Title: Computer Problem Solving - SLC - 2013
Last saved by: Diane Masters

2013 NYS FBLA SLC				
COMPUTER PROBLEM SOLVING

NEW YORK STATE FBLA
 STATE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
2013

COMPUTER PROBLEM SOLVING

PLEASE DO NOT OPEN THIS TEST UNTIL GIVEN PERMISSION

1.	Complete the information requested on the answer sheet.  PRINT your name on the “Name” line.  PRINT the name of the event COMPUTER PROBLEM SOLVING on the “Subject” line.  PRINT the name of your chapter (school) in the spaced directed.

2.	All answers must be recorded on the scantron sheet.  Please do not write on the test booklet.  Scrap paper will be provided.

3.	Read each question completely before answering.  With a No. 2 pencil, blacken in each choice completely on the answer sheet. Do not make any other marks on the answer sheet or the scoring machine will reject it.  Be sure to completely erase any changes or stray marks.

4.	You will be given 60 minutes to complete this test.  You will be given a starting signal and a signal after 50 minutes have elapsed.

Tie will be broken using the last 10 questions of the test.

1. What tool can you use to identify files that you can delete to gain more hard drive space? 
A. Disk Cleanup
B. Disk Restore
C. Disk Defragmenter
D. System Restore
 2. The RAM count on a PC is based on units of ____ bytes. 
A. 250 | C. 1000
B. 500 | D. 1024
 
3. Of the following, what will allow you to uninstall a device in Windows XP? 
A. Add or Remove Programs | C. Device Uninstaller
B. System Manager | D. Driver Manager
 
4. Where should you check to ensure you have the correct drivers for a device? 
A. i386 folder | C. manufacturer’s website
B. Windows CD-ROM | D. HCL
 
5. When troubleshooting, what should a tech keep in mind for the best success in finding the solution? 
A. time | C. money
B. migration methods | D. the computing process
 
6. Successful installation of a compatible driver is indicated by _____ symbol in Windows XP. 
A. a black “!” | C. the absence of a red “X”
B. a blue “I” | D. a red “X”
 
7. What does excessive disk thrashing indicate? 
A. Excessive RAM
B. Excessive hard disk space
C. Insufficient RAM
D. Insufficient hard disk space 
8. What is the practical CPU clock speed limit? 
A. 4 GHz
B. 256 MHz
C. 65 nm
D. 2.6 GHz 

9. What does Windows XP and later create by default every time you install new software? Hint: This helps you to recover your system if the new software causes problems. 
A. boot disk
B. device driver
C. license
D. restore point
 
10. ASCII files are commonly known as ____ files. 
A. binary | C. text
B. directory | D. Unicode
 
11. POST checks all of the following except: 
A. modem | C. CPU
B. memory | D. video
 
12. A file not within a subfolder is said to be in the ____. 
A. current directory | C. root directory
B. Disk folder | D. window
 
13. Sally has fixed a multitray printer that was jamming. After cleaning it and installing a maintenance kit, she verifies the original problem is no longer present. What else should she do? 
A. clean up and go
B. reinstall the drivers
C. tell the customer to be more careful about keeping the printer clean
D. test all trays
 
14. Which is the first electrical component to “wake up” when a computer is turned on? 
A. CPU | C. mouse
B. keyboard | D. RAM
 
15. Which of the following Windows utilities lets you quickly determine the amount of RAM currently installed in a computer? 
A. Task Manager
B. Computer Properties
C. Device Manager
D. Performance Information and Tools
 
16. What command can be used to copy entire directories including subdirectories? 
A. xcompact | C. xcmd
B. xcomp | D. xcopy
 
17. What is the best source for determining the best CPU for your motherboard? 
A. Motherboard label
B. Inspection of motherboard sockets
C. Motherboard book
D. Manufacturer's Web site
 18. Where is POST located? 
A. system ROM | C. POST expansion card
B. CMOS | D. RAM
 
19. If you overclock your CPU, which of the following will immediately occur? 
A. The CPU will break down | C. The fan will turn off
B. You will hear a warning alarm | D. Your warranty will be voided
 
20. The text-based, DOS-like user interface is also known as the ____ interface. 
A. command-line | C. mouse
B. graphical user | D. windows
 
21. What recovery tool is available from the Windows XP installation CD? 
A. Automated System Recovery
B. Last Known Good
C. Recovery Console
D. Safe Mode
 
22. Which of the following is NOT something that might be adjusted by the jumpers on your CPU? 
A. Motherboard speed | C. Monitor settings
B. Voltage | D. The multiplier
 
23. Which of the following commands will not delete a directory if it contains files or subdirectories? 
A. CD\ | C. RD
B. CD | D. MD
 
24. Which command always navigates the command-line interface back to the root directory? 
A. cd.. | C. cd/
B. cd\ | D. cd\..
 
25. Which attribute is used by backup software to identify files that have been changed since their last backup? 
A. archive | C. read-only
B. hidden | D. system

26. A laser printer creates an image of dots and holds it in memory before printing it. What is this image of dots called? 
A. Raster
B. Laser
C. Vector
D. High-resolution
27. The computer is beeping constantly after you’ve booted it. What’s a likely problem? 
A. CPU | C. RAM
B. Registry | D. power supply
 
28. What is another name for a folder? 
A. directory | C. system
B. program | D. tree
 
29. You should communicate with users the way you would want them to communicate with you. What is this called? 
A. integrity | C. positive work flow
B. confidentiality | D. respect
 
30. What do you have to lift to install a PGA-type CPU? 
A. The fan | C. The socket
B. The zero insertion force socket | D. The front panel
 
31. Which mode is identical to plain Safe Mode but provides network support? 
A. Enable Boot Logging
B. Safe Mode
C. Safe Mode with Command Prompt
D. Safe Mode with Networking
 
32. How can you easily clear the CMOS, including clearing the password? 
A. Unplug the PC.
B. Unplug the PC and remove the CMOS battery.
C. Issue a ClearCMOS command from the command line.
D. This can’t be done.

 33. Which of the following is a technique used by a CPU manufacturer to discourage the practice of overclocking? 
A. Jumpering
B. CMOS settings
C. Latency
D. Locked multipliers
 
34. When installing a modem into a PCI slot, what should be installed first, the hardware or the driver? 
A. The device
B. The hardware
C. It doesn’t matter
D. It depends on whether it’s an internal or external modem

 35. What is POST? 
A. post operative self test | C. power-on self test
B. PC operating system test | D. personal overall starter test
 
36. If you purchase a CPU packaged in this way, you will need to separately purchase a fan and heat-sink assembly. 
A. OEM CPU
B. Retail-boxed CPU
C. Mounted CPU
D. Pre-installed CPU

37. All files have ____ attributes that determine the behavior of the file in special situations. 
A. three | C. five
B. four | D. six
 
38. What causes dark ghosting on printed pages from a laser printer? 
A. A damaged laser
B. A damaged toner
C. A damaged head
D. A damaged drum

39. Where can you check to ensure particular software works with your version of Windows? 
A. the i386 folder | C. hardware manufacturer
B. the CD | D. Windows Marketplace
 
40. Current versions of Windows allow filenames of up to ____ characters. 
A. 8 | C. 255
B. 155 | D. 355
 
41. What type of motherboard problem symptom is the most difficult to diagnose? 
A. RAM
B. Catastrophic
C. Ethereal
D. Component

 42. Which attribute specifies that a file cannot be modified or deleted? 
A. hidden | C. read-write
B. read-only | D. system
 
43. Where should you look to interpret different beep codes? 
A. CPU manufacturer | C. memory manufacturer
B. BIOS manufacturer | D. Flash manufacturer
 
44. Hard drives are assigned starting with the letter ____. 
A. A: | C. C:
B. B: | D. D:
 
45. Which of the following is part of a liquid cooling system? 
A. A hollow metal block | C. A pump
B. Some device to cool the liquid | D. All of the above
 
46. A dual-core CPU has two of these execution units. 
A. Core
B. Thread
C. Pipeline
D. Cycle
 
47. The ASCII standard defines ____ 8-bit characters. 
A. 8 | C. 256
B. 255 | D. 257
 
48. If Windows generates parity errors with the same addresses, the __________ is probably at fault. 
A. BIOS
B. processor
C. power supply
D. RAM
 
49. Which wildcard character replaces a single character in the command-line interface? 
A. * | C. +
B. % | D. ?
 
50. Which tool can you use for restoring to an earlier version of the Registry and for rebuilding partitions (other than the system partition)? 
A. Automated System Recovery
B. Event Viewer
C. Recovery Console
D. System Restore
 
51. Connectors on PCI cards can get dull from oxidation. How should they be cleaned? 
A. Contact cleaning solution | C. Pencil eraser
B. Windex | D. Soft cloth with bleach
 
52. What is the fuser assembly in a laser printer almost always separate from? 
A. Laser head
B. Gearbox
C. Drum
D. Toner cartridge

 53. What is the code used to display characters? 
A. ASCII | C. C#
B. Basic | D. Directory Services
 
54. In older Windows versions, the filename was restricted to ____ characters. 
A. two | C. eight
B. six | D. ten

55. Which of the following should you consider before upgrading a CPU? 
A. Cost | C. Cooling
B. Performance | D. All of the above
 
56. What does Windows Vista use in place of the former My Documents, My Pictures, and My Music folders? 
A. Favorites, Desktop, and Downloads
B. Letters, Photos, and Audio
C. Documents, Pictures, and Music
D. .TXT, .JPEG, and .MP3

 57. The icons in the Control Panel of a Windows system are links to files with the extension _____. 
A. .BIN
B. .CPL
C. .CPP
D. .COM
 
58. What is an FRU? 
A. field replaceable unit | C. failed removable unit
B. free-reigning usability | D. fire reduction utility
 
59. What does excessive disk thrashing indicate? 
A. excessive RAM | C. insufficient RAM
B. excessive hard disk space | D. insufficient hard disk space
 
60. What is the documentation that contains all of the details about what CPU you can use and considerations for installing a CPU? 
A. The motherboard book | C. The owner’s manual
B. The help guide | D. The help desk book
 
61. Of the following, what will allow you to uninstall a device in Windows XP? 
A. System Manager | C. Device Uninstaller
B. Add or Remove Drivers | D. Device Manager
 
62. A customer is angry. How do you respond? 
A. point out that they are becoming angry | C. ignore the customer
B. avoid making it personal | D. with anger
 
63. Which of the following was the first universal file format? 
A. ASCII | C. EXE
B. DOS | D. JPEG
 
64. Which command shows the contents of the current directory? 
A. DIR | C. LIST
B. DIRECTORY | D. SHOW
 
65. Where do 64-bit versions of Windows store 32-bit application files? 
A. C:\Program Files
B. C:\Documents
C. C:\Program Files (x86)
D. C:\My Documents (x32)

66. What’s a method of clearing the CMOS password? 
A. Send it back to the factory. | C. Change the clock to 00/00/0000.
B. Flash the BIOS. | D. Remove a jumper on the motherboard.
 
67. Which type of CPU packaging comes with a fan that is rated to work with that CPU? 
A. Retail-boxed CPUs | C. OEM CPUs
B. IBM PCs | D. None of the above
 
68. What should you not touch when inserting or removing PGA CPUs to avoid destroying the CPU? 
A. The Intel chip | C. The fan
B. The pins | D. The wires
 
69. Which of the following is NOT an option for cooling your CPU? 
A. Eliminating the cooling device completely | C. EOM Fans
B. Specialized Fans | D. Liquid cooling
 
70. In Windows XP, the ____ command displays or alters the encryption of directories on NTFS partitions. 
A. CIPHER | C. COMPACT
B. COLOR | D. CONVERT
 
71. What separates the filename and extension? 
A. colon | C. hyphen
B. comma | D. period
 
72. The standard COPY/MOVE commands can work on only one ____ at a time. 
A. directory | C. program
B. file | D. prompt
 
73. A folder inside another folder is called a ____. 
A. root folder | C. subfolder
B. root file | D. sub-system
 
74. What type of communication should you use when communicating with others? 
A. aggressive | C. argumentative
B. assertive | D. passive
 
75. The CIPHER command works on ____. 
A. attributes | C. disk drives
B. directories | D. tables
 
76. To add an attribute to a file, the attribute letter is preceded by a(n) ____ sign. 
A. asterisk (*) | C. percentage (%)
B. minus (–) | D. plus (+)
 
77. When would you use the phrase, “Help me understand”? 
A. when the customer is angry
B. when the customer is defensive
C. when aggressive communication has failed
D. when eliciting answers
 
78. When is it acceptable to express anger toward a customer? 
A. after being physically attacked | C. after being verbally attacked
B. after seeing the same problem five times | D. never
 
79. The location of a file is called its ____. 
A. file | C. path
B. folder | D. root
 
80. Windows Vista Device Manager shows a black down-arrow on the icon for your network card. What does this indicate? 
A. Missing device Driver
B. Disabled device
C. Updated device driver
D. Device driver error
 
81. Several lines at the end of POST are used to find the operating system. What is this called? 
A. CMOS | C. bootstrap loader
B. Flash ROM | D. boot.ini
 
82. Which command is used to create a new directory? 
A. mkdir | C. makedir
B. md\ | D. md
 
83. What command in Windows XP displays or alters the compression of files on NTFS partitions? 
A. COMPACT | C. DOSKEY
B. CIPHER | D. XPNTFS
 
84. What’s one of the best things a tech can do when faced with a challenging problem? 
A. give up | C. stay positive
B. get angry | D. accuse the user
 
85. What should be installed first, the USB device or the USB driver? 
A. USB device | C. It doesn’t matter
B. USB driver | D. It depends on the device
 
86. Which key in the command-line interface brings back the previous command, one letter at a time? 
A. F1 | C. F10
B. F3 | D. F12
 
87. What should be installed first, the FireWire device or the FireWire driver? 
A. USB device | C. FireWire driver
B. It doesn’t matter | D. It depends on the device
 
88. When installing an expansion card, what should you be careful of? 
A. Humidity | C. Ensuring the power cord is plugged in
B. ESD damage | D. Removing the video card first
 
89. Most modern systems have only a single beep code to indicate something is wrong. What is it? 
A. three long beeps and one short beep | C. a continuous set of short beeps
B. one long beep and three short beeps | D. a continuous set of long beeps
 
90. Windows uses a ____ to organize the contents in drives. 
A. folder system | C. hierarchical file tree
B. hierarchical directory tree | D. linear directory tree
 
91. Upgrading the BIOS is also known as ________. 
A. UROMing | C. flashing
B. smoothing | D. forcing
 
92. What is another name for the thermal compound you use to install the fan on the CPU? 
A. Super glue | C. Heat dope
B. Hot glue | D. Warming compound
 
93. If a user or a technician becomes injured on the job, what should be done? 
A. don’t tell anyone
B. escalate the problem
C. escalate Au: same as B. Change to something else?
D. create an incident report
 
94. What key would you press during boot-up to get to the Advanced Startup Options menu? 
A. F1
B. F3
C. F5
D. F8
 
95. Which error symbol indicates a disabled device error? 
A. black “!” | C. green “?”
B. blue “I” | D. red “X”
 
96. If Windows generates parity errors with the same addresses, the ____ is probably at fault. 
A. BIOS | C. power supply
B. processor | D. RAM
 
97. The panic button inside the PC is called ____. 
A. CRIMM | C. MI
B. ECC | D. NMI
 
98. The command-line interface can be accessed by using the ____ dialog box in Windows. 
A. DOS | C. Settings
B. Echo | D. Run
 
99. Which chip can be reprogrammed to update its contents? 
A. Flash ROM | C. ROM
B. RAM | D. system BIOS
 
100. Which command deletes a directory? 
A. deldir | C. delroot
B. delfile | D. rd

 

ANSWER KEY

1. | A | 26. | A | 51. | A | 76. | D
2. | D | 27. | C | 52. | D | 77. | D
3. | A | 28. | A | 53. | A | 78. | D
4. | C | 29. | D | 54. | C | 79. | C
5. | D | 30. | B | 55. | D | 80. | B
6. | C | 31. | D | 56. | C | 81. | C
7. | C | 32. | B | 57. | B | 82. | D
8. | A | 33. | D | 58. | A | 83. | A
9. | D | 34. | A | 59. | C | 84. | C
10. | C | 35. | C | 60. | A | 85. | B
11. | A | 36. | A | 61. | D | 86. | A
12. | C | 37. | B | 62. | B | 87. | C
13. | D | 38. | D | 63. | A | 88. | B
14. | A | 39. | D | 64. | A | 89. | B
15. | B | 40. | C | 65. | C | 90. | B
16. | D | 41. | C | 66. | D | 91. | C
17. | C | 42. | B | 67. | A | 92. | C
18. | A | 43. | B | 68. | B | 93. | D
19. | D | 44. | C | 69. | A | 94. | D
20. | A | 45. | D | 70. | A | 95. | D
21. | C | 46. | C | 71. | D | 96. | D
22. | C | 47. | C | 72. | A | 97. | D
23. | C | 48. | D | 73. | C | 98. | D
24. | B | 49. | D | 74. | D | 99. | A
25. | A | 50. | C | 75. | B | 100. | C