WGU D317 IT APPLICATIONS FINAL EXAMS ALL
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SURE A+
✔✔Storage Spaces - ✔✔Windows feature for creating a single storage resource from
multiple devices. Data can be protected against device failure by RAID-like mirroring or
parity
✔✔Defragment and Optimize Drives Tool (dfrgui.exe) - ✔✔Fragmentation occurs when
a data file is not saved to contiguous sectors on an HDD and reduces performance. The
defragmenter mitigates this and can also perform optimization operations for SSDs.
✔✔Disk Clean-Up (cleanmgr.exe) - ✔✔Windows utility for removing temporary files to
reclaim disk space.
✔✔Local Users and Groups (lusrmgr.msc) - ✔✔Console for creating and managing
user and group accounts with the authentication and permissions scope of the local
system.
✔✔Certificate Manager Console (certmgr.msc) - ✔✔Console related to managing digital
certificates for the current user and trusted root certification authority certificates
,✔✔Trusted Root Certification Authorities - ✔✔contains a superset of the certificates of
all issuers that are trusted, including Microsoft's own CA root, local enterprise CAs and
third-party CAs. Most of these certificates are managed via Windows Update
✔✔Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) - ✔✔Console related to configuring detailed user
and system registry settings via policies
a more robust means of configuring many of these Window settings than editing the
registry directly
✔✔Local Security Policy Editor (secpol.msc) - ✔✔Tool that allows rules configuration for
certain users (e.g., these users can only log in between 9-5pm, e.g., all user passwords
must be longer than 8 characters, etc)
✔✔Registry - ✔✔structures as a set of five root keys that contain computer and user
databases.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (HKLM) database governs system-wide settings.
HKEY_USERS database includes settings that apply to individual user profiles, such as
desktop personalization
HKEY_CURRENT_USER is a subset of HKEY_USERS with the settings for logged in
user
✔✔Hives - ✔✔The binary files that the registry database is stored in.
Comprises a single file (with no extension), a .LOG file (containing a transaction log),
and a .SAV file (a copy of the key as it was at the end of setup). The system hive also
has an .ALT backup file.
Most of these files are stored int he C:\Windows\System32\Config folder, but the hive
file for each user profile (NTUSER.DAT) is stored in the folder holding the user's profile
✔✔System Information (msinfo32.exe) - ✔✔Utility that provides a report of the PC's
hardware and software configuration
✔✔Event Viewer (eventvwr.msc) - ✔✔Windows console related to viewing and
exporting events int he Windows logging file format
✔✔Windows Logs Folder - ✔✔Contains 4 main log files:
System log contains info about events that affect the core OS. These include service
load failures, hardware conflicts, driver load failures, network issues, and so on..
Application log contains info regarding non-core processes and utilities and some third-
party apps. For example, app installers write events to the Application log.
Security log holds the audit data for the system.
Setup log records events generated during installation
✔✔Task Manager (taskmgr.exe) - ✔✔A Windows utility that lets you view the
applications and processes running on your computer as well as information about
process and memory performance, network activity, and user activity.
,✔✔Startup Processes and Services Console - ✔✔apps and scripts set to run when the
computer starts or when the user signs in. Startup items can be configured as shortcuts,
registry entries, or TaskScheduler triggers
✔✔Resource Monitor (resmon.exe) - ✔✔Console for live monitoring of resource
utilization data for the CPU and GPU, system memory, disk/file system, and network
✔✔Performance Monitor (perfmon.msc) - ✔✔Console for reporting and recording
resource utilization via counter data for object instances.
Can be used to provide real-time charts of systems resources or can be used to log info
to a file for long-term analysis
✔✔Counter Logs - ✔✔Allow you to collect statistics about resources, such as memory,
disk, and processor. These can be used to determine system health and performance.
✔✔Trace Logs - ✔✔Can collect statistics about services, providing you with detailed
reports about resource behavior. In essence, trace logs provide extensions to the Event
Viewer, logging data that would otherwise be inaccessible
✔✔Processor - % Processor Time - ✔✔The percentage of time that the processor is
executing a non-idle thread. In general terms, this should be low. If it is greater than
85% for a sustained period, you may have a processor bottleneck
✔✔Processor - % Privileged Time & % User Time - ✔✔If overall processor time is very
high (over 85% for sustained periods), it can be helpful to compare these. Privileged
time represents system processes, whereas user time is software applications. If
privileged time is much higher, it is likely that the CPU is underpowered (it can barely
run Windows core processes efficiently)
✔✔Physical Disk - % Disk Time - ✔✔The percentage of elapsed time that the selected
disk drive is busy servicing read or write requests. This is a good overall indicator of
how busy the disk is. Again, if the average exceeds 85% for a sustained period, you
may have a disk problem.
✔✔Physical Disk - Average Disk Queue Length - ✔✔The number of requests
outstanding on the disk at the time the performance data is collected. Taken with the
preceding counter, this gives a better indicator of disk problems. For example, if the disk
queue length is increasing and disk time is high, then you have a disk problem.
✔✔Memory - Available Bytes - ✔✔The amount of memory available should not be
below 10% of the total system RAM. If available bytes fall continuously, there could be a
memory leak (that is, a process that allocates memory but does not release it again)
, ✔✔Memory - Pages/sec - ✔✔The number of pages read from or written to disk to
resolve hard page faults. This means your system is using the paging file. Nothing
wrong as long as this is not excessive (averaging above about 50). You probably also
want to check the paging file's usage by viewing the paging object itself
✔✔Paging File - % Usage - ✔✔The amount of the pagefile instance in use in percent. If
your paging file is currently 1000 MB on the disk and this figure averages 50%, then it
means you might benefit from adding memory (500 MB, in fact). Don't forget that if your
system pages excessively, then disk performance will suffer - paging is disk intensive
✔✔System Configuration Utility (msconfig.exe) - ✔✔Utility for configuring Windows
startup settings.
Frequently used to test various configurations for diagnostic purposes, rather than to
permanently make configuration changes.
✔✔Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store - ✔✔Information about operating system
installed on the computer located in \boot\bcd on the system partition. The BCD can be
modified using the bcdedit command-line tool or msconfig.
✔✔Boot Log File - ✔✔Saved to %SystemRoot%\ntbtlog.txt
It is not shown in Event Viewer
✔✔Command Shell cmd.exe - ✔✔Processes the legacy command set that has been
part of Windows since its earliest versions. In Windows 11, the command interface is
redesigned as the Windows Terminal
✔✔Directory - ✔✔File system object used to organize other file system objects into
containers
✔✔DIR (Command line) - ✔✔Shows you which folders and files exist in the current
folder/directory
✔✔cd command - ✔✔Command-line tool used to navigate the directory structure
✔✔Move Command and Copy Command - ✔✔provide the ability to transfer files
contained in a single directory. Both commands use a three-part syntax: command
Source Destination where source is the drive name, path, and name of the files to be
moved/copied and destination is the drive name and path of the new location
✔✔Xcopy Command - ✔✔Command-line directory and file copy utility offering improved
functionality compared to the basic copy command.
Syntax for xcopy: xcopy Source [Destination] [Switches]
✔✔robocopy command (or "robust copy") - ✔✔Command-line file copy utility
recommended for use over the older xcopy.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SURE A+
✔✔Storage Spaces - ✔✔Windows feature for creating a single storage resource from
multiple devices. Data can be protected against device failure by RAID-like mirroring or
parity
✔✔Defragment and Optimize Drives Tool (dfrgui.exe) - ✔✔Fragmentation occurs when
a data file is not saved to contiguous sectors on an HDD and reduces performance. The
defragmenter mitigates this and can also perform optimization operations for SSDs.
✔✔Disk Clean-Up (cleanmgr.exe) - ✔✔Windows utility for removing temporary files to
reclaim disk space.
✔✔Local Users and Groups (lusrmgr.msc) - ✔✔Console for creating and managing
user and group accounts with the authentication and permissions scope of the local
system.
✔✔Certificate Manager Console (certmgr.msc) - ✔✔Console related to managing digital
certificates for the current user and trusted root certification authority certificates
,✔✔Trusted Root Certification Authorities - ✔✔contains a superset of the certificates of
all issuers that are trusted, including Microsoft's own CA root, local enterprise CAs and
third-party CAs. Most of these certificates are managed via Windows Update
✔✔Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) - ✔✔Console related to configuring detailed user
and system registry settings via policies
a more robust means of configuring many of these Window settings than editing the
registry directly
✔✔Local Security Policy Editor (secpol.msc) - ✔✔Tool that allows rules configuration for
certain users (e.g., these users can only log in between 9-5pm, e.g., all user passwords
must be longer than 8 characters, etc)
✔✔Registry - ✔✔structures as a set of five root keys that contain computer and user
databases.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (HKLM) database governs system-wide settings.
HKEY_USERS database includes settings that apply to individual user profiles, such as
desktop personalization
HKEY_CURRENT_USER is a subset of HKEY_USERS with the settings for logged in
user
✔✔Hives - ✔✔The binary files that the registry database is stored in.
Comprises a single file (with no extension), a .LOG file (containing a transaction log),
and a .SAV file (a copy of the key as it was at the end of setup). The system hive also
has an .ALT backup file.
Most of these files are stored int he C:\Windows\System32\Config folder, but the hive
file for each user profile (NTUSER.DAT) is stored in the folder holding the user's profile
✔✔System Information (msinfo32.exe) - ✔✔Utility that provides a report of the PC's
hardware and software configuration
✔✔Event Viewer (eventvwr.msc) - ✔✔Windows console related to viewing and
exporting events int he Windows logging file format
✔✔Windows Logs Folder - ✔✔Contains 4 main log files:
System log contains info about events that affect the core OS. These include service
load failures, hardware conflicts, driver load failures, network issues, and so on..
Application log contains info regarding non-core processes and utilities and some third-
party apps. For example, app installers write events to the Application log.
Security log holds the audit data for the system.
Setup log records events generated during installation
✔✔Task Manager (taskmgr.exe) - ✔✔A Windows utility that lets you view the
applications and processes running on your computer as well as information about
process and memory performance, network activity, and user activity.
,✔✔Startup Processes and Services Console - ✔✔apps and scripts set to run when the
computer starts or when the user signs in. Startup items can be configured as shortcuts,
registry entries, or TaskScheduler triggers
✔✔Resource Monitor (resmon.exe) - ✔✔Console for live monitoring of resource
utilization data for the CPU and GPU, system memory, disk/file system, and network
✔✔Performance Monitor (perfmon.msc) - ✔✔Console for reporting and recording
resource utilization via counter data for object instances.
Can be used to provide real-time charts of systems resources or can be used to log info
to a file for long-term analysis
✔✔Counter Logs - ✔✔Allow you to collect statistics about resources, such as memory,
disk, and processor. These can be used to determine system health and performance.
✔✔Trace Logs - ✔✔Can collect statistics about services, providing you with detailed
reports about resource behavior. In essence, trace logs provide extensions to the Event
Viewer, logging data that would otherwise be inaccessible
✔✔Processor - % Processor Time - ✔✔The percentage of time that the processor is
executing a non-idle thread. In general terms, this should be low. If it is greater than
85% for a sustained period, you may have a processor bottleneck
✔✔Processor - % Privileged Time & % User Time - ✔✔If overall processor time is very
high (over 85% for sustained periods), it can be helpful to compare these. Privileged
time represents system processes, whereas user time is software applications. If
privileged time is much higher, it is likely that the CPU is underpowered (it can barely
run Windows core processes efficiently)
✔✔Physical Disk - % Disk Time - ✔✔The percentage of elapsed time that the selected
disk drive is busy servicing read or write requests. This is a good overall indicator of
how busy the disk is. Again, if the average exceeds 85% for a sustained period, you
may have a disk problem.
✔✔Physical Disk - Average Disk Queue Length - ✔✔The number of requests
outstanding on the disk at the time the performance data is collected. Taken with the
preceding counter, this gives a better indicator of disk problems. For example, if the disk
queue length is increasing and disk time is high, then you have a disk problem.
✔✔Memory - Available Bytes - ✔✔The amount of memory available should not be
below 10% of the total system RAM. If available bytes fall continuously, there could be a
memory leak (that is, a process that allocates memory but does not release it again)
, ✔✔Memory - Pages/sec - ✔✔The number of pages read from or written to disk to
resolve hard page faults. This means your system is using the paging file. Nothing
wrong as long as this is not excessive (averaging above about 50). You probably also
want to check the paging file's usage by viewing the paging object itself
✔✔Paging File - % Usage - ✔✔The amount of the pagefile instance in use in percent. If
your paging file is currently 1000 MB on the disk and this figure averages 50%, then it
means you might benefit from adding memory (500 MB, in fact). Don't forget that if your
system pages excessively, then disk performance will suffer - paging is disk intensive
✔✔System Configuration Utility (msconfig.exe) - ✔✔Utility for configuring Windows
startup settings.
Frequently used to test various configurations for diagnostic purposes, rather than to
permanently make configuration changes.
✔✔Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store - ✔✔Information about operating system
installed on the computer located in \boot\bcd on the system partition. The BCD can be
modified using the bcdedit command-line tool or msconfig.
✔✔Boot Log File - ✔✔Saved to %SystemRoot%\ntbtlog.txt
It is not shown in Event Viewer
✔✔Command Shell cmd.exe - ✔✔Processes the legacy command set that has been
part of Windows since its earliest versions. In Windows 11, the command interface is
redesigned as the Windows Terminal
✔✔Directory - ✔✔File system object used to organize other file system objects into
containers
✔✔DIR (Command line) - ✔✔Shows you which folders and files exist in the current
folder/directory
✔✔cd command - ✔✔Command-line tool used to navigate the directory structure
✔✔Move Command and Copy Command - ✔✔provide the ability to transfer files
contained in a single directory. Both commands use a three-part syntax: command
Source Destination where source is the drive name, path, and name of the files to be
moved/copied and destination is the drive name and path of the new location
✔✔Xcopy Command - ✔✔Command-line directory and file copy utility offering improved
functionality compared to the basic copy command.
Syntax for xcopy: xcopy Source [Destination] [Switches]
✔✔robocopy command (or "robust copy") - ✔✔Command-line file copy utility
recommended for use over the older xcopy.
