on digital products that they have purchased or rented?
Digital Rights Management (DRM).
44
What part of the process of data analytics is most closely supported by meaningful reporting?
Insights are the "end product" of the analytic process. Humans need a suitable reporting format to make best use of insights.
45
What compatibility information should you confirm before installing a software application?
That it works with the version of Windows that you have and that your computer meets the system (hardware) requirements.
46
Following installation of a program written for an older version of Windows, you receive an alert that it might not have installed correctly. What feature could you use to make the program run correctly?
Use the program's Compatibility tab to use settings for the older Windows version.
47
Why would Windows prompt you to enter a password if you try to install a software application?
Installing an application requires administrator privileges and is an action protected by User Account Control. If you were logged on as an administrator already, you might have to enter the password on a domain; if you were logged on as an ordinary user, you would have to enter the administrator's user name and password.
48
Windows comes with web server software but it is not enabled by default. How would you install this software?
Use the Turn Windows features on or off dialog from Programs and Features.
49
Following installation of an application, another program on your computer has stopped working. What could you do to try to fix it?
Try using the Repair option in Programs and Features (if available) or re-installing the program.
50
Why might one of your first tasks on receiving a new computer be to remove software applications?
The computer may be bundled with pre-installed software that you do not want.
51
In order to obtain support, the software vendor wants to know the application's product ID. How would you locate this information?
Usually via the Help > About menu.
52
What is the difference between freeware and open source software?
Open source means that the programming code used to design the software is also made available (and you must make it available in turn if you sell or distribute any part of it). Freeware means the software product costs nothing to use but this does not mean that the code is made available too or that you could modify the software and distribute it yourself.
53
What type of software would you use to configure a server by connecting to it over the network?
Remote Desktop.
54
What type of software manages tasks, dependencies, and timelines?
Project management software.
55
What shows the structure of code without using the specific syntax of any one language?
Pseudocode.
56
What is an interpreted language?
Interpreted languages do not need to be compiled. They run within the context of an interpreter which converts the code to machine code during runtime.
57
How is a markup language differ from a compiled language?
Markup doesn't provide instructions for the CPU to run as such. Markup is a way of using nested tags within a document to describe its structure and contents.
58
What are constants and variables examples of?
Programming identifiers.
59
What type of programming concept allows for a variable size container?
A vector is a variable size container while an array is a fixed size one.
60
You want to check whether a condition has been met, and if it has, perform one action. Otherwise, you want your program to perform a second action. What sort of programming operation would help achieve this?
A conditional branch, such as an If...Then statement.
61
In a program, what does a loop do?
A loop performs one or more instructions until (or while) a condition is met.
62
What is the difference between a procedure and a function?
A procedure does something while a function does something and then returns a value to the main program.
63
What three things define an object?
Properties, attributes, and methods.
64
What three scripting options are commonly used in Windows 10 to perform administrative tasks?
Batch files, Windows PowerShell scripts, and VBScripts
65
True or false? You do not need to install a web application to your computer; it would be accessed via a browser.
True.
66
What is the advantage of a local network hosted application, in terms of data storage?
If data is stored on the server not on the local workstation, it is easier to apply access controls and to back it up.
67
What are the structural elements of a database table?
Each table stores information about records (rows in the table) in fields (columns in the tables).
68
What term is used to describe selecting and viewing information in a database?
Query.
69
How does an RDBMS such as Microsoft SQL Server differ from Microsoft Excel when used to store a dataset?
Excel is an example of a flat file system. These do not scale well, and usually support a single user only. RDBMS platforms enable many hundreds or thousands of users to connect concurrently, and can support very large datasets. Also, an RDBMS can enforce data types for each column and validate information entered as fields and records.
70
What language is usually used to request data from an RDBMS such as Oracle?
Structured Query Language (SQL) is used to query RDBMS-based database platforms.
71
What is it that defines the relationship between tables in an RDBMS?
Each table contains a primary key whose value is unique for each record in the table. A foreign table can use the value of a primary key as a relation, storing the value in a foreign key field.
72
Give an example of unstructured data.
Images and text files and other document formats are unstructured data.
73
Give two examples of semi-structured data stores.
Key/value pair databases and markup language document stores.
74
Is an INSERT statement an example of a definition or manipulation language statement?
Manipulation language—it depends on the structure of a table (columns, data types, and constraints) being established already.
75
You need a development environment with a library of database functions. What type of interface are you using?
Programmatic access.
76
What type of component provides persistent storage?
A mass storage device such as a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), Solid State Drive (SSD), or flash memory. You could also mention optical discs (CD, DVD, Blu-Ray).
77
How can a client-server application architecture be described if there is the potential for the structure of the application platform to be developed further?
This could be described as a two-tier application. It could be re-developed as a three-tier application by specifying presentation, application, and data layers.
78
What computer component is most restrictive in terms of determining upgrade potential for a desktop computer?
The motherboard—it is difficult and expensive to replace.
79
True or false? A plug-in card is always required to support PC sound.
False—sound functions are often provided by the motherboard chipset.
80
What is the main advantage of using a CPU in 64-bit mode?
Makes more system memory accessible. A 64-bit CPU and OS is also required to run 64-bit applications, but there are not too many of these yet. 64-bit software is more reliable and a bit faster than 32-bit software.
81
What is a typical speed for a modern CPU to run at?
Around 2 GHz; budget models might run as low as 1 GHz while the fastest run up to about 3 GHz.
82
You want to purchase a computer with a fast graphics interface. What type of expansion slot should you look for?
PCIe x16—this is a type of PCI Express slot that uses 16 'lanes'. Each lane can transfer 250 MBps (or 500 MBps for PCIe 2 and 1 GBps for v3).
83
What type of component provides a passive cooling solution?
A heatsink or heat spreader removes heat from the component by convection with no power required. However, it is usually necessary to cool the heatsink or heat spreader itself and this is likely to require active cooling (a fan).
84
How would you access the system setup program on a PC?
Historically, by pressing the appropriate key during startup (ESC, DEL, F1, F2, or F10). Modern PCs often use fast boot modes that require some other means of booting to the firmware setup program.
85
True or false? Mice and keyboards must be connected to a computer via PS/2 ports.
False—they are now much more likely to use USB or wireless (Bluetooth or other RF) interfaces.
86
True or false? USB cables have the same connectors at either end.
Partly false—the connectors for the host (PC) and device use different form factors (there are also normal size and mini or micro device connectors). A new reversible Type C connector is starting to be used however.
87
A user has two USB drives connected to her PC. She complains that when she copies large files to both drives at the same time, it seems to take much longer. Why might this be?
Bandwidth on the USB bus is shared between all devices.
88
You want to purchase a flat-panel monitor that can show widescreen movies. You are considering models with native resolutions of 1400x1050 and 1920x1200. Which should you choose?
1920x1200 as this is a widescreen format.
89
True or false? HDMI is the only type of display interface that supports High Definition picture resolutions.
False—there is also DisplayPort and Thunderbolt and some DVI formats also support HD resolutions.
90
You are considering buying a new display device. The model you are considering accepts digital inputs only. Your computer's graphics adapter has a blue port with 15 holes. Would this flat-panel be a wise purchase?
Probably not, as this connector is VGA, which supports analog output only. It is possible to buy converters however.
91
You need to configure settings for an input device. What should be your first step?
Open the Settings app or Control Panel.
92
A friend is asking for your help in using her computer. When he presses the key marked @, a different symbol appears. What could be the cause?
The keyboard is set to use a UK layout—you can correct this using the Language Bar.
93
What type of mouse would you recommend for someone who uses their computer principally to play computer games and why?
Laser mouse—this registers cursor movements more quickly and accurately.
94
Which Windows interface is used for advanced management and troubleshooting of devices?
Device Manager is used to update drivers and obtain more advanced troubleshooting information. The basic user interface is either Devices and Printers or the device pages in the Settings app, depending on the Windows version.
95
What do you need to know to connect to a device that is configured over the network?
Typically the Internet Protocol (IP) address of its management page. Some devices may use a name to locate the page instead. You are also likely to be prompted for a user name and password.
96
True or false? If you want to configure the DPI of a display device, you would do so via the Personalization app.
False—Dots Per Inch (DPI) or scaling is configured via Display properties. Personalization is for configuring themes and the appearance of the desktop.
97
You are configuring dual monitors positioned side-by-side. You want to increase the amount of screen space available. Which multiple display option should you set?
Extend the displays.
98
You need to plug a microphone into a computer to make a recording. How would you identify which jack to use?
The jack should be color-coded (pink). There may be an icon to represent usage though. If neither is present, check the system documentation.
99
What, if any, type of printer uses a fuser?
Laser printer—the fuser bonds the toner to the surface of the paper using high heat and pressure.
100
What are the four inks used to produce color prints?
Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black (CMYK).
101
What type of wired interface is a printer MOST likely to use?
Universal Serial Bus (USB).
102
You want to configure a printer to use both sides of the paper (duplex) by default. You have alt-clicked the printer object—which command should you select to proceed?
Printing preferences.
103
What basic command demonstrates that a printer is connected properly to a computer and that its driver is installed correctly for Windows?
Print Test Page.
104
What function of a scanner would you use if you want to convert a letter that someone has mailed to you into a computer-editable document?
Optical Character Recognition (OCR).
105
True or false? If your PC does not have a flash memory card reader, you should be able to connect the camera itself to the PC over USB to copy images off the card.
True—must cameras support USB connections.
106
You have a motherboard that is designed for DDR2 memory that works at a bus speed of 533 MHz. You have some DDR3 memory modules that also work at a bus speed of 533 MHz. Are the modules compatible with the motherboard?
No—DDR3 modules cannot be used in DDR2 slots.
107
Why can't you use memory modules designed for a desktop computer in a laptop?
Laptops use a smaller form factor called SO-DIMM while desktops use DIMMs.
108
A hard drive is rated at 10,000 RPM. What is the significance of this statistic?
The number of revolutions per minute (RPM) is one of the basic factors determining the speed of the drive. 10,000 rpm represents good performance (15K rpm is the best available).
109
What type of connector would you use for an external hard drive to connect to a Windows PC?
USB. Firewire, eSATA, or Thunderbird are also possible but not nearly so popular. Most drives are now USB3 or USB3.1. Note that you can plug a USB3 drive into a USB2 port, so long as you have a USB3 device cable.
110
Your computer has 4 SATA ports. How many hard drives can be installed?
Four—each SATA port can be used to connect one drive.
111
True or false? A single layer Blu-ray Disc has greater capacity than a dual-layer, double-sided DVD.
True—the capacity of a single layer Blu-ray disc is 25 GB compared to 17 GB for a dual-layer, double-sided DVD.
112
What sort of device would you need to transfer data from a "Memory Stick?"
Memory card reader/multi-card reader. Do note that Memory Sticks are no longer in production so you could struggle to locate a suitable reader.
113
What sort of device could you use to expand the storage capacity of a smartphone?
Flash memory card.
114
