OS Flashcards
Update activity is recorded by what?
Windows Event Viewer (in the Applications and Service Logs > Microsoft\Windows > WindowsUpdateClient > Operational log file).
_____________ is a utility that allows you to copy the contents of more than one directory at a time and retain the directory structure.
xcopy
The syntax for xcopy is as follows: xcopy Source [Destination] [Switches]
To create a directory, use the _ or _ command
md or mkdir
To delete an empty directory, enter _ Directory or _ Directory . If the directory is not empty, you can remove files and subdirectories from it using the /s switch. You can also use the /q switch to suppress confirmation messages (quiet mode).
rd or rmdir
A user is experimenting with the fast startup option to see if it really makes booting faster. What should they expect?
The computer will restart faster.
This only applies to computers with SSDs.
Access to apps will be quicker.
Apps will run in safe mode.
Access to apps will be quicker.
True or False: SSDs cannot benefit from occasional defragmentation or optimization.
False: With flash drives and SSDs, while seek time is not a performance factor, the file system can still benefit from occasional defragmentation or optimization. There are several things to consider, including the lifespan of the SSD. You can read more about the technical considerations in optimizing SSDs at
If a single physical disk is divided into three partitions in a non-Windows environment, how many different file systems can be supported?
Three—each partition can use a different file system.
You are monitoring system performance and notice that a substantial number of page faults are occurring. Does this indicate that a memory module is faulty?
No—it shows the system is using the pagefile intensively and could benefit from more system RAM being installed.
You have a computer with two SATA disks. You want to evaluate the performance of the primary disk. How would you select this in Performance Monitor, and what might be appropriate counters to use?
Select the Physical Disk object, select the counter, and then select the 0 C: instance. Counters that are useful for evaluating performance include % Disk Time and Average Disk Queue Length.
How do you perform a scan to identify file system errors in read-only mode?
At a command prompt, run chkdsk without any switches. Note that sfc is not the correct answer as this verifies the integrity of protected system files rather than checks the file system on a drive.
Which Windows command is probably best suited for scripting file backup operations?
The robocopy command offers more options than those offered by the xcopy command, so it will usually be the better choice. The copy command is quite basic and probably not suitable.
Is the command format d: /fs:exfat /q valid? If so, what is its effect, and what precaution might you need to take before running it?
Yes, it is valid. It formats drive D with the exFAT file system by using a quick format (does not scan for bad sectors). This will delete the file table on the drive so existing data files can be overwritten—the formatted drive will appear to be empty in Explorer. If there are existing files that need to be preserved, they should be backed up before running the format command.
A user starts experiencing a blue screen of death (BSoD) on start up. What should the user check for changes when they are able to get back on their computer?
WSL
devmgmt.msc
taskschd.msc
services.msc
Most blue screens of death (BSoD), especially those that occur during startup, are caused by faulty hardware or hardware drivers. Device Manager (devmgmt.msc) allows users to view and edit the properties of installed hardware.
The New Technology File System (NTFS) is a proprietary file system developed by Microsoft for use with Windows. It provides a 64-bit addressing scheme, allowing for very large volumes and file sizes. In theory, the maximum volume size is 16 Exabytes, but actual implementations of NTFS are limited to between 137 GB and 256 Terabytes, depending on the version of Windows and the allocation unit size. The key NTFS features are:
Journaling—When data is written to an NTFS volume, it is re-read, verified, and logged. In the event of a problem, the sector concerned is marked as bad and the data relocated. Journaling makes recovery after power outages and crashes faster and more reliable.
Snapshots—This allows the Volume Shadow Copy Service to make read-only copies of files at given points in time even if the file is locked by another process. This file version history allows users to revert changes more easily and also supports backup operations.
Security—Features such as file permissions and ownership, file access audit trails, quota management, and encrypting file system (EFS) allow administrators to ensure only authorized users can read/modify file data.
POSIX Compliance—To support UNIX/Linux compatibility, Microsoft engineered NTFS to support case-sensitive naming, hard links, and other key features required by UNIX/Linux applications. Although the file system is case-sensitive capable and preserves case, Windows does not insist upon case-sensitive naming.
Indexing—The Indexing Service creates a catalog of file and folder locations and properties, speeding up searches.
Dynamic Disks—This disk management feature allows space on multiple physical disks to be combined into volumes.
Most Linux distributions use some version of the _ to format partitions on mass storage devices.
extended (ext) file system
ext3/4
