Managing Windows

Question 1

What does Device Manager let you do?

Answer 1

(devmgmt.msc)
Allows you to view and edit installed hardware properties, change configuration settings, update/rollback drivers, and remove or disable devices

Question 2

What does the local Users and Groups console allow you to do?

Answer 2

It offers an advanced interface for managing user accounts, including creating, modifying, disabling, deleting, and resetting passwords.

Question 3

What disk and partitioning tasks does the Disk Management console support?

Answer 3

Initializing Disks: When adding unformatted storage it must be initialized using MBR or GPT partition styles.
Partitioning: Not required for simple storage devices.
Formatting: Prepares storage device for use by erasing existing data and creating a new file system (NTFS, exFAT, FAT32).
Repartitioning: Expand existing partitions or remove/ shrink partitions.

Question 4

What is the deprecated software and the new software for RAID configuration?

Answer 4

Deprecated: dynamic disks
Current: Storage Spaces

Question 5

What is Fragmentation?

Answer 5

(On HDD) When files are scattered across non-contiguous sectors, ideally files should operate contiguous clusters.
Fragmentation reduces read performance.

Question 6

What are the 3 main problems File storage is subject to?

Answer 6

Fragmentation: non-contiguous clusters
Capacity: Performance sufferers if the boot volume has less than 20% free space. Low disk warning appears below 200 MB
Damage: HDD are prone to physical damage & SSD can degrade.

Question 7

What does the Defragment and Optimize tool do to HDD and SSD?

Answer 7

HDD: Reorganizes file data into contiguous clusters
SSD: The drive controller uses wear-leveling routines to reduce cell degradation.
Enhances HDD and SSD performance.

Question 8

What does the Disk Clean-up tool do?

Answer 8

Identifies files safe for deletion to free up space, including those in the recycle bin and temporary files.

Question 9

What does running Disk Clean-up in administrator mode with the Clean up system files option do?

Answer 9

Reclaims space from caches like Windows Update and defender.

Question 10

What does Task Scheduler do?

Answer 10

Automates commands and scripts.
Tasks can be set to run on a recurring schedule.
If a user lacks sufficient permissions the task will not execute.

Question 11

What are key features of Task Scheduler?

Answer 11

Triggers: Tasks can also be triggered by events such as user sign-in or machine waking from sleep.
Multiple Actions: Each task can include multiple actions for complex automation.
Logging: All task activity is logged so you can investigate failures.
Organization: Tasks can be organized into folders for better management.

Question 13

What does the Certificate Manager do?

Answer 13

Displays installed certificates and allows for requesting and importing new ones.

Question 14

What do digital certificates do?

Answer 14

Verifies the identity of a user, computer or service, with validity granted by the issuing certification authority (CA)

Question 15

What are key folders of the Certificate manager?

Answer 15

Personal Folder: Stores certificates issued to the user account.
Trusted Root Certification Authorities: Contains certifications from all trusted issuers.
Third-party Root Certification Authorities: Contains trusted issuers from non-Microsoft or local enterprise providers.

Question 16

What does the certmgr.msc run text do?

Answer 16

Manages certificates for the current user.

Question 17

What does the certlm.msc run text do?

Answer 17

The computer certificate store.

Question 18

What does the Group Policy Editor do?

Answer 18

A alternative robust way to edit Windows settings without editing the registry.
In large networks it is great for applying settings across multiple computers, avoiding manual configuration.

Question 19

What does the Registry Editor do?

Answer 19

Stores configuration information for the OS, devices and applications.

Question 20

How do you access the registry through run text?

Answer 20

regedit.msc

Question 21

What are the 5 Root keys the Registry is organized into?

Answer 21

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (HKLM)
HKEY_USERS (HKU)
HKEY_CURRENT_USER (HKCU)
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT (HKCR)
HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG (HKCC)

Question 22

What does HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (HKLM) do?

Answer 22

Manages system wide settings.

Question 23

What does HKEY_USERS (HKU) do?

Answer 23

Contains settings for individual user profiles, like desktop personalization.

Question 24

What does HKEY_CURRENT_USER (HKCU) do?

Answer 24

A subset of HKEY_USERS with settings for the logged in user.

Question 25

What does HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT (HKCR) do?

Answer 25

Contains information about registered applications, file applications, and OLE object classes, determining which application opens a file type.

Question 26

What does HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG (HKCC) do?

Answer 26

Reflects current hardware profile used at startup, dynamically built at boot time.

Question 27

Where is the registry database stored?

Answer 27

In binary files called hives consisting of a main file, a .LOG file (transaction log) and a .SAV file (setup copy) The system hive also has a .ALT backup file.

Question 28

What is MMC and what does it do?

Answer 28

Microsoft Management Console. A container for snap-ins like Device manager. You can use MMC to customize and create a console with your chosen snap-ins. Save that console as a MSC file in the Admin tools folder.