B. The master boot record (MBR) contains a small program that is responsible for locating and loading the operating system. The BIOS executes this code and the operating system starts to load.

A. The net command is a very important command in Windows. Some common net commands include the following:
net accounts: Sets password and logon requirements for users
net session: Lists or disconnects sessions between a computer and other
computers on the network
net share: Creates, removes, or manages shared resourcesnet start: Starts a network service or lists running network services
net stop: Stops a network service
net use: Connects, disconnects, and displays information about shared
network resources
net view: Shows a list of computers and network devices on the network

C. An automatic startup will start the service automatically when the PC starts. The manual startup process will occur when the application is launched by a user. There is no boot, start, or startup service type that can be configured.

D. The types of commands that PowerShell can execute include the following:
Cmdlets: Perform an action and return an output or object to the next command that will be executed
PowerShell scripts: Files with a .ps1 extension that contain PowerShell commands that are executed
PowerShell functions: Pieces of code that can be referenced in a script

B. The registry contains information about applications, users, hardware, network settings, and file types. The registry also contains a unique section for every user, which contains the settings configured by that particular user.

B. There are more than 20 releases and versions of the Windows operating system. The Windows XP release introduced 64-bit processing to Windows computing.

D. If the ping from one host to another host on a remote network is successful, this indicates that the default gateway is operational. In this scenario, if a ping from one host to the default gateway failed, it is possible that some security features are applied to the router interface, preventing it from responding to ping requests.

C. The nslookup command was created to allow a user to manually query a DNS server to resolve a given host name. The ipconfig /displaydns command only displays previously resolved DNS entries. The tracert command was created to examine the path that packets take as they cross a network and can resolve a hostname by automatically querying a DNS server. The net command is used to manage network computers, servers, printers, and network drives.

B. CLI commands are typed into the Command Prompt window of the Windows operating system. The cd\ command is used to change the directory to the Windows root directory.

A. A 32-bit operating system is capable of supporting approximately 4 GB of memory. This is because 2^32 is approximately 4 GB.

C. Network applications have specific TCP or UDP ports that can be left open or blocked in Windows Firewall. Disabling automatic IP address assignment may result in the computer not being able to connect to the network at all. Enabling MAC address filtering is not possible in Windows and would only block specific network hosts, not applications. Changing default usernames and passwords will secure the computer from unauthorized users, not from applications.

A. The Windows Task Manager utility includes a Users tab from which the system resources consumed by each user can be displayed.

On a Windows PC the Task Manager utility can be used to view the applications, processes, and services that are currently running.

As a security best practice, it is advisable not to log on to Windows using the Administrator account or an account with administrative privileges. When it is necessary to run or install software that requires the privileges of the Administrator, the user can right-click the software in the Windows File Explorer and choose Run as Administrator.

Traceroute (tracert) is a utility that generates a list of hops that were successfully reached along the path from source to destination.This list can provide important verification and troubleshooting information. The ipconfig utility is used to display the IP configuration settings on a Windows PC. The Netstat utility is used to identify which active TCP connections are open and running on a networked host. Nslookup is a utility that allows the user to manually query the name servers to resolve a given host name. This utility can also be used to troubleshoot name resolution issues and to verify the current status of the name servers.

The Registry contains all settings chosen from Control Panels, file associations, system policies, applications installed, and application license keys.

As of 2015, most personal computer motherboards are shipped with UEFI as the replacement for the BIOS program.

A ping command provides feedback on the time between when an echo request was sent to a remote host and when the echo reply was received. This can be a measure of network performance. A successful ping also indicates that the destination host was reachable through the network.

Windows Task Manager enables an end user to monitor applications, processes, and services currently running on the end device. It can be used to start or stop programs, stop processes, and display informative statistics about the device.

The types of commands that PowerShell can execute include the following:cmdlets – perform an action and return an output or object to the next command that will be executed
PowerShell scripts – files with a .ps1 extension that contain PowerShell commands that are executed
PowerShell functions – pieces of code that can be referenced in a script

With the optional switch -abno, the netstat command will display all network connections together with associated running processes. It helps a user identify possible malware connections.

The ping command tests the connection between two hosts. When ping uses a host domain name to test the connection, the resolver on the PC will first perform the name resolution to query the DNS server for the IP address of the host. If the ping command is unable to resolve the domain name to an IP address, an error will result.

Nslookup is a tool for testing and troubleshooting DNS servers.

Best practices advise not to log into systems with an administrator account, but rather a user account. When logged in as a user it is possible to run Windows utilitites, such as PowerShell and the Command Prompt as an administrator by right clicking on the utility and slecting Run as Administrator.

Event Viewer is used to investigate the history of application, security, and system events. Events show the date and time that the event occurred along with the source of the event. If a cybersecurity analyst has the address of the Windows computer targeted and/or the date and time that a security breach occurred, the analyst could use Event Viewer to document and prove what occurred on the computer.

Smartcard and file system settings do not affect network operation. MAC address settings and filtering may be used to control device network access but cannot be used to filter different data traffic types.

In the path representation in Windows CLI, the components of C:\Users\Jason\Desktop\mydocu.txt are as follows:C:\ represents the root directory of the storage device.
Users\Jason represents the file directory.
Desktop represents the current file directory.
The mydocu.txt represents the user file.

When a user installs Windows, two local user accounts are created automatically during the process, administrator and guest.

Hard disk drives are organized by several physical and logical structures. Partitions are logical portions of the disk that can be formatted to store data. Partitions consist of tracks, sectors, and clusters. Tracks are concentric rings on the disk surface. Tracks are divided into sectors and multiple sectors are combined logically to form clusters

The netsh.exe tool can be used to configure networking parameters for the PC from a command prompt.

The commands tracert and ping are used to test the connectivity of the PC to the network. The command nslookup initiates a query to an Internet domain name server.

Windows Performance Monitor is used to evaluate the performance of individual components on a Windows host computer. Commonly monitored components include the processor, hard drive, network, and memory. Windows Task Manager and Performance Monitor are used when malware is suspected and a component is not performing the way it should.

The command ipconfig is a useful tool for troubleshooting. The command will display some IP addressing configuration and the network media connection status. The command does not test the connection to the DNS server configured or test remote networks. It does not display bandwidth and throughput information.

The file system has no control over the speed of access or formatting of drives, and the ease of configuration is not file system-dependent.

These are some common net commands:
net accounts – sets password and logon requirements for users
net start – starts a network service or lists running network services
net use – connects, disconnects, and displays information about shared network resources
net view – shows a list of computers and network devices on the network
When used without options, the net accounts command displays the current settings for password, logon limitations, and domain information.

The IP address 127.0.0.1 is a loopback address on the PC. A successful ping to the loopback address indicates that the TCP/IP protocol suite is installed properly and the NIC is working as expected. A ping to the loopback address does not test the connectivity to remote networks, nor will it display bandwidth and throughput information.