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. The number of colors used by a display.






2. A network in which dedicated computers called servers store data and provide print services or other capabilities to computers running the appropriate client service or services.






3. An area under the pinned items list on the Windows XP Start menu that contains shortcuts to recently run programs.






4. The settings within a registry key.






5. A pixel that is permanently turned on - causing the pixel to show constantly as red - green - or blue. Also called a stuck pixel.






6. Aka low-voltage differential.






7. A password that meets certain criteria in order to be difficult to crack. One definition of a strong password is one that contains at least eight characters - includes a combination of letters - numbers - and other symbols ( _ - - - $ - and so on) an






8. A network connection device that passes traffic between two networks - using the physical address (MAC address) of the destination device.






9. A command-line utility - installed with the TCP/IP protocol suite - that traces the route taken by packets to a destination.






10. The role of the second EIDE drive on a PATA channel.






11. The black box that appears around an image - such as a widescreen video when it is displayed on a screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio.






12. Fiber-optic cable that allows only a single light wave to pass down the cable.






13. Aka nickel metal hydride.






14. The disruption of signal transmission caused by the radiation of electrical and magnetic fields. Electric motors are a common source of EMI.






15. In telecommunications - a technique that combines multiple messages or signals onto a single transmission channel.






16. Aka Secure Digital (SD) Card.






17. A digital video interface that has several modes - including one that offers downward compatibility with analog displays. It requires a special connector - which comes in several variations to support the DVI modes.






18. A drive that can write either to CD-R discs or to specially designed CD-RW discs. In the case of the CD-RW discs - the drive can write more than once to the same portion of disc - overwriting old data.






19. Aka alternating current.






20. 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).






21. The practice of applying a digital signature to device driver code.






22. A connector that is slightly larger than an RJ-11 connector and contains eight wires. RJ-45 connectors most commonly attach twisted-pair cables to Ethernet network cards.






23. A practice begun in Windows 2000 in which all of the operating system code is digitally signed to show that it has not been tampered with.






24. On a motherboard - the type and location of components - as well as the size of the board itself.






25. The signal in a television transmission that contains the brightness of the image.






26. An LCD display using an old technology that has a grid of horizontal and vertical wires with a transistor at the end of each wire. When two transistors (one at the x-axis and one at the y-axis) send voltage along their wires - the pixel at the inters






27. Aka peripheral component interconnect.






28. The primary input device for a PDA - shaped like a pen and used to press small keys on a keypad - tap the screen to select items - or write data on the screen.






29. A network service that handles the requests for Internet services - such as Web pages - files on an FTP server - and mail for a proxy client without exposing that client's IP address to the Internet. There is specific proxy server and client software






30. A double-sided - single-layer digital versatile disc (DVD) that stores 9.4 GB of data - or over four hours of video.






31. One or more lights (usually LEDs) on a device that indicate the device's operational status through the color of the light - by blinking or remaining steady or both.






32. Two disk drives used for RAID 1 - in which data is written to both drives at the same time - a practice called mirroring.






33. Things used for authentication - such as something you know - something you have - or something you are. Authentication involves one or more of these factors and can - therefore - be one-factor - two-factor - or three-factor authentication.






34. Aka Spam over Instant Messaging.






35. The process of using an oscillating magnetic field to reduce and randomize the magnetic field that builds up on the shadow mask of a CRT monitor.






36. A computer circuit board that attaches to and controls SCSI devices.






37. A mode for parallel ports that allows access to special features in the PC called DMA channels. This mode is approximately ten times faster than regular bidirectional mode and is designed for printers and scanners.






38. A type of printer that uses solid - rather than liquid - ink.






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






40. A security feature of many Windows versions that allows it to encrypt files on an NTFS volume.






41. A RAM module designed for subcompact and laptop computers. It is half the size of a SoDIMM module.






42. A straight - round connector used to connect fiber-optic cabling to a network device. It has a twist-type coupling.






43. A memory module (stick) that installs into matching DIMM sockets found on many motherboards. The word "dual" refers to the separate pins or connections on both sides of the module and socket.






44. The cellular network standards used by Verizon and Sprint-Nextel.






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






46. A group of features in the system BIOS - the chipset - the operating system - device drivers - and the individual components that enable efficient use of power in a computer.






47. The component that provides power for all components on the motherboard and internal to the PC case. Also called a power supply unit (PSU).






48. A setting on an LCD display that adjusts the viewable area of the display horizontally.






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






50. An Advanced Options choice that will temporarily disable the Automatically Restart option on the Advanced page of System Properties.