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. Aka thumb drive.






2. An adapter used to connect a computer or other device to a network medium.






3. Local area networking using radio waves - with the most common based on the IEEE 802.11 group of standards (802.11a - 802.11b - 802.11g - and 802.11n).






4. A Web browser created by Microsoft.






5. A special terminating stick that must be inserted into the open RIMM sockets.






6. A word used to describe memory that cannot work without a steady supply of power.






7. Memory chips that provide much slower access than SRAM chips but that can store several megabytes of data on a single chip (or hundreds of megabytes - or even gigabytes - when they are packaged together on a "stick").






8. A type of printer that transfers ink to paper by causing a print head to strike a printer ribbon containing ink against the paper.






9. A single dot on a display screen. A contraction of "Picture Element."






10. The hardware architecture - including the CPU - BIOS - and chipset.






11. Aka thumb drive.






12. A set of rules and practices describing how an organization protects and manages sensitive information. A security policy applies to all employees.






13. The chunks into which the TCP protocol packages data. In addition to the data - each datagram contains information - stored in a header - which is used by the TCP protocol on the receiving end to reassemble the chunks of data into the original messag






14. On a circuit board - a small connector that slides down on a pair of pins jutting up from the board. Multiple pins are often side-by-side - and a jumper joins a pair of them.






15. The oldest of the Wi-Fi encryption standards. It uses 64- or 128-bit encryption that is easily broken. It does not encrypt the actual data in a packet - and it does not perform user authentication on a packet.






16. The box that houses the main computer system.






17. The first physical sector on a hard disk - which contains the initial boot program that the BIOS loads into memory during bootup. It also contains the partition table.






18. A printer that includes one or more other functions - such as a scanner and fax machine.






19. Pertaining to a DVD drive and disc that can store data in two pitted layers on each data side - with each layer having a different reflectivity index.






20. A long-established fiber-optic WAN technology.






21. An assigned address or range of addresses on a system's address bus that - together with an interrupt request line (IRQ) - allows a device to be recognized by the processor.






22. Aka refresh rate.






23. A file system in which one of the basic structures is a table used for allocating space. This table is called the file allocation table (FAT).






24. A file or folder name that breaks the 8.3 file-naming convention used in the FAT file system. This term continues to be used on newer file systems.






25. In regard to Windows operating systems - a version of Windows that is designed to work with a certain manufacturer's equipment.






26. A memory error-checking method in which the parity bit is used to ensure that the total number of 1s in the data stream is odd.






27. A type of switched network used by phone companies.






28. The default Windows file system that includes many important features - including encryption and permissions.






29. A version of the FAT file system for very small drives






30. The early standard developed by PCMCIA for credit-card-sized devices used in laptops.






31. One of the main protocols of the TCP/IP protocol suite - IP manages logical addressing of network packets so routing protocols can route the packets over the network.






32. A VESA standard for graphics adapters with a maximum graphics resolution of 1024






33. Aka Secure Digital (SD) Card.






34. A non-routable network protocol suite for use only in small networks.






35. A misnomer - referring to the BIOS settings that are stored in a CMOS chip.






36. A raised area on an optical disc that is alternated with depressed areas to be interpreted as data.






37. A metal strip used to cover an empty slot in order to preserve the correct air flow and keep dust out.






38. A component of a CPU that is responsible for all logical and mathematical operations in the system.






39. In the laser printing process - the stage in which the printer's high-voltage power supply (HVPS) conducts electricity to the primary corona wire so it can pass the voltage on to the printer's electro-photosensitive drum.






40. An improved version of WPA that does not support older network cards and offers both secure authentication and data encryption. It uses EAP for a variety of authentication methods






41. A marriage of SCSI and Serial ATA - this uses a serial interface to a SCSI bus.






42. The delivery of electricity (as from a wall outlet) in which the flow of electrons reverses periodically and has alternating positive and negative values.






43. DRAM that runs at the speed of the system bus (up to 100-133 MHz).






44. The role of the first EIDE drive on a PATA channel.






45. A wireless network standard that uses the 2.4 GHz band at a speed of up to 10 Mbps.






46. A VESA standard for power management in display devices.






47. Dual inline package. A very tiny slide that indicates two states. Motherboard and other circuit cards often have one or more groupings of DIP switches for configuring options.






48. Aka distributed denial of service attack.






49. Aka optical character recognition.






50. The classic PC serial port that complies with the Recommended Standard-232 (RS-232) in its circuitry - cabling - and connector design - and transfers data one bit at a time.