Practice for the CompTIA A+ Core 2 exam with 17 exam-style practice questions, instant answer reveals, and concise explanations of every correct answer. Topics include: A user downloads what appears to be a legitimate banking app from a third-party app store, using the bank's official log. Follow @CertPunch and visit certpunch.com for more certification practice exams and study content.
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What you will practice
- A user downloads what appears to be a legitimate banking app from a third-party app store, using the bank's o…
- A user's work phone battery drains rapidly, requiring multiple daily charges. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are always…
- Which of the following is a key reason why FAT32 is still commonly used on USB flash drives?
- After installing a secondary hard drive, a Windows 10 PC displays 'BOOTMGR is missing' on boot. Both drives a…
- After running the command 'ipconfig /all' you see that your IP address is 169.254.34.12. Why does this explai…
- Which command is used to create a new disk partition on a Windows system?
Answers and explanations
Tap a question to expand the answer and the exam reasoning. Try to commit to your own pick first.
Q1. A user downloads what appears to be a legitimate banking app from a third-party app store, using the bank's official logo and name. After installing and logging in, the user notices unauthorized transactions appearing in their actual bank…
Answer: B. Application spoofing
Application spoofing uses fake apps masquerading as legitimate software to steal user credentials. Because the malicious app was downloaded from a third-party store and displays a fake interface, it differs from network interception or generic phishing emails.
Q2. A user's work phone battery drains rapidly, requiring multiple daily charges. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are always enabled, screen brightness is high, and multiple apps send frequent notifications. What is the best solution to improve battery li…
Answer: C. Enable battery saver mode and adjust screen brightness
Enabling battery saver mode and lowering screen brightness directly reduce active power drain without compromising essential functionality. Replacing the battery is premature without diagnostic evidence of hardware failure or chemical degradation.
Q3. Which of the following is a key reason why FAT32 is still commonly used on USB flash drives?
Answer: B. It provides universal compatibility across multiple operating systems
FAT32 remains popular for USB flash drives because nearly all operating systems and devices natively support it. Be careful, though: it has a strict four-gigabyte individual file size limit and lacks modern security or speed features.
Q4. After installing a secondary hard drive, a Windows 10 PC displays 'BOOTMGR is missing' on boot. Both drives are recognized in BIOS. What command should you use next to restore boot functionality?
Answer: A. bootrec /fixboot
Running bootrec /fixboot writes a new boot sector to the system partition, which resolves BOOTMGR errors. diskpart manages partitions, while chkdsk and sfc check disk or file integrity but do not directly repair the boot loader.
Q5. After running the command 'ipconfig /all' you see that your IP address is 169.254.34.12. Why does this explain why you can't access the internet?
Answer: B. The workstation couldn't reach the DHCP server
An IP address starting with 169.254 indicates an APIPA address, which Windows assigns when it cannot reach a DHCP server. Without a valid DHCP lease, the workstation lacks proper gateway or DNS settings to reach the internet.
Q6. Which command is used to create a new disk partition on a Windows system?
Answer: A. diskpart
Diskpart is the command-line utility used to create, delete, and manage disk partitions in Windows. Format prepares the file system, chkdsk checks for file system errors, and dd is primarily used for low-level copying in Linux environments.
Q7. Which of the following Control Panel options should a technician configure to automatically adjust the volume of different sounds when the computer is being used to place or receive telephone calls?
Answer: C. Sound
The Sound Control Panel contains a Communications tab that lets Windows automatically mute or reduce the volume of other sounds during phone calls. Ease of Access handles accessibility features, while USB selective suspend manages power for connected devices.
Q8. A user with an Android smartphone (model DTA) reports that an app crashes on launch. The app works on other models and on other users' phones. What should you try FIRST?
Answer: A. Clear the local application cache
Clearing the local application cache removes corrupted temporary data that commonly causes mobile apps to crash on startup. Reinstalling or rolling back are valid follow-up steps if the cache clearing fails to resolve the launch issue.
Q9. A user has reported that their workstation is running very slowly. A technician begins to investigate the issue and notices a lot of unknown processes running in the background. The technician determines that the user has recently download…
Answer: A. Trojan
A trojan hides malicious background processes inside what looks like a legitimate downloaded application. Ransomware focuses on encrypting data for ransom, while keylogging specifically aims to silently capture user keystrokes.
Q10. A technician needs to add new features to an existing router on the network. Which of the following should be performed to add the new features?
Answer: B. Firmware update
A firmware update introduces new features and functionality directly to networking hardware. Vulnerability patching secures the router against known exploits, but it does not provide the requested operational enhancements.
Q11. Your company wants to increase the security of its server room. Which TWO of the following should they install to protect the server room's contents?
Answer: B,E. Biometric lock || Badge reader
Installing a biometric lock and a badge reader provides physical access control and multifactor authentication for the server room. Strong passwords secure the servers logically, while cable locks and bollards protect different physical assets.
Q12. Bradley has been authorized to work from home every Friday. Normally, he can use his work laptop from home while still accessing the company's internal network shares, but for some reason, it isn't working today. What is MOST likely the ca…
Answer: B. An inactive VPN connection
Remote workers need an active VPN connection to securely tunnel into the corporate network and access internal shares. If the VPN is disconnected, the laptop only has standard internet access and cannot reach private resources, whereas patches and anti-malware don't block shares directly.
Q13. An employee can receive but not send messages in a workplace chat app. Other network services work fine. What is the most likely cause?
Answer: B. The employee lacks permission to send messages.
The ability to receive but not send messages in a fully functional app points directly to a user permission issue restricting outgoing actions. If the internet connection were down or a network outage occurred, all messaging functions and other network services would completely fail.
Q14. Which command-line tool is used on a Windows system to move upward in a directory within the system's directory structure?
Answer: C. cd ..
The cd .. command moves up one directory level in the file system. On modern Windows systems, the ls command is a valid PowerShell alias for listing directory contents, making it a plausible but incorrect distractor for the specific action asked.
Q15. Which TWO of the following would provide the BEST security for both computers and smartphones?
Answer: E,F. Enforcing trusted software sources || Enabling multifactor authentication
Multifactor authentication and trusted software sources apply universally across both computers and smartphones. Cable locks and access control vestibules are strong distractors but fail the dual requirement because they are not practical security controls for smartphones.
Q16. You are troubleshooting a user's laptop that is unable to print a document. You have verified the printer is working and properly connected to the workstation by USB. Which of the following actions should you attempt to fix the problem in…
Answer: A. Restart the print spooler service
Restarting the print spooler clears stuck print jobs in the Windows queue so documents can print again. Rolling back USB drivers is a weaker option here because the prompt already verifies the hardware connection to the printer is working properly.
Q17. A small doctor's office has asked you to configure their network to use the highest levels of wireless security and desktop authentication. The office only uses cloud-based SaaS applications to store their patient's sensitive data. Which T…
Answer: C,D. Multifactor || WPA2
WPA2 provides the required strong wireless encryption, while multifactor authentication secures the desktop access. While RADIUS is excellent for network access control, the question emphasizes desktop and cloud application authentication, making MFA the better fit.
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