Windows Administrative Tools(Comptia Objective 1.5)

Question 1

What is the Computer Management inside of Windows?

Answer 1

• Also known as prebuilt Microsoft Management Console. It is has a bunch of already added snap ins.
• Comes stock with a bunch of admin snap in Administrative tools commonly found in the control panel such as device manager, event viewer, disk management, task scheduler etc.
• Handy starting point( Events, user accounts, storage management, services and more!)

Question 2

What can you type to open a clean slate Microsoft Management Console where you can add in snap ins of your choosing?

Answer 2

• hit the windows key and then hit r for run.
• Next type “ mmc.exe”
• unlike the prebuilt Computer Management utility which already has preset snapins in place mmc is a clean slate and you have to manually add in which snap ins you would like to use.
• Can be built however you would like it with the tools you use on a regular basis. Fully custom. not prebuilt like the Computer Management application.
• • Note in Windows 10 Home edition you can’t add the snap in “ local users and groups” this has to be accessed via the control panel instead.

Question 3

Why do we need the Device Manager?

Answer 3

• Because the OS doesn’t know how to talk directly to most hardware.
• Device drivers are hardware specific and operating specific so some windows 7 drivers may not work in Windows 10 etc.
• A Commonly asked Tech support question is “ Have you updated your drivers? “. The place to view these various drivers for your various computer components is within the Device Manager.
• You can find Device Manger inside of the control panel or by typing “devmgmt.msc” in the command line or inside the run window.(Windows key +R). Or simply search “ device manager” in the search bar inside windows.

Question 4

What is the Local users and groups utility used for in Windows?

Answer 4

• Used for the login process when you start up Windows. Sets username and passwords.
• Also responsible for adding and removing different user accounts and selecting their user privileges such as “Administrator(Super user)” “ Standard user” “ Guest” etc. This helps control access for each user and determine what they can and can’t do inside windows.
• Most users are members of designated groups such as administrators, Users, Backup Operators, Power users etc. a Group is a logical collection of users who share a common set of rights and permissions depending on the group they belong to. E.G. members of an admin group all have full access to make changes to a system where standard users do not. You can add and remove members from these separate groups.

Question 5

What is most commonly used in big companies to manage big group security policies?

Answer 5

• Managed through Active Directory Group Policies

Question 6

Because stand alone local computers aren’t managed through Active Directory(AD) group policies what is instead used to manage local policies?

Answer 6

• Local Security Policy utility.
• • Note this is not available in Home editions of windows. Only available in Professional /Pro, Ultimate, and Enterprise versions of Windows.
• The Local Security Policy utility is separated into separate categories such as “account policies, local policies, Windows Defender etc.
• Inside the “ Account policies” folder you can set things related to passwords such as password lengths, password age, complexities etc.”

Question 7

If you would like to collect metrics about how your computer is performing over a long period of time what utility could you use?

Answer 7

• Performance Monitor utility.
• Can be found inside the Administrative Tools folder inside the control panel.
• Can provide metrics for the OS such as Disk utilization, memory, cpu usage etc.
• Can also monitor and set alerts and automated actions that you assign if performance dips below those specified metrics.
• Can also be used to store statistics and analyze long term trends and then provide reports based upon this data.

Question 8

What is the name for background applications/processes that we don’t visually interact with when using a system?

Answer 8

• ” Services” includes things such as Print spooler, file indexing, anti-virus, network browing etc.
• Has no user interaction.
• Many services startup automatically in the background when you start up windows.
• Services is a useful tool to use when troubleshooting the startup process.
• Services can be accessed inside the task manager and can also be controlled inside the command line. using commands such as “ net start” “ net stop” etc.
• Services can also be found inside of the Control panel. Can also be launched by typing “services” into the search bar, or inside the run feature or command prompt typing “services.msc”

Question 9

If you ever need an application or batch file execute automatically at a scheduled time what utility could you use to achieve this?

Answer 9

• Task scheduler
• Schedules an application or batch file( Plan your future) to execute at a certain time of the day.
• Instead of choosing your own task and times for actions to be taken you can also use the predefined schedules( Click and go)
• Task scheduler has built in folders to help organize exactly what it is you’re looking for.
• Task scheduler can be found inside of the Control Panel under Administrative Tools
• To find out more info about a scheduled task simply click on the folder for the specified task and in the rightside window it will provide the assigned schedule for that task.
• You can create your own tasks on top of the prebuilt ones using the Actions pane on the far right side of the window and select “ create task”

Question 10

What is the Microsoft COM+? And what utility is often used to control aspects of it.

Answer 10

• The Microsoft Component Object Model is a common model for developers to develop applications for the windows platform.
• Commonly used in the Enterprise where app developers are developing object orientated applications for an organization.
• If you are creating these applications for Windows platform you would want to use the Component Services utility/app. Allows you to manage COM+apps, used in conjunction with Event viewer and Services so that you get a total view of everything that is happening with that application.

Question 11

What is the ODBC Data Sources and what is it used for?

Answer 11

• ODBC Open database connectivity.
• This allows app developers to develop an application without worrying about what type of database that may be running on the back end.
• This means the application can focus on the functionality of the application and the end user can decide upon the type of database they would like to use for the application in their environment.
• This can be configured inside the Control panel under administrative tools( Most users won’t need this_

Question 12

If you wanted to add in a different type of database that will be used with your application how would you go about doing this?

Answer 12

• Open up ODBC data source and run as an administrator and then under the user DSN tab you would hit the add button.

Question 13

If you’re a system administrator then you’re also a printer administrator. Where can you manage all of these printers and control?

Answer 13

• Print Management utility inside of the Control panel under administrative tools. Or just search “ print management” using windows search feature.
• Allows you to manage printers, share printers from one central console
• Also can add and manage printer drivers and is the central management of 32-bit and 64-bit drivers.

** Note the Print Management utility is not available for the Home editions of Windows.

Question 14

What is the Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool used for?

Answer 14

• Windows diagnostics will tell you if your memory is working properly
• May be notified automatically or it can be launched manually.
• Runs multiple passes and try to find the bad chip/module.
• Memory Diagnostics can be found under the Control panel under Administrative tools.

Question 15

There are a lot of events happening inside of Windows many of which without you even knowing they are occurring. Where can these events/errors be viewed?

Answer 15

• Event Viewer
• Central event consolidation which will tell you what happened.
• Commonly used for troubleshooting.
• Will break down events into different categories such as Application, Security, Setup and system.
• Also breaks down different events into separate priorities such as Information, Warning, Error, Critical error, Successful Audit and Failure Audit.
• You can see detailed information about any error codes and determine a root cause of the issue.