Test your basic knowledge |

Comptia A + Certification

Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. A category of software that runs surreptitiously on a user's computer in order to gather information without the user's permission and then sends that information to the people who requested it.






2. An adapter card used to run a special diagnostic test on a computer as it is powering up. These tests usually go beyond those performed by the system BIOS-based POST.






3. Aka direct current.






4. Used to represent the chrominance signal in S-Video.






5. A communications network made up of personal computing devices - such as computers - telephones - and personal digital assistants.






6. The primary control device for a computer system. The CPU is simply a chip containing a set of components that manages all the activities. Also called a processor.






7. In computer networking - a network located between a private network and the Internet with a firewall on both sides. A DMZ contains servers offering services to users on the Internet and inside the protected private network.






8. An early technology for increasing the performance of DRAM.






9. A Windows command prompt utility that uses the WFP (Windows 2000 and Windows XP) or WRP (Windows Vista and Windows 7) service to scan and verify the versions of all protected system files after you restart your computer.






10. At first - a terminal was not much more than a display - a keyboard - and the minimal circuitry for connecting to the mainframe. Now - a terminal can be a computer running Windows or other operating system - plus terminal client emulation software th






11. A DVI mode that supports both analog and digital video signals.






12. A set of standards for imaging devices - such as scanners and cameras - that is used in drivers and other software for these devices.






13. The protocol for connecting optical drives and tape drives to an ATA channel.






14. A type of arithmetic logic unit (ALU) that is used to perform specialized functions - such as division and large decimal number operations. Also called a math coprocessor.






15. A type of solid-state storage that is commonly used in a variety of devices - such as digital cameras - which often use CompactFlash.






16. An organization that creates standards for laptop computer peripheral devices.






17. A KVM switch that uses software and special keyboard commands to switch among controlled computers. Also called anactive KVM switch.






18. Used to represent the luminance signal in S-Video.






19. Aka master boot record.






20. Aka uniqueness database file.






21. A power supply standard that has both the 20-pin connector for the motherboard and a 4-pin 12 V connector.






22. Two or more disks working together in one of the several RAID schemes.






23. An Intel standard for motherboards targeted to the low-end consumer market that includes built-in components - while saving space and fitting into a smaller case.






24. A process that places the logical structure of a file system on a partitioned volume.






25. A 9-pin D-shell connector.






26. In router configuration - a term that is used to describe traffic that is allowed - as in allowing traffic using a certain port number through the router.






27. A subprotocol of TCP/IP used for connectionless communications in which each packet is sent without establishing a connection.






28. A riser card standard that AMD - 3Com - and others introduced in 2000 to supersede AMR. It uses one PCI slot - provides accelerated audio and modem functions as well as networking - and supports multiple Ethernet NICs.






29. Aka MSCONFIG.






30. Windows run-line utility for testing the DirectX support. Launch this program when experiencing video problems and/or audio problems when running DirectX applications.






31. Aka Internet Control Message Protocol.






32. In the Windows registry - a folder that may contain one or more sets of settings as well as other keys.






33. The practice of forcing a CPU or other computer component to run at a higher clock rate than the manufacturer intended.






34. A device that converts digital signals from the broadband connection to voice for the analog phone and the analog voice signals to digital signals for the digital network.






35. The box that houses the main computer system.






36. A Windows Advanced Options menu choice that restores a group of registry keys containing system settings such as services and drivers. These are the last settings that worked - and you have only a narrow window of opportunity to use Last Known Good






37. A version of the FAT file system used by hard drives and some flash drives (thumb drives - etc.) - using a 32-bit file allocation table.






38. A new level of an operating system with major changes to the core components.






39. A 25-pin D-shell connector.






40. In the laser printing process - the step in which the laser beam creates a negative of the image that will eventually appear on the printout. Each place that the laser beam touches loses most of its charge - creating an image - whereas the rest of th






41. Aka hard disk drive.






42. Any writable mass storage device - removable or fixed in place.






43. The read-only DVD discs sold at retail stores - containing video or software and having a maximum capacity of 15.9 GB of data. This term also applies to the drives that can only read DVDs.






44. The proportion between an image's width and height. Traditional CRT monitors have an aspect ratio of 4:3. Widescreen displays have an aspect ratio of 16:9.






45. Aka fast page mode.






46. Aka File Transfer Protocol (FTP).






47. Aka lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery.






48. The filename for the System Configuration Utility - which allows you to test various scenarios for Windows startup for troubleshooting purposes.






49. An arrangement of pins on a processor in which the pins are offset in a way that allows for a higher pin density than PGA.






50. A type of motherboard used in older PC systems; also refers to the 1984 IBM PC AT model.