The A+ Certification & PC Repair Handbook (Charles River Media Networking/Security)

Windows XP is quite a complicated operating system. Merging the best of all Windows worlds into a single platform creates a mammoth burden of information you will have to study and remember for the new A+ Operating Systems Technologies exam. The following refresher tips, as well as the review questions and practice exams on the CD-ROM, are designed to give you an edge in the exam room.

Windows XP merges the Windows 9x and Windows NT families into a set of two operating systems, mostly based on Windows 2000: Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional.

Windows XP Home can upgrade the following Windows operating systems: Windows 98, 98 SE, and Windows Millennium Edition.

Windows XP Professional can upgrade the same ones as Windows XP Home, as well as: Windows NT 4.0 Workstation, Windows 2000 Professional, and Windows XP Home.

You cannot upgrade any evaluation version or server version of Windows to Windows XP.

Automated System Recovery requires Microsoft Backup, and ASR is only present in Windows XP Professional. Microsoft Backup for Windows XP Home is installable separately from the installation CD-ROM. Still, ASR is not available for Windows XP Home, even if you install Backup for Windows XP Home from the CD-ROM.

You cannot create installation floppy disks from a Windows XP installation CD-ROM; you must download them from Microsoft.

Windows XP Upgrade Advisor saves its reports to the WINDOWS directory by default.

The protocol NetBEUI is no longer supported. It can be installed separately via the CD-ROM, however, but it is still officially unsupported by Microsoft.

ACPI is an industry standard for controlling power management features, such as Standby and Hibernate, as well as assigning resources such as IRQs, DMAs, and I/O addresses to plug-and-play operating systems.

WDM refers to a driver model supported in Windows Me and Windows XP. VxD files (virtual device drivers) are not supported in any Windows NT platform, including Windows XP. WHQL is the name of the Microsoft lab that performs driver testing and driver signing.

WIA, developed by Microsoft, is a replacement technology for TWAIN, a driver model for scanners, cameras, and other imaging input devices.

MSCONFIG’s Diagnostic Startup permanently deletes all System Restore points.

Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE), used for most ADSL or DSL installations, is supported internally by Windows XP.

Microsoft recommends using the Network Setup Wizard to share files, folders, and printers, but you can enable Advanced file sharing by opening a folder window, choosing the Tools menu > Folder Options > View tab, and removing the check from “Use simple file sharing.”

Internet Connection Firewall will block file and printer sharing if used on a local network connection. ICF logs are stored in C:\WINDOWS (or C:\WINNT) as PFIREWALL.LOG, by default.