MCSA/MCSE 70-270 Exam Prep 2: Windows XP Professional

1.

Click Start, All Programs, Administrative Tools, Performance.

2.

Expand the Performance Logs and Alerts entry in the console tree and double-click Counter Logs.

3.

Right-click a blank area in the details pane and select New Log Settings.

4.

In the New Log Settings dialog box, type Test Log as a log name and click OK.

5.

In the Test Log dialog box, click Add Counters.

6.

For the Processor object, select % Processor Time and Interrupts/Sec, and then click Add.

7.

In the Performance object drop-down list box, select Memory. Select the Available Bytes and Pages/Sec counters, and then click Add.

8.

Click Close.

9.

In the Test Log dialog box, change the sampling interval to 1 second, and then click OK.

10.

Generate some CPU and memory activity on your computer by performing one or more of the following tasks:

• Run any application on your computer.

• Connect to a share on another computer and open files from this share.

• Open a 3D screen saver and preview it for a few seconds.

11.

After about two minutes, right-click your test log and click Stop. The icon turns red, indicating it is no longer logging.

12.

In the console tree, select System Monitor.

13.

In the System Monitor toolbar, select the cylinder icon (the fourth icon from the left). This displays the Source tab of the System Monitor Properties dialog box.

14.

Under Data Source, select Log files and then click Add.

15.

Browse to the location of your test log file (which is by default in the %systemroot%\PerfLogs folder), click Open, and then click OK.

16.

Click the + button in the toolbar to display the Add Counters dialog box, which displays only the logged counters.

17.

For the Memory object, select All Counters, and then click Add. Repeat for the Processor object.

18.

Click Close. The details pane displays the data you have just logged.

19.

To highlight an individual line, select the desired counter in the bottom part of the display and then click the yellow light bulb in the toolbar.

20.

Highlight the other lines in turn, and observe how the performance counters change in response to your actions performed while logging.

1.

Click Start, All Programs, Administrative Tools, Performance.

2.

Expand the Performance Logs and Alerts entry in the console tree and select Alerts.

3.

Right-click a blank area in the details pane and select New Alert Settings.

4.

In the New Alert Settings dialog box, type Test Alert as an alert name and click OK.

5.

In the Test Alert dialog box, click Add and add the Processor\% Processor Time counter.

6.

Click Close.

7.

In the Test Alert dialog box, ensure that the Alert When the Value Is drop-down list says Over, type 85 for a limit, and then click OK.

8.

Open the Screen Saver tab of the Control Panel Display applet. Select one of the 3D screen savers and then click Preview.

9.

After about 30 seconds, move the mouse or press the space bar to stop the preview. This action should generate one or more performance alerts.

10.

Click Start, All Programs, Administrative Tools, Event Viewer.

11.

Select the Application log from the console tree. You should see one or more information events in the details pane.

12.

Double-click the top (most recent) event. This event should inform you that the Processor\% Processor Time counter has exceeded its alert threshold.

13.

Click the down arrow to display additional messages.

14.

If you do not observe any alert messages, open a processor-intensive program and repeat steps 8 to 13. If you still do not observe any alert messages, return to the Performance Console, right-click your alert, and select Properties. Type a lower value for the alert, and then repeat steps 8 to 13.

15.

When you are finished, right-click your alert and choose Stop. Close all dialog boxes, clicking Cancel to close the Display Properties dialog box without modifying the default screen saver.

1.

Click Start, Control Panel, Performance and Maintenance, Power Options.

2.

On the Power Schemes tab of the Power Options Properties dialog box, select Max Battery.

3.

Under System Standby, select After 1 Min from the drop-down list and then click Apply.

4.

Select the Advanced tab, and then select the check box labeled Prompt for Password when Computer Resumes from Standby.

5.

Wait one minute, and observe that the computer displays a Preparing to Go into Standby message and goes into standby.

6.

Press the spacebar or move the mouse. After a few seconds, the Unlock Computer dialog box appears.

7.

Type your password and press Enter. Your desktop re-appears, configured as it was when the computer went into standby.

8.

In the Power Schemes drop-down list, return your computer to the previous setting.

1.

Insert the Windows XP Professional CD-ROM.

2.

Close the Welcome to Microsoft Windows XP window.

3.

Click Start, Run, type d:\i386\winnt32 /cmdcons. If your CD-ROM drive is not d:, substitute the proper drive letter.

4.

You are asked whether you want to install the Recovery Console. Click Yes.

5.

Wait while the Recovery Console is installed, and then click OK when the completion message appears.

1.

Click Start, right-click My Computer, and choose Manage.

2.

In the Computer Management Console, expand Services and Applications, and then click Services.

3.

Scroll to locate Server, right-click this service, and choose Properties.

4.

Click Stop.

5.

A Stop Other Services dialog box informs you that the Computer Browser service will also stop. Click Yes to stop these services.

6.

When you are informed that the services have stopped, change the startup type of the Server service to Disabled and then click OK.

7.

To observe the effect of stopping the Server service, open the Shared Folders node in the Computer Management Console. Click Shares. You should receive an error message informing you that the Server service is not started.

8.

Attempt to connect to a share on this computer from another computer. This should fail because the Server service is not running.

9.

To use the Recovery Console for restarting the server service, shut down and restart the computer.

10.

From the boot loader menu, choose Windows XP Recovery Console.

11.

When asked which Windows installation you would like to log on to, type the number of the installation and then press Enter.

12.

Type the Administrator password and then press Enter.

13.

When the Windows prompt appears, type listsvc and then press Enter. This displays a list of services and their status.

14.

Use the space bar to scroll until you see the LanmanServer service displayed. Note that this service is disabled.

15.

Press Esc to stop viewing the services.

16.

Type enable /? and press Enter to view the syntax of this command. Note the required syntax.

17.

To re-enable the Server service, type enable lanmanserver service_auto_start and press Enter. You should be informed that the service was started. If you receive an error or the help information again, check your command syntax and try again.

18.

Type exit. The computer reboots.

19.

Log on as Administrator and re-open the Computer Management Console.

20.

Repeat steps 7 and 8 and note that you can now observe and connect to the shares configured on this computer.

Name three types of items that the Performance Console uses for describing the data it collects. Compare and describe each briefly.

Summarize the types of tasks that you can perform using Task Manager.

Over what frequencies can you schedule applications to run using the Scheduled Tasks application?

Describe the difference between standby and hibernation. Which one runs the risk of data loss should power be lost?

How do incremental and differential backups differ from each other. Which one offers the shortest backup length, and which one enables the fastest restore?

Which computer recovery utility should you not use until you have exhausted efforts to recover your computer using other methods, and why?

Ryan is concerned with the performance of his Windows XP Professional computer because it does not appear to be responding as rapidly as it did a few months ago. He creates a counter log using Performance Logs and Alerts and logs his performance over the period of a workday. Then he uses System Monitor to display the collected data and notices the following results:

• Memory\Pages/sec: 62

• Processor\% Processor Time: 71

• LogicalDisk\% Disk Time: 74

• PhysicalDisk\% Disk Time: 63

• System: Processor Queue Length: 3

Which of the following system upgrades should Ryan do first?

Debbie is the desktop administrator for an engineering company. All servers run Windows Server 2003 and all client computers run Windows XP Professional. Several users in the Design department run a simulation application that requires several hours to process its data. These users report that when they run this application, the performance of other engineering programs becomes considerably slower.

What should Debbie instruct the users to do so that the simulation application can run with the least impact on other engineering programs being run at the same time?

Bob has configured the following backup strategy for a computer named Development: normal backup every Friday evening and an incremental backup every evening from Monday to Thursday. One Thursday morning, Bob notices that the hard drive on Development has crashed. After installing a new drive, which of the following procedures must Bob follow to restore Development's hard disk?

Your Windows XP Professional computer has been running slowly once or twice a day when performing processor-intensive or memory-intensive tasks, and you suspect that you may need to upgrade your processor. You have added additional RAM to the computer, but need to be informed of potential processor bottlenecks, so you want to configure the computer to inform you should processor utilization exceed 85%. What should you do? (Each correct answer represents part of the solution. Choose two.)

Tom is the systems administrator for his company. All servers in the company run Windows Server 2003 and all client computers run Windows XP Professional. Employees in the Legal department perform weekly backups of their data. These employees want to back up the Registry, COM+ Class Registration database, system files, and boot files.

Employees in the Legal department need to be able to restore their computers to working order without risking loss of any personal files and folders. In addition, they need to minimize the size of their backups. These users have already configured Ntbackup.exe to back up the personal files and folders.

What additional backup strategy should Tom recommend to the Legal department users?

Connie is responsible for a Windows XP Professional computer that contains financial data for her boss's insurance agency. She is concerned that the computer might be unable to start using any of the common recovery methods, so she opens the Windows XP Backup program. Which of the following actions should she perform to prepare for this possibility?

You are the desktop administrator for a company that employs sales associates who use laptop computers running Windows XP Professional while on the road. These computers are configured to have a modem and an Ethernet PC card. While in the office, the sales associates use their computers in a docking station. While on the road, they use their computers in an undocked state.

A user named Heather, who creates and edits documents while at customer locations, reports that the battery power in her computer has not lasted as long as it should. What should you do to configure Heather's computer to conserve battery power during her sales trips?

You are the systems administrator for your company. All desktop and portable computers in the company run Windows XP Professional. Users in the Research department bring their portable computers to the conference room for a biweekly planning meeting. These users require a simple means of manually placing their computers in a low-power condition without using the Start menu. In addition, they need their computers to resume normal operating condition as rapidly as possible.

How should you configure the Power Options properties to accomplish these needs?

You are the systems administrator for a company that operates an Active Directory network in which all servers run Windows Server 2003 and all client computers run Windows XP Professional.

Users in the Design department have dual-processor computers. These users report that when they run 16-bit Windows programs, their computers run very slowly. On using System Monitor to check the computer performance, you discover that when 16-bit programs are running, the Processor\% Processor Time counter shows a value of almost 100% for one processor but less than 10% for the second processor.

Which of the following should you do to improve application performance for users in the Design department?

Nancy is responsible for the desktop configuration of 30 Windows XP Professional computers in the Financial department of her company. She has configured the Task Scheduler to defragment the hard disk of one of these computers at 11:00 p.m. every Saturday. She needs to apply this same task to each of the other computers. How should she accomplish this task with the least administrative effort?

Charles is the desktop administrator of his company. A user named Shelley has dropped her notebook computer running Windows XP Professional on the floor. The computer has an ASR backup of the original system state. When Shelley turns the computer on, she receives a System disk not found message.

Charles confirms that the hard disk in the computer is functioning properly. Shelley informs him that she had created a restore point two days before she dropped her computer.

Which of the following actions should Charles take so that Shelley's computer can start Windows XP Professional from the hard disk?

You are the desktop administrator for an accounting company. A user named Kathryn installs a tax calculation application on her Windows XP Professional computer. After she restarts her computer, she observes that the computer runs very slowly.

Kathryn uninstalls the tax calculation application and restarts her computer. However, the computer still runs very slowly.

Kathryn asks you to return her computer to its previous condition as soon as possible while preserving her data and computer settings. What should you do?

Laura installs a new device driver and reboots her Windows XP Professional computer. Before the logon screen appears, the computer displays the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) with the error IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL. Which of the following should she do first?

Performance Console uses objects, counters, and instances. An object is a specific hardware or software component that the Performance Console is capable of monitoring, such as processor or memory. A counter is a statistical measurement associated with an object, such as % Processor Time. An instance is one of multiple occurrences of a given object, such as each of two hard disks. For more information, see the section "Performance Console."

Task Manager enables you to monitor several aspects of computer performance including processor, page file usage, and networking. It also enables you to view the applications and processes running on the system and shut down unresponsive ones. You can modify the priority of running processes. You can also see which users have active sessions on the computer and disconnect or log off users. For more information, see the section "Optimizing and Troubleshooting Application Performance."

You can use Scheduled Tasks to schedule applications to run at almost any imaginable interval, including daily, weekly, monthly, one time only, at system startup, at logon, or when idle. You can also schedule applications to run at various multiples of some of these intervals. For more information, see the section "Configuring, Managing, and Optimizing Scheduled Tasks."

Standby saves configuration data to RAM, and then turns off the computer's monitor, hard disk, and other system components. Hibernation saves configuration data to the hard disk, and turns off all system components. Standby enables you to restart your computer faster than hibernation; however, standby runs the risk of data loss should power be lost, whereas hibernation does not carry this risk. For more information, see the section "Managing, Monitoring, and Optimizing System Performance for Mobile Users."

Incremental backups back up only that data that has changed since the previous normal or incremental backup. When restoring data that has been backed up incrementally, you must restore the previous normal backup plus each incremental backup in turn. Differential backups back up the data that has changed since the previous normal backup. When restoring data that has been backed up differentially, you need to restore the previous normal backup plus only the most recent differential backup. Consequently, the procedure for restoring after differential backups is faster; however, each differential backup is longer than the previous one. For more information, see the section "Recovering System State Data and User Data by Using Windows Backup."

You should not use ASR to recover an unbootable computer until you have tried the Last Known Good Configuration, Safe Mode, and Recovery Console. ASR formats the systemdrive partition, thereby erasing application and data files stored on this partition. ASR may also initialize other data volumes and cause further data loss. For more information, see the section "Using Automated System Recovery (ASR)."

C. Ryan should add more RAM. A value of Memory\Pages/sec that is consistently greater than 20 indicates a shortage of RAM and a potential bottleneck. LogicalDisk\% Disk Time and PhysicalDisk\% Disk time report the percentage of time that the disk was busy servicing disk requests; in this situation, the high amount of paging results in a busy disk. When PhysicalDisk\% Disk time is above 50%, it is sometimes necessary to upgrade to a faster hard disk; however, if memory counters are also high, you should add RAM first to improve computer performance. Therefore answers A and B are incorrect. Paging activity and disk requests may cause an increase in the Processor\% Processor time; however, the value of 71 for this counter is within acceptable limits. Therefore answers D and E are incorrect. For more information, see the section "Optimizing and Troubleshooting Memory Performance."

A. Debbie can resolve this problem by configuring the simulation program to run at a lower priority (either Low or BelowNormal). Doing so causes more computer resources to be allocated to other engineering applications, thereby improving their performance while still allowing the simulation program to run. Configuring the simulation program to run at a higher priority would take resources away from the other programs, so answer B is incorrect. Configuring all other programs to run at High priority may help to solve the problem, but requires more effort than changing the priority of a single program, so answer C is incorrect. Configuring programs for RealTime priority can cause the computer to become unstable, so answer D is incorrect. For more information, see the section "Optimizing and Troubleshooting Application Performance."

B. Bob needs to restore the normal backup from the previous Friday and then the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday incremental backups, in that order. Each incremental backup backs up only the data that has changed since the previous normal or incremental backup. Consequently, he needs to restore each incremental backup in order. Simply restoring the normal backup and Wednesday's incremental backup would have worked had he been using differential backups instead, so answer A is incorrect. He needs to restore from the normal backup first, so answer C is incorrect. Only restoring the past Friday's normal backup restores the computer to just the condition of that day, so answer D is incorrect. For more information, see the section "Recovering System State Data and User Data By Using Windows Backup."

B and C. To have the computer generate an alert when a certain condition occurs (for example, when the Processor\%Processor time counter exceeds 85%), you need to configure an alert from the Alerts node of Performance Logs and Alerts. This application records its alerts in the Application log, which you can view from Event Viewer. You can watch the counter values in real time from System Monitor, but this application does not generate an alert, so answer A is incorrect. You need to look in the Application log and not the System log to find alerts, so answer D is incorrect. You cannot configure the Alerter service to display alerts to your desktop, so answer E is incorrect. For more information, see the section "Performance Logs and Alerts."

B. The System State is a group of configuration files that you can back up and restore as a unit. It includes the Registry, the COM+ Class Registration database, boot files (including system startup files), and files protected by Windows File Protection (WFP). It is not a recommended action to suggest that users back up their Windows and Program Files folders; in addition, doing so would not accomplish the required objectives. Therefore, answer A is incorrect. Creating an ASR backup is not the best choice because this option does not minimize the size of the backup files, so answer C is incorrect. It is not necessary to use the System Restore Wizard to create a restore point because restore points are created automatically at least once a day; furthermore, this option does not accomplish the required objective. Therefore, answer D is incorrect. For more information, see the section "Recovering System State Data and User Data by Using Windows Backup."

D. Windows XP Professional enables Connie to create a rescue disk called the ASR disk, which she can use in conjunction with an ASR backup of the %systemroot% partition and the Windows XP Professional CD-ROM to restart a computer that cannot be started using any of the other recovery methods. Neither the use of the All Information on This Computer option nor the System State backup provides the required capability, so answers A and B are incorrect. The ASR disk replaces the ERD used in Windows NT/2000. Because the ERD option is no longer available in Windows XP, answer C is incorrect. For more information, see the section "Using Automated System Recovery (ASR)."

A. You can create different hardware profiles that accommodate different needs according to the existing situations. By disabling devices that are not required while at customer locations, you can conserve battery power under these conditions. Heather can choose the appropriate profile according to where she is located. Simply placing an undocked hardware profile at the top of the Profiles list without disabling the devices does not help to conserve battery power, so answer B is incorrect. Disabling devices used by the docked hardware profile would prevent Heather from working properly when in the office, so answer C is incorrect. Using the Portable/Laptop power scheme shuts off devices faster, but is not as effective by itself as configuring another hardware profile and disabling unnecessary devices, so answer D is incorrect. For more information, see the section "Managing, Monitoring, and Optimizing System Performance for Mobile Users."

D. By configuring the portable computers to enter standby when the lid is closed, you can enable the users to rapidly and manually place their computers in a low-power state from which the computers can resume normal operation rapidly. While the Portable/Laptop and Max Battery power schemes enable standby after a preconfigured time interval, they do not enable the users to manually place their computers in standby, so answers A and B are incorrect. The Critical Battery Alarm also does not enable the users to manually place their computers in standby, so answer C is incorrect. The computers do not resume normal operating condition as rapidly from hibernation as they do from standby, so answer E is incorrect. For more information, see the section "Managing, Monitoring, and Optimizing System Performance for Mobile Users."

B. By default, all legacy 16-bit programs run in a single memory location under the auspices of a process called Ntvdm.exe, which simulates the environment of older MS-DOS computers. Because these programs are all represented by this single process, they all run on a single processor. You can circumvent this problem by configuring each 16-bit program to run in a separate memory space, which starts a separate instance of Ntvdm.exe for each program, thereby allowing them to utilize both processors. Because these programs all run in a single process by default, modifying their priority or running them in Windows NT 4.0 compatibility mode would not enable them to utilize both processors, so answers A and C are incorrect. Processor affinity is used to specify which processors run different processes in multi-processor computers. You cannot use processor affinity in this case because all 16-bit programs run as a single process by default. Therefore answer D is incorrect. For more information, see the section "Optimizing and Troubleshooting Application Performance."

A. Windows XP places all scheduled tasks in the Scheduled Tasks folder. Although this folder is not shared by default in Windows XP (unlike Windows 2000), Nancy can still copy the tasks from the Scheduled Tasks folder on the computer where she created it to the Scheduled Tasks folder on each of the other computers. Neither the AT command nor the Task Scheduler Service Properties dialog box contains an option to import scheduled tasks, so answers B and C are incorrect. Because you can copy tasks from one computer's Scheduled Tasks folder to another computer, answer D is incorrect. For more information, see the section "Configuring, Managing, and Optimizing Scheduled Tasks."

E. Automated System Recovery (ASR) is an advanced option of the Windows Backup program (Ntbackup.exe). Introduced with Windows XP Professional, this option replaces the Windows NT/2000 Emergency Repair Disk, and functions as a last-resort means to restore a computer short of reformatting the disk and reinstalling Windows XP from scratch. Because the computer was unable to locate the system disk, it was unable to display the advanced startup menu, so answers A and B are incorrect. If Charles were to boot the computer with a bootable floppy disk, he would still not be able to access the Ntbackup.exe program under these circumstances, so answer C is incorrect. To use ASR, you need to start the computer from the Windows XP Professional CD-ROM and not from a floppy disk, so answer D is incorrect. For more information, see the section "Using Automated System Recovery (ASR)."

B. You can use the most recent system restore point to roll the computer back to the condition that existed before Kathryn installed the tax calculation application. You would use an ASR backup only if all other restoration methods failed, so answer A is incorrect. You do not need to restore the computer's system state to return the computer to the proper running condition, so answer C is incorrect. The Last Known Good Configuration will not work in this scenario because Kathryn was able to log on before she realized that a problem existed, so answer D is incorrect. For further information, see the section "Troubleshooting System Restoration by Starting in Safe Mode."

B. When you have installed a faulty device driver or application and the computer fails to complete the startup sequence, you can use the Last Known Good Configuration to restart the computer. This restores the computer to its configuration as of the previous successful logon. If this method does not work or if Laura had been able to log on before receiving the error, she could roll back the driver using Safe Mode. However, this is not the first method she should try, so answer A is incorrect. She should use ASR only if no other recovery methods solve the problem, so answer C is incorrect. Recovery Console can be used to remove or replace faulty or corrupted files if Safe Mode does not work. It is not the first method of choice, so answer D is incorrect. For more information, see the section "Returning to the Last Known Good Configuration."