The A+ Exams Guide: (Exam 220-301), (Exam 220-302) (TestTakers Guides)

The information provided in this section is intended to serve as a quick reference to assist you with diagnosing and troubleshooting many Windows 9.x-related issues. Although some of the information mentioned in this section has not been discussed in detail, many of these tips and shortcuts are likely to show up on the exam. It is a good idea to read over the following information in final preparation for the Windows 9.x section of the test.

• If you install a hard drive larger than 2GB and your operating system doesn’t recognize more than 2GB, your drive is not partitioned as FAT32. You may also need to get a BIOS upgrade from the manufacturer of your motherboard. Always remember, FAT16 has a 2GB limit.

• The smallest unit of measure that Windows 9.x can work with on a hard drive is called a cluster.

• To create a folder in Windows Explorer, select File > New > Folder, or right-click the window and select New > Folder.

• To create a shortcut on your Windows Desktop, right-click the Desktop and select New > Shortcut.

• In Windows 9.x, the file MSDOS.SYS should be at least 1KB.

• Installation files in Windows 95 are called cabinet or .CAB files. The proper name syntax used for Windows 95 .CAB files is Win95_xx.cab (“xx” is a numeric value, such as 13).

• In order for a mapped network drive to retain its mapping on reboot, you must check the “Reconnect at Logon” box when establishing the mapping.

• The End key is used to access the interactive start-up menu during the Windows 98 boot sequence.

• The Alt+Tab key sequence allows you to toggle between applications that are currently running on your system.

• The Shift+F8 keystroke sequence can be used to refresh your Desktop in Windows.

• Menus within Windows programs, such as Word or Windows Explorer, designate hot keys with an underscore—for example, Files, Edit, and View.

• You can get a system configuration printout from a Windows 9.x command prompt by entering “MSDN” and pressing the Print Screen key.

• If you want to access a printer by its UNC name, the proper syntax is \\computername\printername.

• If you have installed a new modem and your previous dial-up networking configuration does not work, go to the dial-up networking properties of your original entry and configure them for the new modem.

• The DOSSTART.BAT file is automatically executed when you restart your system in MS-DOS mode.

• The correct starting order for Windows 9.x is IO.SYS, MS-DOS.SYS, CONFIG.SYS, COMMAND.COM, AUTOEXEC.BAT.

• SCANREG can be used to restore a Registry from DOS. If you want to replace the Registry with an older Registry, use SCANREG/RESTORE. If you want to fix the currently loaded Registry, use SCANREG/FIX.

• If you have recently installed Client for Microsoft Networks, IPX/SPX, and File and Print Sharing, and you are still unable to browse your network, verify that “File and print sharing” is checked. Without this setting enabled, you will not be able to see other workstations in Windows 9.x.

• In order to make a network dial-up connection to the Internet in Windows, you need two important network components: TCP/IP and a Dial-up Adapter.

• If you want to configure a dial-up connection to the Internet, you must have the network protocol TCP/IP bound to a dial-up adapter.

• If you are using a laptop computer with an NIC and the NetBEUI protocol, “File and print sharing” must be enabled on the NIC if you want to share information.

• If you are having difficulty moving a window between two monitors connected to the same computer system, you may already have the window maximized.

• To remove unneeded items from the Windows 98 Start menu, right-click the item in the Start menu and choose Delete or right-click on the taskbar, select Properties, navigate to the Customize Start Menu Options, and use the Remove button. It should be noted that items in the Start folder are loaded in alphabetical order.

• Client, Adapter, Protocol, and Service are network components that can be added through the Windows 9.x Network applet.

• If you are having trouble detecting USB devices, you are most likely running the original version of Windows 95, which doesn’t support USB without an update. Alternatively, you may not have USB support enabled in your BIOS settings. Again, Windows 95 does not support USB without additional software.

• If your system hangs at the Windows 9.x splash screen on bootup, hold down the Shift key on start-up to stop possibly corrupt start-up folder programs from loading.

• If items on your Desktop look different from usual or are unidentifiable, the first step for resolving this problem is to refresh the Desktop by right-clicking the Desktop and selecting Refresh.

• If you are having trouble installing or updating Windows system files, you should try disabling any antivirus features in your system’s BIOS as well as your antivirus real-time protection. Then attempt to reinstall the software.

• If you need to restore an OS file that has been deleted from your system, you can use the EXTRACT command to restore a file from the Windows 9.x installation CD-ROM.

• Windows 98 comes with a powerful FAT32 drive conversion utility program called Drive Converter, which has the ability to convert an already formatted FAT16 partition into a FAT32 or NTFS partition.

• If you double-click a shortcut on your Windows Desktop and nothing happens, it is likely that the application program that is tied to the shortcut has been moved, removed, or is corrupted.

• If you have two printers installed on your Windows 9.x system and you delete your default printer, the remaining printer will automatically become your default printer.

• If you have just completed a Windows 9.x operating system installation and you are having difficulties adjusting your screen resolution, the first things you should do are to update your Windows version and update your video drivers.

• Windows 9.x is not compatible with NTFS.

• The root directory under Windows 9.x supports a maximum of 512 entries.

• Common protocols that are used to share printers in Windows 9.x are TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, and NetBEUI.

• The Windows 9.x Registry is a hierarchical database made up of special Key entries.

• If you do not wish to have your print jobs spooled in Windows 9.x, you can choose to print directly to the printer in the spool settings dialogue box.

• The undocumented Microsoft utility MKCOMPAT.EXE can be used to assist older Windows 3.1 applications to run in a Windows 9.x environment.

• The statements PROMPT $P$G and LH C:\Windows\COMMAND\MSCDEX are commonly found in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.

• The navigation path to capture a printer port in Windows 9.x is: My Computer > Control Panel > Printers > select the printer applet > File > Properties > Details.

• A .CPL file is a Control Panel extension file. If you ever receive an invalid page default (kernel32) error when opening the Control Panel, you will need to determine which .CPL file is damaged or corrupt and replace it.

• To create a Startup Disk in Windows 9.x, navigate to the Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs, and select Create Disk from the Startup Disk tab.

• The first thing you should do if you receive the “out of memory error” while using Windows 9.x is to check the system resources in the system Control Panel for any applications or processes that are using up valuable system resources.

• If a memory manager cannot provide an application with requested memory, a memory page fault occurs.

• To increase graphics acceleration speed in Windows 9.x, navigate to the Control Panel > System > Performance > Graphics.

• Windows 98 SE is the only version of Windows 9.x that offers ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) capabilities.

• Windows 9.x is fully capable of being upgraded to Windows 2000 Professional.

• The correct booting order for a system is POST, BIOS, BOOT SECTOR, GUI.

• The Windows 9.x System Monitor can be used to monitor virtual memory and networked client/server info.

• If Windows 9.x finds a damaged or corrupt Registry upon booting, it will attempt to automatically repair the damaged Registry.

• If you select “N” for large disk support while running FDISK, a FAT16 partition will be created.

• If the “Starting Windows 98” logo screen is missing at start-up, it is likely that the file LOGO.SYS is missing or corrupt.

• You should never share more that 300 folders in Windows 9.x. If you do, the folders may not appear to be shared when displayed in Explorer.