Lesson 2 - Chapter 4: Post-Installation Tasks

Question 1

What’s the first thing you should do post-installation?

Answer 1

run Windows Update (helps avoid any programming bugs or security holes)

Question 2

How do you get to Windows Update on Win10 and Win 11?

Answer 2

Win10 - Settings > Update and Security > Windows Update
Win11 - Windows Update on the navigation pane on the left

Question 3

What are the 6 post-installation tasks someone should do?

Run, See, Run, Test, Check, Restore

Answer 3

1. Run Windows Update
2. See what applications carried over (if upgraded)
3. Run important applications to make sure they work
4. Test out all peripherals to ensure they’re working
5. Check for driver updates for important hardware (esp if you used default drivers during installation)
6. Restore any backed-up data

Question 4

What’s a security concern when addressing decommissioned hardware?

Answer 4

you need to make sure the drives are secure until the data can be destroyed
(don’t leave them in common areas, don’t start a copy process and walk away)

Question 5

What are 5 options you have to destroy data?

Answer 5

1. Physical destruction (drive shredders, hammers, drills, incinerators)
2. Powerful electromagnetic destruction (degaussing)
3. Hiring a professional data disposal service
4. Sanitizing the drive (zero-fill, overwrite, low-level format)
5. Disk-wiping utility (overwrite repeatedly with junk)

Question 6

What is degaussing?

Answer 6

destroy data and render platters physically useless with powerful electromagnets

Question 7

What does a professional data disposal service issue when the job is completed?

Answer 7

a certificate of destruction

Question 8

Besides destroying data, how else can you get rid of data if you want to keep it usable? How does it do this?

Answer 8

overwriting data and “sanitize” it through a zero-fill/low-level format that fills the drive with 0s

Question 9

What’s the difference between a standard format and low-level format? (2)

Answer 9

a standard format leaves data in place but inaccessible through the file system
a low-level format (aka overwrite operation, zero-fill) fills the drive with zeros

Question 10

Can data be recovered when using a low-level format?

Answer 10

Yes, sensitive tools can recover the data

Question 11

What does a drive-wiping utility do?

Answer 11

it fills the drive with junk data many times over (better than sanitizing the drive, but not the best)

Question 12

What does it mean to “activate” Windows using a product key?

Answer 12

It locks the product key used to your hardware in Microsoft’s database

(so you can’t use the same copy of Windows on another PC)

Question 13

Which 2 editions don’t require activation? Why not? (2)

Answer 13

1. Enterprise and Education editions
2. they’re acquired through a volume license

Question 14

Is activating Windows mandatory?

Answer 14

Yes, if your edition of Windows asks for it

Question 15

How long can you skip activating Windows?

Answer 15

30 days, after that the copy will be labeled as not genuine and it won’t receive updates