Network Technical Support Interview Questions & Answers

Question 1. Please Describe The Importance You Place On Customer Service Versus Technical Skills?

Answer :

Most interviewers like to start with big picture questions and then work their way into more technical areas. IT is a service organization and customer service is at its core. In particular, customer service skills are just as important as technical skills, particularly in panic situations when systems are down or the user has just deleted their board presentation that’s due in 30 minutes. We’ve all had these situations. You should be prepared to talk about a specific situation where you’ve excelled and received accolades from an end-user. If they put it in writing, mention that as well.

Question 2. What Steps Do You Take When Troubleshooting A Networking Issue?

Answer :

As a support technician, your job is to solve problems. This question provides the interviewer with insight into your troubleshooting skills. Of course, the most important part of troubleshooting any problem is to divide the tasks of problem resolution into a systematic process of elimination, like this:

1. Define the problem.
2. Gather detailed information.
3. Consider probable cause for the failure.
4. Devise a plan to solve the problem.
5. Implement the plan. 6. Observe the results of the implementation.
6. Repeat the process if the plan does not resolve the problem.
7. Document the changes made to solve the problem.

Be prepared before the interview, so you can provide an example of these skills in action.

Question 3. How Would You Prioritize Support Issues?

Answer :

It is unlikely that as a network administrator or technician you will receive problem calls one at a time. Typically, when you receive one call, you already have three people waiting for service. For this reason, you must learn to prioritize. Your answer to this question will provide the interviewer with insight into how effectively you prioritize. It’s not a trick question, though sometimes it can feel that way. You probably have a process that you use instinctually. Talk about it. It probably includes many of the following components:

• Total network failure (affects everyone)
• Partial network failure (affects small groups of users)
• Small network failure (affects a small, single group of users)
• Total workstation failure (single user can’t work at all)
• Partial workstation failure (single user can’t do most tasks)
• Minor issue (single user has problems that crop up now and again)

Question 4. Users Can Send E-mail Locally, But Cannot Send E-mail To External Recipients. How Would You Troubleshoot This Situation?

Answer :

The interviewer will run you through a series of questions like this one to see how you would use your troubleshooting skills in a common, real-life situation. He not only gets to see how your mind works, but also begins to get an insight into your technical capabilities. In your answer, be methodical in your approach, identifying the most likely possibility and testing it. Be sure to let the interviewer know that if your first attempt doesn’t work, you know how to move on to the next possibility.

Question 5. A User Complains That When She Prints A Document In Any Application, The Printer Prints Garbage. What Is The Most Likely Cause Of The Problem?

Answer :

This question starts the behavioral interviewing questions based on real-life situations that assess your problem-solving skills and your technical skills. They will range from the general (like this question) to very specific technical questions that determine your knowledge level and skill set. Don’t worry if you don’t have all the answers. The interviewer is mostly interested in how you would resolve the situation and what resources you would use to do so.

Question 6. A User's Roaming Profile Is Not Accessible. Describe How You Would Solve This Problem?

Answer :

This question tests your troubleshooting skills. In this situation you may want to talk about which tests you would perform in order to resolve the issue. These may include:

• Ensuring that the path to the profile directory is correct on the user’s account properties.
• Ensuring that the server where the profile resides is accessible.
• Ensuring that the user has Full Control permissions to the Profile directory.

Question 7. A User Has Left The Company And You Need To Create A New User With The Same Rights And Permissions. Please Describe Some Of The Ways To Create The New User?

Answer :

This question tests your ability to get the job done in the most efficient way possible. For example, you can create new accounts from scratch and assign the original rights to the accounts or you can simply rename the old account for the new user, which saves you a lot of time and effort.

Question 8. What Are The First Things You Check When A User Is Experiencing Problems Accessing The Network?

Answer :

This question assesses your basic network troubleshooting skills. You can’t miss this one! You should be able to answer it in your sleep. You can liven up the interview by providing a funny story about user errors that you’ve encountered.

Question 9. What Tools Do You Have Available To You For Troubleshooting?

Answer :

At this point, the interviewer is testing your resourcefulness. This is a pretty generic question, so make sure that your answer is consistent with the overall theme of the interview. The tools available may include server log files, network analyzers, error messages, README files, telephone support, or vendor technical support web sites or CD-ROMs. Don’t forget to mention vendor-specific resources that you may use, like TechNet Online, or any other subscriptions that you may have in your bag of tricks. The final resource is of course your colleagues who may have run into this situation in the past.

Question 10. A User Cannot Access The Local Intranet. What Would You Try First In Helping To Determine How To Narrow The Problem Down To The Intranet?

Answer :

Don’t make this question harder than it really is. Sometimes the interviewer will try to trip you up to test your common sense. Go for the obvious, rather than complicating the situation. In this case, simply trying to access the intranet from another workstation would help isolate the problem to the machine.

Question 11. Several Users Can't Log In To The Server. What Would You Do To Narrow The Problem Down To The Workstations, Network, Or Server?

Answer :

The situation gets a little more interesting. Again, keep it simple, such as checking the server console for user connections to see if other users are able to log into the server. If they can, the problem is most likely related to those users’ workstations. If they can’t, the problem is either the server or network connection.

Question 12. Which Software Troubleshooting Tool Could You Use To Determine Which Protocol Is Configured With The Wrong Address?

Answer :

Questions like these assess your knowledge of troubleshooting tools that can help you resolve problems faster. In this case, a typical tool used to determine incorrectly configured addresses is a protocol analyzer. It can be used to examine the details of packets as they travel across the wire. This is a sophisticated tool that requires a deeper understanding of network protocols. Any interviewer will be impressed if you’ve used such a tool in troubleshooting.

Question 13. Which Hardware Troubleshooting Tool(s) Could You Use To Find Out Where A Cable Is Routed?

Answer :

Here’s another question regarding troubleshooting tools. In this case you might want to use a tone generator and tone locator to find out where cables are routed. These tools are alternately known as fox and hound devices. These are more advanced tools that represent a higher skill level. Whenever possible, provide an example of a sticky situation where you’ve had to rely on tools such as these for troubleshooting.

Question 14. Which Windows Nt Utility Do You Use To Manage The Major Windows Nt Log Files?

Answer :

Typically, the interviewer or someone more technical than the IT manager will ask you detailed operating system–specific questions to assess your knowledge of the various products. Alternately, you may be asked to take an assessment exam like Brainbench.

Question 15. A User Calls You, Complaining That He Can't Access The Corporate Intranet Web Server. You Try The Same Address, And You Receive A Host Not Found Error. Several Minutes Later, Another User Reports The Same Problem. You Can Still Send E-mail And Transfer Files To Another Server. What Is The Most Likely Cause Of The Problem?

Answer :

The interviewer will assess your skills as they relate to all aspects of networking, not just servers. This means you should be prepared to answer questions on web servers as well as local networks. In this case, because other people are experiencing the problem, the problem is most likely either network- or server-related. And because you can transfer files to and from another server, it can’t be the network. Thus, the problem is related to the web server.

Question 16. You Are Connecting A Cubicle Farm To Your Network. You Install Nics In All The Workstations And Run Cables To A Workgroup Hub. You Then Connect The Mdi Port On The Workgroup Hub To The Main Hub With A Standard Patch Cable. Upon Powering Up The Cubicle Farm Computers, None Of Them Can See The Servers On The Network. What Could You Replace To Solve This Problem?

Answer :

Networking devices like hubs, switches, and routers will also be part of the technical interview. It is expected that you can speak fluently on both software and hardware issues.

Question 17. A User From The Marketing Department Calls Complaining That She Can't Log In Or See Any Servers On The Network. Her Computer Operates Fine Otherwise. No Other Users From The Marketing Department Are Reporting Any Problems. What Is The First Thing You Could Check?

Answer :

You should also expect to be assessed on your knowledge of the physical layer of the OSI model.

Question 18. You Are Installing A Windows Xp-based Tcp/ip Network. You Accidentally Set Workstation B To The Same Ip Address As Workstation A. Which Workstation(s) Will Receive An Error Message?

Answer :

This type of question assesses your TCP/IP configuration knowledge. It’s a common problem, but a little tricky based on the configuration mentioned above. The correct answer here is that through broadcasts, both workstations will detect if there is a duplicate IP address on the network and will display error messages to that effect.

Question 19. Which Tcp/ip Utility Is Most Often Used To Test Whether An Ip Host Is Up And Functional?

Answer :

TCP/IP is at the core of just about every network today. You must be familiar with the most often used commands for managing this network environment. This includes Ping, ipconfig, FTP, and tracert. You should also be ready to apply these commands and utilities to various situations, as the next question demonstrates. Some sample additional questions include:

• Which utility can you use to find the MAC and TCP/IP address of your Windows NT or 2000 workstation?
• Which program can you use to upload and download files to a Unix server?
• Which utility can you use to verify a packet’s path?

Question 20. You Are The Network Administrator. A User Calls You Complaining That The Performance Of The Intranet Web Server Is Sluggish. When You Try To Ping The Server, It Takes Several Seconds For The Server To Respond. You Suspect The Problem Is Related To A Router That Is Seriously Overloaded. Which Workstation Utility Could You Use To Find Out Which Router Is Causing This Problem?

Answer :

The answer here is the tracer out utility, which will tell you which router is having the performance problem and how long it would take to travel between each host. You should be knowledgeable on the application of the most common IP commands for the various operating systems you support. Other questions along this line that you may run into include:

• Which ipconfig switch will display the most complete listing of IP configuration information for that station?
• Which Windows TCP/IP utility could you use to find out whether a server is responding on TCP port 21?

Question 21. Depending On The Windows Client Operating System Version, Which Commands Can You Use To Find Out What Is Installed On A System?

Answer :

You may run into operating system–specific questions like this one as you are being interviewed by prospective peers. You should be familiar with the most common commands. Don’t worry about memorizing command syntax. That’s what the /? is for.

Question 22. Which Power Condition Occurs When The Voltage Level Drops Below 120 Volts And Stays Below For An Extended Period Of Time?

Answer :

Questions about power conditions don’t rank very high, though they are important. Network support technicians will be faced with many different scenarios. Be familiar with these types of conditions just in case.

Question 23. A Customer Running Windows Xp (home Edition) With An Antivirus Application Installed Reports That He Has Downloaded A Program From The Internet And Installed It In His Computer. After Installing The Program, He Started Receiving Emails From People He Never Knew. The Customer Removed The Program From His Computer But He Is Still Getting Those Emails. How Would You Help This Customer?

Answer :

Download the most recent virus signature files and scan this computer for viruses.

Question 24. You Are Configuring Power Management On Your Windows Xp Computer. With Acpi, Power Management Should Be Under The Exclusive Control Of:

Answer :

The Operating System

Question 25. Which File Must Be Located In The Root Folder Of The Active Partition For Dual Booting Of Windows Xp And Windows Me To Boot?

Answer :

Boot.ini

Question 26. A Customer Calls And Says He Is Unable To Get Online. He Uses A Cable Connection To Connect To The Internet On A Windows Xp Computer. You Ping 127.0.0.1 On His Computer And Get The Results That All The Packets Are Lost. What Should You Do Next?

Answer :

Rebuild the TCP/IP Stack in the users computer

Question 27. Very Frequently, Users In Your Office Put Floppy Disks In The Drives And Forget To Take Them Out. This Results In Boot-up Problems And Results In Support Requests. How Would You Stop This Computer From Looking In The A: Drive For Boot Files First?

Answer :

Change the Boot Order in BIOS.

Question 28. After Restarting Your Windows Xp (professional) Computer, Your Monitor Shows A Blank, Blue Screen. You Remember That A New Video Driver Was Just Installed. What Would Be The Best Way To Fix This Problem?

Answer :

Restart the Computer, Keep tapping on the F8 Key to go to the Windows Advanced Options Menu and select the option “Last Known Good Configuration” and hit the key.

Question 29. You Need To Dual-boot A Computer With Windows Xp And Windows Me. You Need All The Partitions To Be Accessible From Both The Operating Systems. Which File System Would You Use In This Scenario?

Answer :

FAT32

Question 30. What Is The Command To Convert A Fat32 File System To Ntfs? Would There Be Any Loss Of Data?

Answer :

The command is: CONVERT : /fs:NTFS. There will be no effect on the data. (Data will be safe).But remember this: if you want to convert NTFS partition back to FAT32, you will have to re-format that partition and select the FAT32 file system.

Question 31. What Are The Features Of The Disk Defragmenter Tool In Windows Xp And Windows 2000? Does The Windows Xp Version Have Any More Features Than The Windows 2000 Version?

Answer :

The features of the Disk Defragmenter Tool are the same in both Windows XP and Windows 2000. They are:

1. Enhanced Analysis Functionality
2. A Compression option
3. Increased Defragmentation Option and an Automatic Defrag-Scheduling Option.

Question 32. You Are A Desktop Support Technician At Eqs. One Of The Customers Has Just Installed A Brand New Printer For Himself. This Customer Calls You After Some Time And Says That Every Time He Tries To Print Something, All He Gets Is Some Garbled Text. However, The Printer Prints The Test Page Fine. What Do You Think Is The Problem Here?

Answer :

The customer has installed an Incorrect Device Driver for the Printer. I would uninstall the driver, from the WIndows Device Manager and install the correct Device Driver for the Printer from the Disk that came with the Printer. (If the Disk is not available, I can still download the correct device driver from the manufacturer’s website)

Question 33. If, Upon Booting Up A Computer, You See The Error Message "keyboard Error" What Do You Think Could Be The Problem?

Answer :

It could be that

1. The keyboard is not attached to the PC or
2. The keyboard has failed

Question 34. If You Turn On A Pc And The Boot-up Process Halts And You Get The Error Message "non-system Disk Or Disk Error Replace And Press Any Key When Ready" What Do You Think Could Be The Problem?

Answer :

A non-bootable Floppy Disk is in the Floppy-disk drive and it should be removed.

Question 35. If, Upon Booting Up A Pc, You See A Message Which Says "invalid Drive Configuration" What Do You Think Is Causing This?

Answer :

This problem could be due to any of the following situations:

1. The Hard-Disk cable within the System Unit is not attached to the Controller
2. The Hard Disk Drive has failed
3. The Hard Disk Drive has not been partitioned.

Question 36. If You Turn On A Pc And The Boot Process Halts And You Get The Error Message " C:system32config File Missing Or Corrupt" What Is This Due To?

Answer :

The Registry Hives are corrupted. They need to be repaired.

Question 37. A Customer Complains That He Keeps Getting The Error Message "hal.dll Missing Or Corrupt". Which File Needs To Be Repaired/rebuilt To Rectify The Issue?

Answer :

BOOT.INI

Question 38. You Have Norton 360. When The Firewall Is Turned On, You Are Unable To Browse The Internet. But If You Turn Off The Firewall, You Are Able To Browse. What Is The First Thing You Would Do To Fix This Problem?

Answer :

Reconfigure Norton Firewall to allow Internet Explorer to access the internet.

Question 39. Which Utility Is Used To Do A Software Clean Boot?

Answer :

Msconfig

Question 40. What Does A "?" Sign In Device Manager Signify?

Answer :

The device is not installed. ( You can refer to this article for more details). For more information on Device Manager check this article from Microsoft.

Question 41. What Is The Command To Start Windows System Restore From The Command Line?

Answer :

rstrui.exe

Question 42. What Does The Term Uac Stand For?

Answer :

UAC stands for User Access Control. For more information read this article.

Question 43. You Are A Desktop Support Technician. A User Calls And Complains That Till Yesterday He Was Able To View His Cd Drive In His Computer. But Today When He Turned On His Computer, He Is Not Able To View The Cd-rom Drive In "my Computer". What Can Be Done To Fix This Problem?

Answer :

Open the Windows Registry Editor and Delete the Upper and Lower Filter Keys.

Question 44. A User Calls And Says That Whenever He Starts His Computer, It Boots Up Only In Safe Mode. There Is No Other Error Message. What Would You Do To Fix This Problem?

Answer :

Go to Msconfig and select Normal Mode and Restart the Computer.

Question 45. A User Complains That Whenever He Connects Any Usb 2.0 Device To His Computer, He Gets The Error Message "usb Device Not Recognized" What Could Be The Possible Reason For This?

Answer :

The USB Port could be faulty.

Question 46. A User Complains That He Is No Longer Able To Hear Any Sound From His Computer - After He Downloaded Some Updates From The Microsoft Website. What Could Be The Possible Reason For This?

Answer :

The Windows Audio Service is Disabled. Enable it.

Question 47. Mark Uses Windows Xp Professional And Is Connected To The Internet Directly Through A Dsl Line. He Wants To Know How He Would Enable The Filtering Of Packets And Get Rid Of The Harmful Incoming Data. What Would You Tell Him?

Answer :

Enable the Firewall

Question 48. A Customer Reports That His Windows Xp Professional Portable Computer Is Not Able To Connect To Any Network Resource And Is Also Not Able To Authenticate On The Network's Active Directory Domain. The Computer Was Fine Yesterday. No Other Person In The Organization Is Facing This Problem. What Is The First Thing You Would Do To Fix This Problem?

Answer :

Ask the user to Right-Click on the Network Connection icon and select “Repair” from the Menu.

Question 49. A Customer Has Recently Upgraded From Windows 98 To Windows Xp Professional. After The Upgrade, It Takes Longer For Windows, Menus, Sub-menus And Other Use Interface Features To Open. She Wants Them To Open Faster. How Can You Help This Customer?

Answer :

Use System in Control Panel and select the option “Adjust for Best Performance” in the Performance Options dialogue box.

Question 50. You Suspect That Your Computer Is Failing Because Of A Corrupt Master Boot Record. Which Utility Is The Best To Fix This Problem?

Answer :

Recovery Console (By Using the fixmbr command)

Question 51. You Performed A Parallel Installation Of Windows Xp (home Edition) To Resolve Certain Problems On A Customer's Computer. After Installation, The Customer Says She Can See The Previous Profile Folders In Documents & Settings But When She Tries To Open Then, She Gets An "access Denied" Error. What Can You Do To Remove The "access Denied" Problem?

Answer :

Boot into Safe Mode, Right-Click on the Old Profile Folder, Go to Security – Advanced and give Ownership to the new user.

Question 52. A Customer Calls In And Says That Her Copy Of Windows Xp Went Corrupt And The Previous Technician Installed It Again Without Losing Any Data. Now When The Computer Boots Up, It Shows A Menu For A Few Seconds And Then It Boots Normally.she Wants To Get Rid Of This Menu. You Asked Her About The Menu Options And The Customer Tells You That Both The Options In The Menu Read The Same Thing Windows Xp Home. How Will You Fix This Problem So That The Menu Does Not Appear Again?

Answer :

Edit the Boot.ini file and set the Timeout as 0 (Zero) or Edit the Boot.ini file and Remove the Second Option and set the Timeout as 0 (Zero)

Question 53. What Are Hard-disk Partitions?

Answer :

Partitions are used to Divide a Hard-disk drive into smaller segments as required by the user and for better management of the space in it.

Question 54. Difference Between Ram And Rom?

Answer :

RAM (Random Access Memory): is used to temporarily store information that the computer is currently working on.

ROM (Read Only Memory): This is a Permanent type of memory storage used by computers for important data which never changes. (Example: BIOS)

Question 55. What Would You Check If There Is No Sound From Your Computer? (audio Not Working)

Answer :

1. Check for cable connections
2. Check for power to the speakers
3. Check for volume control
4. Check for device drivers

Question 56. If A Customer Complains That His Computer Is Working Really Slow, What Are The Things You Would Check?

Answer :

1. Check if it is taking longer than usual to start up
2. Check if it is slow with one / any particular application or slow overall.
3. Check for Spyware/Malware/Virus in the computer
4. Check the available Hard-Disk Drive Space in the computer.

Question 57. What Is The Blue Screen Of Death (bsod)?

Answer :

A Blue Screen of Death (or just a Blue Screen Error) is an indication of a Critical System Problem wherein the Computer freezes all together and does not respond to anything.

To rectify this problem, try Restarting the computer or Booting into Safe Mode. For more information, read this.

Question 58. Why Are Device Drivers Required?

Answer :

A Device Driver (or just Driver) is a piece of software which is required to run every Hardware Component present in the computer.

Question 59. Name One Of The Latest Computer Processors (cpu) ?

Answer :

Intel Pentium Quad Core, Intel I3, I5, I7 processors.

Question 60. What Is Ping?

Answer :

Ping is a command that checks the connectivity with an IP address. For more read this article.

Question 61. What Is A Data Cable?

Answer :

A Data Cable is a Thin Plastic band-like cable used to connect the Data-Devices like Hard-disk drives, Floppy Disk Drives, CD/DVD-ROM drives with the motherboard. Data Cables are primarily used for Data Transfer.

Question 62. What Does The Term Usb Stand For?

Answer :

USB stands for Universal Serial Bus. It allows devices to be connected or disconnected from a computer without shutting down or restarting the computer. The current version of USB is 2.0

Question 63. What Is The Difference Between Crt (cathode Ray Tube) And Lcd (flat Screen Monitors)?

Answer :

CRT Monitors: The Monitor has a picture tube and uses a light-gun to highlight pixels on the screen.

LCD Monitors: These monitors do not have a picture tube and contain a layer of liquid crystals on an Electronic Board.

Question 64. What Is An Ip Address?

Answer :

An IP address is a unique numerical identifier of every device on a network. A typical IP address can look like this: 216.27.61.141. To detect a computer’s IP Address, go to Start – Run – Type in CMD in the Run Dialogue Box and click OK or hit <Enter> In the Command Prompt Screen that comes up, type in IPCONFIG and hit <Enter>

Question 65. What Is Dhcp?

Answer :

DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. It is used to generate & provide IP addresses to the computers on a network.

Question 66. What Is Dns?

Answer :

DNS stands for Domain Name Services – it is used to convert URLs into IP addresses and vice-versa.

Question 67. What Are Rj45 And Rj11 Connectors?

Answer :

RJ45 connectors are used for LAN/Ethernet connections and RJ11 connectors are used for Telephone Cable connections.

Question 68. What Is A Parallel Windows Installation?

Answer :

When the first installation of Windows fails to boot for some reason, another copy of Windows is installed in the same drive but in a different directory (so that the customer can access to and backup his old data). This is called Parallel Installation of Windows.

Question 69. Name Some Of The Versions Of Windows Xp?

Answer :

Windows XP Home Edition, Professional, Media Center Edition, Tablet PC Edition, Mobile

Question 70. What Are The Components Needed To Setup A Basic Home Network?

Answer :

LAN Cards, LAN Cables, Router/Hub

Question 71. Difference Between A Work Group And A Domain?

Answer :

In a Workgroup, all the computers function as Peers. But in a Domain, One computer is the Server and the others are Clients.

Question 72. What Is The Difference Between Fat32 And Ntfs File Systems?

Answer :

1. NTFS allows compression and file encryption. FAT32 does not.
2. NTFS is more secure than FAT32

Question 73. What Does Boot.ini Do?

Answer :

Boot.ini lists all the Operating Systems present in the computer and provide information about which partitions they are located on.

Question 74. How Would You Access The Recovery Console In Windows?

Answer :

By booting with the Windows XP CD and following the onscreen instructions. The Recovery Console can also be installed in your computer.

Question 75. What Feature Of Outlook Express Allows Multiple Customers To Send And Receive Emails, Each Using A Separate Account?

Answer :

Identities

Question 76. What Is A Link?

Answer :

A link refers to the connectivity between two devices. It includes the type of cables and protocols used in order for one device to be able to communicate with the other.

Question 77. What Are The Layers Of The Osi Reference Model?

Answer :

There are 7 OSI layers: Physical Layer, Data Link Layer, Network Layer, Transport Layer, Session Layer, Presentation Layer and Application Layer.

Question 78. What Is Backbone Network?

Answer :

A backbone network is a centralized infrastructure that is designed to distribute different routes and data to various networks. It also handles management of bandwidth and various channels.

Question 79. Which Feature In Ms Outlook Express Allows Different Individuals Send And Receive Emails In Ms Outlook Express Using Separate Accounts?

Answer :

The Identities feature allows multiple customers to send and receive emails using separate accounts.

Question 80. A Customer Running Windows Xp Home With An Antivirus Application Installed In His Computer. He Downloaded A Program From The Internet And Installed It On His Computer. After That, He Began To Receive E-mail Messages From Unknown People. The Customer Removed The Program But He Is Still Receiving The E-mail Messages. You Need Help The Customer, What Should You Instruct The Customer?

Answer :

Download the most recent virus signature files and scan his computer for viruses.

Question 81. You Are Installing A New Windows Xp Configuration And You Like To Specify Which Hal To Install. What Should You Do?

Answer :

Boot from the Windows XP CD to initiate Setup. At the point in text-mode set up where a message at the bottom of the screen reads “Press F6 if you need to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver,” press F5.

Question 82. When You Are Configuring Power Management On Your Windows Xp,who/what Will Control The Acpi Functions?

Answer :

ACPI will be fully controlled by The operating system.

Question 83. Customer Gives A Call And States That He Is Unable To Get Online. He Uses A Cable Connection To Get Online On Windows Xp Operating System. You Run The Ping 127.0.0.1 On His Computer And Get The Result As All The Packets Are Lost. What Is The Next Step You Would Perform?

Answer :

Reset the TCP/IP stack

Question 84. Frequently, Users In Your Office Leave Floppy Disks In Drives. This Causes Problems When Users Attempt To Boot With Floppies Still In Drive And Results In A Support Request. You Want To Change The Computer From Seeking The A: Drive As The First Drive To Boot From. Which Of The Following Is The Best Way To Do This?

Answer :

Change the boot order in CMOS

Question 85. The Range Of Ip Address That Ics (internet Connection Sharing) Use By Default Is 192.168.0.1 Through 192.168.0.254. What Is The Ip Address Of The Machine On Which You Enabled The Ics Option?

Answer :

192.168.0.1

Question 86. After Rebooting Your Windows Xp Professional Computer, Your Monitor Shows A Blank Blue Screen. You Remember That A Video Driver Was Just Installed. Which Is The Best Way To Recover From This?

Answer :

Reboot and press F8. From the advanced option menu select the “Last Known Good Configuration” option.

Question 87. If You Need To Dual Boot A Computer With Windows Xp ( Professional) And Windows (me) And Allow All Partitions To Be Accessible From Both Operating Systems, Which File System Should Be Used When Creating The Partitions?

Answer :

FAT32

Question 88. What Is The Difference Between The Disk Defragmenter Tool In Win Xp & Win 2000?

Answer :

None.

Question 89. Imagine You Are A Desktop Support Technician. One Of Your Customers Has Just Installed A New Printer By Himself. The Customer Later Called And Said That Whenever He Tried To Print, The Printer Only Prints Some Garbled Text. Surprisingly, Prints The Test Page Prints Normally. What Do You Think Is The Problem?

Answer :

The customer installed the wrong printer driver.

Question 90. If You Turn On Your Computer And You Get The Message: "non-system Disk Or Disk Error, Replace And Press Any Key When Ready", What Do You Think The Problem Is Likely Due To?

Answer :

A non-bootable floppy disk is in the floppy-disk drive and should be removed.

Question 91. You Start Up Your Computer And Get A Message Which Says "keyboard Error", What Might Be The Cause Of This Error?

Answer :

Either the keyboard is not connected to the PC or it is not working.

Question 92. If You Turn On A Pc And The Boot-up Process Halts, Giving You The Message: C:/system32/config File Missing Or Corrupt, How Would You Fix It?

Answer :

We can either repair the Windows registry hives or just repair the Windows installation using the Windows installation disc.

Question 93. If You Get An Error Message " Hall.dll Missing Or Corrupt" Which File(s) Do You Think Is Causing The Problem?

Answer :

The error is being caused by corrupt a NTLDR or BOOT.INI file.

Question 94. If You Are Unable To Access And Browse The Internet When You Have The Norton 360 Firewall Turned On, But Able To Do So When It Is Turned Off, What Do You Think You Should Do To Fix This Issue?

Answer :

This issue can be resolved by configuring the Norton 360 firewall to allow access to Internet Explorer. (By creating an exception in Norton 360 for Internet Explorer.)

Question 95. If You Are Unable To Install Windows Vista Home Premium On A Computer With A 1 Ghz Processor, 512 Mb Ram, 500 Gb Hdd What Do You Think Can Fix This Issue?

Answer :

This issue can be solved by adding more RAM. We should have at least 1GB of RAM. (Remember, the more memory you add, the more it helps your computer function effectively.

Question 96. Which Windows Utility Helps To Clean Boot Your Pc?

Answer :

The Windows MSCONFIG utility can be used to Clean Boot a PC.

Question 97. If You See A "?" Next To Any Component In The Windows Device Manager, What Does It Mean?

Answer :

The ‘?’ in Device Manager means that the device is not properly installed. It could also mean that the driver for a device is not installed.

Question 98. What Is The Name Of The Executable File For Windows System Restore?

Answer :

The name of the executable file for Windows System Restore is called “Rstrui.exe”. However, if you have to type it in the “Run” box, it is advisable to use the full path for the file, which is
“C:windowssystem32restorerstrui.exe”.

Question 99. What Do You Think The Acronym Uac Stands For?

Answer :

The acronym UAC stands for “User Account Control” (a Windows Vista feature.)

Question 100. How Do You Boot In The Recovery Console?

Answer :

We can boot up to the Recovery Console by using the windows XP CD to start up the computer and select then select the option “press R to repair the Windows XP Installation”.

Question 101. You Shared Some Files On Your Computer. Your Friend Tried To Access The Files You Shared But Ws Unable To Do So. He Kept Getting The Error "the Network Path Was Not Found". What Do You Think Is The Problem?

Answer :

This could mean that both the computers are not on the same network. You can put them on the same network by running the network setup wizard on both the computers.

Question 102. If You Are Not Able To View Your Cd-rom Drive In "my Computer", What Would You Do To Fix It?

Answer :

This issue can be fixed by editing the Windows Registry and deleting the upper and lower filter keys. (Caution: Always remember to backup the registry before attempting to edit it.)

Question 103. What Would You Do If Your Computer Keeps Booting Into Safe Mode All The Time? There Are No Error Messages?

Answer :

In this situation, we can check if the “/SAFEBOOT” option is not checked in MSConfig. We also need to make sure that the “Normal Startup” option is selected. Another thing we can do is to start up the computer to the Last Known Good Configuration (LKGC), from the Windows Advanced Boot Menu options.

Question 104. What Would You Do If You Keep Getting The Error Message "usb Device Not Recognized" When You Connect Any Usb Device To Your Computer?

Answer :

You get this error if either the USB drivers are not installed or the USB port(s) are not working properly.

Question 105. If There Is No Audio From Your Computer After You Have Downloaded Some Updates For Your Windows Xp Operating System From The Microsoft Website, What Do You Think Could Be The Problem?

Answer :

Check if the Windows Audio Service is disabled and if it is, enable it to fix the issue.

Question 106. How Will You Enable Packet Filtering When Your Computer Is Connected To The Internet Using A Dsl Connection?

Answer :

You can enable packet filtering in a Windows XP computer from the Advanced TCP/IP properties. Alternatively, you can also configure the Windows Firewall.

Question 107. After Upgrading To Windows Xp Professional From Windows 98, The Computer Has Really Slowed Down. The Windows, Menus And Other Options Take A Long Time To Open. What Can You Do To Make Them Open Up Faster?

Answer :

Select the “Adjust for best performance” option in the advanced system properties.

Question 108. Which Command Would You Use In The Recovery Console To Retrieve A Compressed File From The Hard-disk Drive?

Answer :

The command to be used here is: Expand

Question 109. Which Command(s) Would You Use To Get A List Of All Microsoft Signed Drivers On Your Computer?

Answer :

Type winmsd or msinfo32 in the command prompt, expand Software Environment and then select “Signed drivers“.

Question 110. When Would You Normally Perform A Clean Install Of Windows Xp? Provide Any Two Circumstances?

Answer :

A “Clean” installation of Windows XP can be done either when the current installation has to be completely removed and replaced or when there is no Operating System (OS) installed in the computer.

Question 111. Frequently, Users In Your Office Leave Floppy Disks In Drives. This Causes Problems When Users Attempt To Boot With Floppies Still In Drive And Results In A Support Request. You Want To Change The Computer From Seeking The A: Drive As The First Drive To Boot From?

Answer :

Change the boot order in CMOS.

Question 112. What Extra Features Does The Disk Defragmenter Tool Have In Win Xp That The Win 2000 Version Lacks?

Answer :

A compression-option.

Question 113. Which Of The Email Clients Support A Web Based Email Account?

Answer :

Windows Live Mail

Question 114. What Does A "?" Signify In The Device Manager?

Answer :

Device not installed.

Question 115. How Do You Get To The Recovery Console With Windows Xp?

Answer :

Boot to the Windows XP CD> Press R for repair through Recovery Console

Question 116. What Does Scandisk Do?

Answer :

Scans and Repairs errors on your computer drives

Question 117. Which Key In Windows Xp Would You Use To Boot The Computer To Access The Windows Advanced Options Menu?

Answer :

F8

Question 118. If You Upgrade To Windows Xp Professional From Windows Xp Home And The Computer Does Not Function Properly. How Would You Remove Windows Xp Professional From The Computer?

Answer :

Uninstall it from the Add/Remove Programs

Question 119. You Need To Prevent Some Program From Starting Up At Boot. How Will You Accomplish The Task On A Windows Xp Pc?

Answer :

Msconfig -> Startup -> Uncheck unwanted programs.

Question 120. How Will You Do A System Restore In Windows Xp From Command Prompt?

Answer :

Run> CMD> C:windowssystem32restorerstrui.exe

Question 121. What Should Be The First Step In Case We Get The Error "primary Hdd Not Found"?

Answer :

Check whether HDD is detected in BIOS

Question 122. To Install Usb Devices That Are Plug And Play Compliant Using Win Xp?

Answer :

Just plug the device in and it will be detected automatically even without restarting the computer.

Question 123. The Motherboard On Your Windows Xp System Is Bad And You Have It Replaced. After Installing The New Motherboard, Your System Continuously Reboots After Post When Loading Windows. How Do You Correct This?

Answer :

Repair the installation by booting from the CD ROM and pressing R for repair.

Question 124. Which Are The Two Devices You Need To Connect To The Internet?

Answer :

Modem and network card.

Question 125. How Can We Check Version Of Internet Explorer ?

Answer :

Help>about internet Explorer

Question 126. What Is The Default Browser That Comes With Windows Xp To Browse The Internet ?

Answer :

None of the above

Question 127. What Does Isp Stand For ?

Answer :

Internet Service Provider

Question 128. What Do You Understand By Html ?

Answer :

Hypertext markup language

Question 129. What Do You Understand By Ftp ?

Answer :

File transfer protocol.

Question 130. Net Meeting Is A ____________________ Program From Microsoft?

Answer :

Chatting and conferencing

Question 131. When You Try To Boot The Computer, You Get The Error Message: Non- System Disk Or Disk Error. What Is The Most Likely Cause Of This Error Message ?

Answer :

You left a non-bootable disk in the floppy drive.

Question 132. Donna Boots Up His Computer And, After A Brief Pause, It Produces Two Short Beeps. However The Boots Up Fine. What Is Wrong With His System ?

Answer :

Nothing is wrong . In some computers two short beeps indicate a successful POST.

Question 133. What Is The Maximum Segment Length Of A 100base-fx Network?

Answer :

The maximum allowable length for a network segment using 100Base-FX is 412 meters. The maximum length for the entire network is 5 kilometers.

Question 134. What Is Mesh Topology?

Answer :

Mesh topology is a setup wherein each device is connected directly to every other device on the network. Consequently, it requires that each device have at least two network connections.

Question 135. What Is Ipv6?

Answer :

IPv6 , or Internet Protocol version 6, was developed to replace IPv4. At present, IPv4 is being used to control internet traffic, but is expected to get saturated in the near future. IPv6 was designed to overcome this limitation.

Question 136. What Is One Basic Requirement For Establishing Vlans?

Answer :

A VLAN requires dedicated equipment on each end of the connection that allows messages entering the Internet to be encrypted, as well as for authenticating users.

Question 137. When It Comes To Networking, What Are Rights?

Answer :

Rights refer to the authorized permission to perform specific actions on the network. Each user on the network can be assigned individual rights, depending on what must be allowed for that user.

Question 138. What Protocols Fall Under The Tcp/ip Internet Layer?

Answer :

There are 4 protocols that are being managed by this layer. These are ICMP, IGMP, IP and ARP.

Question 139. What Is The Role Of Ieee In Computer Networking?

Answer :

IEEE, or the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, is an organization composed of engineers that issues and manages standards for electrical and electronic devices. This includes networking devices, network interfaces, cablings and connectors.

Question 140. What Is Sneakernet?

Answer :

Sneakernet is believed to be the earliest form of networking wherein data is physically transported using removable media, such as disk, tapes.

Question 141. Explain Profile In Terms Of Networking Concept?

Answer :

Profiles are the configuration settings made for each user. A profile may be created that puts a user in a group, for example.

Question 142. How Does Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol Aid In Network Administration?

Answer :

Instead of having to visit each client computer to configure a static IP address, the network administrator can apply dynamic host configuration protocol to create a pool of IP addresses known as scopes that can be dynamically assigned to clients.

Question 143. What Can Be Done To Fix Signal Attenuation Problems?

Answer :

A common way of dealing with such a problem is to use repeaters and hub, because it will help regenerate the signal and therefore prevent signal loss. Checking if cables are properly terminated is also a must.

Question 144. When Troubleshooting Computer Network Problems, What Common Hardware-related Problems Can Occur?

Answer :

A large percentage of a network is made up of hardware. Problems in these areas can range from malfunctioning hard drives, broken NICs and even hardware startups. Incorrectly hardware configuration is also one of those culprits to look into.

Question 145. What Is One Advantage Of Mesh Topology?

Answer :

In the event that one link fails, there will always be another available. Mesh topology is actually one of the most fault-tolerant network topology.

Question 146. What Are The Different Technologies Involved In Establishing Wan Links?

Answer :

Analog connections – using conventional telephone lines; Digital connections – using digital-grade telephone lines; switched connections – using multiple sets of links between sender and receiver to move data.

Question 147. What Do Mean By Tunnel Mode?

Answer :

This is a mode of data exchange wherein two communicating computers do not use IPSec themselves. Instead, the gateway that is connecting their LANs to the transit network creates a virtual tunnel that uses the IPSec protocol to secure all communication that passes through it.

Question 148. Explain The Importance Of Authentication?

Answer :

Authentication is the process of verifying a user’s credentials before he can log into the network. It is normally performed using a username and password. This provides a secure means of limiting the access from unwanted intruders on the network.

Question 149. How Are Ip Addresses Arranged And Displayed?

Answer :

IP addresses are displayed as a series of four decimal numbers that are separated by period or dots. Another term for this arrangement is the dotted decimal format. An example is 192.168.101.2

Question 150. What Is The Importance Of Encryption On A Network?

Answer :

Encryption is the process of translating information into a code that is unreadable by the user. It is then translated back or decrypted back to its normal readable format using a secret key or password. Encryption help ensure that information that is intercepted halfway would remain unreadable because the user has to have the correct password or key for it.

Question 151. What Is Multicast Routing?

Answer :

Multicast routing is a targeted form of broadcasting that sends message to a selected group of user, instead of sending it to all users on a subnet.

Question 152. What Is Smtp?

Answer :

SMTP is short for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. This protocol deals with all Internal mail, and provides the necessary mail delivery services on the TCP/IP protocol stack.

Question 153. What Is The Difference Between Csma/cd And Csma/ca?

Answer :

CSMA/CD, or Collision Detect, retransmits data frames whenever a collision occurred. CSMA/CA, or Collision Avoidance, will first broadcast intent to send prior to data transmission.

Question 154. What Are Some Drawbacks Of Implementing A Ring Topology?

Answer :

In case one workstation on the network suffers a malfunction, it can bring down the entire network. Another drawback is that when there are adjustments and reconfigurations needed to be performed on a particular part of the network, the entire network has to be temporarily brought down as well.

Question 155. In A Network That Contains Two Servers And Twenty Workstations, Where Is The Best Place To Install An Anti-virus Program?

Answer :

An anti-virus program must be installed on all servers and workstations to ensure protection. That’s because individual users can access any workstation and introduce a computer virus when plugging in their removable hard drives or flash drives.

Question 156. When You Move The Nic Cards From One Pc To Another Pc, Does The Mac Address Gets Transferred As Well?

Answer :

Yes, that’s because MAC addresses are hard-wired into the NIC circuitry, not the PC. This also means that a PC can have a different MAC address when the NIC card was replace by another one.

Question 157. What Is The Difference Between A Straight-through And Crossover Cable?

Answer :

A straight-through cable is used to connect computers to a switch, hub or router. A crossover cable is used to connect two similar devices together, such as a PC to PC or Hub to hub.

Question 158. What Is Ipconfig?

Answer :

Ipconfig is a utility program that is commonly used to identify the addresses information of a computer on a network. It can show the physical address as well as the IP address.

Question 159. You Need To Connect Two Computers For File Sharing. Is It Possible To Do This Without Using A Hub Or Router?

Answer :

Yes, you can connect two computers together using only one cable. A crossover type cable can be use in this scenario. In this setup, the data transmit pin of one cable is connected to the data receive pin of the other cable, and vice versa.

Question 160. What Protocols Fall Under The Application Layer Of The Tcp/ip Stack?

Answer :

The following are the protocols under TCP/IP Application layer: FTP, TFTP, Telnet and SMTP.

Question 161. What Is The Standard Color Sequence Of A Straight-through Cable?

Answer :

orange/white, orange, green/white, blue, blue/white, green, brown/white, brown.

Question 162. What Are The Different Network Protocols That Are Supported By Windows Rras Services?

Answer :

There are three main network protocols supported: NetBEUI, TCP/IP, and IPX.

Question 163. What Is The Difference Between A Hub And A Switch?

Answer :

A hub acts as a multiport repeater. However, as more and more devices connect to it, it would not be able to efficiently manage the volume of traffic that passes through it. A switch provides a better alternative that can improve the performance especially when high traffic volume is expected across all ports.

Question 164. What Advantages Does Fiber Optics Have Over Other Media?

Answer :

One major advantage of fiber optics is that is it less susceptible to electrical interference. It also supports higher bandwidth, meaning more data can be transmitted and received. Signal degrading is also very minimal over long distances.

Question 165. What Is Peer To Peer?

Answer :

Peer to peer are networks that does not reply on a server. All PCs on this network act as individual workstations.

Question 166. What Is Icmp?

Answer :

ICMP is Internet Control Message Protocol. It provides messaging and communication for protocols within the TCP/IP stack. This is also the protocol that manages error messages that are used by network tools such as PING.

Question 167. What Happens When You Use Cables Longer Than The Prescribed Length?

Answer :

Cables that are too long would result in signal loss. This means that data transmission and reception would be affected, because the signal degrades over length.

Question 168. What Is The Number Of Network Ids In A Class C Network?

Answer :

For a Class C network, the number of usable Network ID bits is 21. The number of possible network IDs is 2 raised to 21 or 2,097,152. The number of host IDs per network ID is 2 raised to 8 minus 2, or 254.

Question 169. What Is The Proper Termination Rate For Utp Cables?

Answer :

The proper termination for unshielded twisted pair network cable is 100 ohms.

Question 170. One Way Of Securing A Network Is Through The Use Of Passwords. What Can Be Considered As Good Passwords?

Answer :

Good passwords are made up of not just letters, but by combining letters and numbers. A password that combines uppercase and lowercase letters is favorable than one that uses all upper case or all lower case letters. Passwords must be not words that can easily be guessed by hackers, such as dates, names, favorites, etc. Longer passwords are also better than short ones.

Question 171. What Is The Use Of A Default Gateway?

Answer :

Default gateways provide means for the local networks to connect to the external network. The default gateway for connecting to the external network is usually the address of the external router port.

Question 172. What Protocol Can Be Applied When You Want To Transfer Files Between Different Platforms, Such Between Unix Systems And Windows Servers?

Answer :

Use FTP (File Transfer Protocol) for file transfers between such different servers. This is possible because FTP is platform independent.

Question 173. How Can You Manage A Network Using A Router?

Answer :

Routers have built in console that lets you configure different settings, like security and data logging. You can assign restrictions to computers, such as what resources it is allowed access, or what particular time of the day they can browse the internet. You can even put restrictions on what websites are not viewable across the entire network.

Question 174. Can Wireless Mouse Carry A Virus?

Answer :

A big NO. Wireless mouse is nothing but a junk of hardware.It cannot be hacked or anything.If you suspect that pointer on the screen is not working properly or moving on its own its probably due to virus on your harddisk whose source is not WIRELESS MOUSE.