ITSUP-102 Final Review Comprehensive

1. ITSUP-102 Final Review Comprehensive

2. CMOS memory stores important system information related to starting of a computer. Data held in CMOS includes the hard disk type and configuration, the order of boot devices to try, and other configuration settings related to the system hardware. Write down system settings before changing a CMOS battery. BIOS is a software program (firmware) that is stored on a non-volatile, removable or erasable semiconductor chip. It runs the computer startup program and uses data in the CMOS to configure and access devices. Cache is an area of memory that hold recently access data. RAM is temporary data storage location that can be read from and written to. POST is the routine that tests system hardware on startup. Chipset – group of chips that facilitate communication between the processor, memory components, and peripherals

3. Overclocking – allows you to increase performance by operating system components (such as processor or memory) at a speed higher than it is rated. Rounded cables maximize airflow within the system case, allowing air to circulate more freely Disadvantages of overclocking – increase heat output; voided warranty Hyperthreading – Intel processor feature than improves performance by running threads in parallel Throttling – modifies the operating system characteristics of a processor based on current conditions Caching – when applied to a CPU, is an area of storage that holds data while it is waiting for the processor

4. L1 cache – typically unique to a processor core L2 cache – might be shared between two or more cores in a multi-core system, but would not be shared in a multiple processor solution. L3 cache – shared between all cores A multiple-processor system has multiple CPUs, with each CPU requiring a different processor socket on the motherboard. A multi-core system is a processor with multiple CPUs on the same die. It uses a single processor socket for multiple CPUs. The biggest advantage of 64-bit processors is in the amount they can use. 32-bit processors have a limit of 4 GB. 64-bit processors have a theoretical limit of 16.8 TB. CPU, thermal paste, heat sink, fan Newer motherboards use a ZIF socket for inserting the processor.

5. Power supplies are rated in watts. The watt describes how much work or how much power can be supplied to various devices. The more devices, the more wattage. W=VxA multiply volts by amps Power supplies convert AC to DC; may require special disposal procedures (directed by the manufacturer). Main purpose of the fan in the power supply on an ATX system is to circulate air between the outside of the system case and the inside of the system case. Better to replace power supply than to fix it. ATX power supply provides +3.3, 5, 12 volts DC UPS – online device designed to protect against under voltage; lets you show down the computer in an orderly manner. A laser printer typically should not be plugged into a UPS Surge protector helps protect against temporary, above-normal voltages.

6. ESD is most likely to occur in a cool, dry atmosphere. To eliminate ESD, you need to keep yourself and the computer at the same electrical potential. To do this, you need to ground yourself and the computer equipment to the same ground. Usually ESD degrades components rather than immediately destroying them. The components fail at a later date. To be felt, an ESD charge has to reach levels of approximately 3,000 volts. Some computer components can be destroyed by discharges as low as 20 or 30 volts. ESD is more likely to occur when the relative humidity is below 50% Protection – anti-static bags

7. RAM has faster access time than hard disk drives and CD-ROM drives. Dual-channel systems increase the memory bandwidth by only 5-15%, although it does have a 100% theoretical increase. Dual-channel support is mainly a function of the motherboard (i.e. the memory controller), not the memory itself. Dual-channel systems use two memory controllers. DRAM-simple to implement; relatively inexpensive SRAM-typically used in cache memory DDR, DDR2, and DDR3 can all work in dual-channel systems (depending on the memory supported by the motherboard), a triple channel system can only use DDR3. DDR memory rated at PC 4000, operates at 500MHz To convert from the PC-rating to MHz, divide the PC rating by 8 DDR3 doubles the data transfer rate of DDR2 and generally requires less voltage than DDR2 memory If a RIMM memory module is not installed in a slot, then a continuity module must be installed. A continuity module does not contain any memory but completes the electrical circuit. Heat spreaders make contact with the memory chips to dissipate heat. Faster, high-performance memory often requires heat speaders.

8. When you connect a hot swappable device, Windows automatically detects the device, configures a driver (if one is not already installed), and enables the device BIOS must be configured to enable the interface by non-hot-swappable storage devices. IDE drives are not hot swappable. To remove a hot swappable component, use the Safely Remove Hardware feature to shut down the device before unplugging it from the system

9. Hard drives – Solid State Drives/Hard disk drives SSD advantages when compared to hard disk drives Faster Smaller, lighter Lower power consumption No moving parts (not prone to fail) Less susceptible to physical damage (from dropping) SSD disadvantages Storage smaller More expensive Magnetic storage devices: hard disk, floppy disk, tape drive

10. BD Blu-ray disc – greatest storage capacity of optical media Single-sided holds up to 25 GB of data Double-sided (dual layer) – doubles storage capacity Experimental 20 layer Blu-ray discs hold up to 500 GB DVDs Single-sided holds about 4.7 GB Double-sided (dual layer) holds up to 8.5 GB Dual layer, double-sided holds up to 17 GB Most important consideration when choosing a recordable DVD drive is media compatibility. Recordable DVD media has serveral different variations. CD Optical discs such as CDs , DVDs, and BDs use lasers for both reading and writing information. Flash drives store information using programmable, non volatile flash memory

11. USB – most common interface for peripheral devices, such as printers, keyboard, and mice USB bus supports up to 127 devices USB 2.0 devices have a maximum data transfer speed of 480 Mbps with a maximum cable length of 5 meters USB 1.0 devices have a maximum data transfer of 1.5 Mbps or 12 Mbps Firewire – common interface for digital video camera and recorders, hard drives, and network adapters IEEE 1394 device uses 28-gauge wires and has a maximum cable length of 4.5 meters; can have up to 63 devices Serial interfaces – common for modems, older printers, and networking devices Parallel port – D shaped 25-pin port on back of computer PATA interfaces – most common for internal HDDs and CD/DVD drives SATA has a faster transfer speed over PATA.

12. RAID 0 – uses disk striping and offers no fault tolerance RAID 1 – Fault tolerant; disk mirroring; provides only fault tolerance with no performance benefit RAID 5 – fault tolerant; improves performance over RAID 1; uses disk striping with parity

13. The smaller a monitor’s dot pitch, the sharper the picture KVM switch – allows you to control multiple computers with one keyboard, one monitor, and one mouse Deguassing the monitor would remove built-up magnetic fields that can be distorting images and displaying strange colors SLI and CrossFire are two different methods for linking video cards. For increased performance, especially in games, you can install multiple video cards and link those cards together so that multiple GPUs draw a single screen. Touch screen – special monitor that allows input by tapping or writing with a stylus or fingers Analog CRT and digital LCD monitor (D-sub and DVI-D connector) HDMI – digital video and audio connector used for high-definition digital audio and video DVI-D – provides digital output SXGA – 1280 x 1024 resolution, 5:4 aspect ratio VGA – 1024 x 768 UXGA – 1600 x 1200

14. DB-15 VGA/SVGA monitor Non-interlaced monitor produces a picture with the least amount of flicker. AGP and PCI Express expansion buses are most commonly used for video cards in modern computer systems. PCI buses are most commonly used for devices such as sound cards, modems and network cards. While you can use PCI for video, better performance is obtained from AGP or PCI Express. CNR is an on-motherboard slot to support networking, wireless communication, sound or modem functions. AMR slots are provided on some motherboards for riser cards to support sound or modem functions.

15. Laser printer uses lasers and electrical charges to transfer images to paper. Uses a drum, plastic toner, and fuser to create a printed page. Classified as a page printer Thermal inkjet printer applies heat to the ink in print head nozzles causing the ink to boil and expel itself from the nozzle Piezoelectric printer uses pressure, not heat, to apply the ink Dot matrix printer uses pins striking the ink ribbon to transfer the link Connecting printer to an Ethernet network – Add NIC to printer; connect printer to external print server that connects to the network DPI describes the level of detail produced by a printer. The higher the DPI, the higher the print quality Permissions – Print, Manage Documents, Manage Documents

16. Connection type on notebook computer – PCMCIA Type III SODIMM is a compact form factor of EDO, FPM, SDRAM and most recently is typically used in smaller computers, such as notebooks. MicroDIMM If you cannot turn a laptop off, all power should be removed from the unit, including AC and the battery. Most laptops use a power adapter that converts AC current to DC current

17. Biometric devices include a fingerprint scanner and voice authenticator. Fingerprint scanner uses the ridges of your fingers for authentication. Voice authenticator uses the sound, pattern, and rhythm of an individual’s voice for authentication. Biometric authentication requires pressing the physical body part or characteristic to a scanner (or reader) which then compares the recently scanned metric to the saved metric. Retina scans use blood vein patterns Facial scans use facial patterns Keystroke dynamics use a behavioral system

18. Know Windows 7 upgrade paths System’s recovery partition (hidden partition) – do not delete F8 – advanced startup options including safe mode and debugging mode Last Known Good Configuration will restore the settings to the last time user was able to log on, nullifying the changes and corruption that has happened since Safe mode – limited set of devices Network and Sharing Center - manages network connections in Windows Vista/7 Size of swap file – 1.5 times the amount of physical RAM Upgrade Advisor for Windows 7 IPCONFIG – views TCP/IP configuration PING – see if network device is up and connected CMD Control Panel – customize features of devices Device Manager – enable and disable devices or to update drivers 32-bit processors use the IA-32 instruction set (also referred to as x86) AMD64 and Intel 64 processors use the x86-64 instruction set (also referred to as x64) When moving from a 32-bit operating system to a 64-bit operating system, you must perform a clean installation. The 64-bit version of Windows requires 64-bit versions of all hardware drivers. You can, however, run 32-bit applications on a 64-bit processor with a 64-bit operating system.

19. Programs that run in the background without user intervention may interfere with a disk defragmenter program. Screen savers and anti-virus software both can start without a user prompting them to do so. Any time you access a disk while Disk Defragmenter is running, whether to read from or write to the disk, Disk Defragmenter will show down. Also the more information that is on the drive, the more time it will take to defragment that information. CHKDSK – checks the disk for errors and repairs them FDISK – creates and deletes partitions ATTRIB – sets attributes on individual files; R (read only) A (archive) Dxdiag – views information related to DirectX operation Alt-tab – switches between open programs Driver Rollback – allows you to unload the current driver and revert to an earlier driver for a device Update drivers Windows Update – automatically downloads updates for operating system and critical driver files Microsoft’s knowledge base/Internet search engine (Google) What has changed Good documentation Aero – improves visual appearance of Windows Vista/7

20. Vacuuming dust from the system is helpful in keeping the computer cool. Removing slot covers decreases the fan’s ability to remove hot air from inside the computer. Event Viewer logs information regarding the failed service(s) Use Device Manager to view and manage hardware devices. If a device currently has a problem, you might be able to read an error message for the device. Use Task Manager to view system statistics such as the CPU and memory usage; can terminate a process that is not responding Disk Management Performance Monitor displays statistics that tell you about the operation of your computer Regedit MMC Windows system file extensions: .dll (dynamic link library), ,drv (device driver), .vxd (virtual device driver) .exe, .com, .bat UAC prompts for the user for credentials or permission in an effort to minimize the dangers of unwanted actions or unintended software installations

21. To ensure that you have protection against data loss is to regularly test your restoration procedures. Good idea to store backup media offsite in a fireproof vault. MSDS documents how to safely handle hazardous materials. They are written and made available by the chemical manufacturers. You can download them from the manufacturer’s Web site or check with a representative of that company

22. Default gateway – identifies router to which packets for remote networks are sent Subnet make identifies which portion of the IP address is the network ID and host ID IPv6 addresses are 128-bit addresses. They are commonly written using 32 hexadecimal numbers, organized into 8 quartets. Each quartet is represented as a hexadecimal number between 0 and FFF. The quartets are separated by colons. IPv4 addresses are 32-bit addresses. They have four octets, each octet being a binary number of 8 digits. Each octet has a decimal value between 0 and 255. Access to shared resources are controlled on each computer in the workgroup or peer-to-peer models. Domain – a collection of computers that share a common security database (Active Directory) Client/server model; scalable; centralized administration HomeGroup

23. Fiber optic cable – immune to EMI Plenum rated cable can run through ceiling area 802.11g wireless networks: operates in 2.4 GHz range, maximum bandwidth of 54 Mbps, Backwards compatible with 802.11b devices WPA provides encryption and user authentication for wireless networks. WEP provides some security, but WPA is considered more secure than WEP SSID – network name or identifier Bluetooth – WPAN; Version 2.0 (1 device has maximum range of ~100 meters. Earleir versions had maximum rang of ~ 10 meters. Valid IP addresses TCP/IP – DHCP, DNS, SMTP,-allows a user to send e-mail to a server POP3 server requires the user to download their email, IMAP allows a mail server to hold messages for a client

24. Router – used to connect multiple network connections, with each connection being on a different subnet; deliver data between networks based on logical network addresses Switch VPN – supports secured communications over an untrusted network Full-duplex, half-duplex, simplex DSL/Cable modem Link status light

25. Spyware monitors actions you take on your machine and send information back to its originating source Adware monitors the actions of the user that would denote their personal preferences, then sends pop-ups and ads to the user that match their tastes Virus – a program that attempts to damage a computer system and replicate itself to other computer systems Worm – self-replicating virus Trojan horse – malicious program that is disguised as legitimate software Phishing tricks victims into providing confidential information, such as identify information or logon credentials, through email or Web sites that impersonate an online entity that the victim trusts, such as a financial institution or well know e-commerce site. Phishing is a specific form or social engineering. Email – most common means of virus distribution Cookie – a file saved on your hard drive that tracks Web site preferences and use Firewalls limit traffic by restricting IP addresses or port numbers. This helps secure your private data.

26. Wireless access points are transceivers which transmit and receive information on a wireless network. Each access point has a service set ID (SSID) which identifies the wireless network. By default, access points broadcast the SSID to announce their presence and make it easy for clients to find and connect to the wireless network. Turn off the SSID broadcast to keep a wireless 802.11x network from being automatically discovered. When SSID broadcasting is turned off, users must know the SSID to connect to the wireless network. This helps to prevent casual attackers from connecting to the network, but any serious hacker with the right tools can still connect to the wireless network. Using authentication with WPA or WPA2 helps prevent attackers from connecting to your wireless network, but does not hide the network. Changing the default SSID to a different value does not disable the SSID broadcast.