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: Which of the following should be used to uniquely identify every piece of hardware installed on the corporate network, i. Follow @CertPunch and visit certpunch.com for more certification practice exams and study content.
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What you will practice
- Which of the following should be used to uniquely identify every piece of hardware installed on the corporate…
- A company wants to provide governance for how employees can utilize the corporate network, email, and laptops…
- A user reports that their web browser's homepage has changed to an unfamiliar search engine, and their defaul…
- Which of the following tools should a technician NOT use on a workstation with a solid-state drive?
- Which editions of Windows 10 can you connect to using Remote Desktop?
- Which of the following installation types would allow a single technician to quickly install Windows 10 Enter…
Answers and explanations
Tap a question to expand the answer and the exam reasoning. Try to commit to your own pick first.
Q1. Which of the following should be used to uniquely identify every piece of hardware installed on the corporate network, including servers, desktops, laptops, printers, and monitors?
Answer: C. Asset ID
An asset ID provides a unique, persistent identifier for all tracked hardware components, including those without network connectivity like monitors. IP and MAC addresses are unreliable for general asset tracking because they can change or apply only to network adapters.
Q2. A company wants to provide governance for how employees can utilize the corporate network, email, and laptops while working for the organization. Within which of the following should this be documented?
Answer: B. Acceptable use policy
An acceptable use policy outlines the rules and constraints for using corporate resources like networks and laptops. Password policies cover authentication rules, while a knowledge base contains technical troubleshooting documentation rather than user guidelines.
Q3. A user reports that their web browser's homepage has changed to an unfamiliar search engine, and their default search provider has been altered without their permission. Additionally, they notice several new browser extensions installed th…
Answer: C. The browser was infected with adware or a browser hijacker malware
Unauthorized changes to the homepage, search engine, and unknown browser extensions are classic symptoms of a browser hijacker. Browser updates and DNS changes do not secretly install malicious extensions or alter browser preferences without user consent.
Q4. Which of the following tools should a technician NOT use on a workstation with a solid-state drive?
Answer: D. Disk defragmenter
Running a disk defragmenter on a solid-state drive causes unnecessary write cycles, reducing the drive's lifespan without improving performance since SSDs do not need defragmentation. Tools like Disk Cleanup and Device Manager are completely safe for SSD maintenance.
Q5. Which editions of Windows 10 can you connect to using Remote Desktop?
Answer: B,C,D. Enterprise || Education || Pro
Remote Desktop Host is supported on Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions. The Home edition does not support hosting an RDP session, so third-party tools are required to remotely access a Windows 10 Home machine.
Q6. Which of the following installation types would allow a single technician to quickly install Windows 10 Enterprise on 50 workstations simultaneously?
Answer: B. Image deployment
Image deployment captures a master Windows configuration to simultaneously push it to multiple target machines. Repair installations and in-place upgrades only operate on a single existing system and cannot mass-deploy to fifty workstations at once.
Q7. Madison is trying to open up her anti-malware solution to run a full system scan because she suspects her computer has become infected. When she attempts to run the tool, an error of "Access denied" is received. What security issue is MOST…
Answer: A. File permission change
Malware often changes file permissions to block users from launching security tools, which generates the access denied alert. Renamed system files or missing executable components would instead trigger a file not found error.
Q8. A healthcare facility needs to permanently erase patient data stored on old magnetic hard drives before disposal. The facility wants to ensure no recovery of patient information is possible. Which method should the IT staff choose?
Answer: B. Using degaussing to disrupt the magnetic fields within drives.
Degaussing uses a powerful magnetic field to permanently destroy data on spinning hard drives, ensuring confidential patient information cannot be recovered. Drilling physically damages drives but leaves remaining intact platters vulnerable to specialized forensic extraction.
Q9. A user attempts to visit a banking website and notices the browser displaying a security warning about an invalid certificate. What is the best action the user should take to protect sensitive information?
Answer: C. Avoid entering sensitive details until the certificate issue is resolved.
Avoiding sensitive data entry protects against potential man-in-the-middle attacks when a certificate is invalid. Disabling warnings or ignoring the alert exposes the user to risk, while updating the browser will not fix a site-side certificate failure.
Q10. Abagail from the Finance department contacts you at the IT department, reporting that their Microsoft Word application crashes every time they try to open a specific document. Other documents appear to open without issues, and no recent so…
Answer: D. Attempt to open the document in Safe Mode
Opening the application in Safe Mode bypasses problematic add-ins or corrupted settings that might cause a single file to crash. Reinstalling the software or updating the operating system are inefficient first steps for an isolated document issue.
Q11. An increased amount of web traffic to an e-commerce server is observed by a network administrator but without increasing the number of financial transactions. Which kind of attack might the company be experiencing?
Answer: B. DoS
A denial-of-service attack floods a server with malicious traffic, increasing load without generating legitimate financial transactions. ARP spoofing targets local network traffic, while phishing and bluejacking rely on social engineering or Bluetooth.
Q12. You have been asked to install a computer in a public workspace. Only an authorized user should use the computer. Which of the following security requirements should you implement to prevent unauthorized users from accessing the network wi…
Answer: C. Require authentication on wake-up
Requiring authentication on wake-up ensures that anyone approaching the public computer must enter credentials to access the network. Disabling single sign-on or altering the guest account does not physically secure an unattended, active session.
Q13. What type of structure is "IF THEN ELSE" in scripting?
Answer: C. Branch
An IF THEN ELSE statement represents a branch, which controls script flow based on a logical condition. A loop repeats actions until a condition is met, while variables and constants simply store changeable or fixed data values.
Q14. You are suddenly seeing lots of automated replies for emails that you didn't write. What type of attack are you most likely experiencing?
Answer: B. Hijacked email
Receiving automated replies for emails you did not write indicates your email account was hijacked and used to send spam. Phishing and vishing are social engineering tactics designed to trick you, rather than automatically sending emails.
Q15. What does the command "shutdown /l" do on a Windows workstation?
Answer: A. Log off the workstation
The shutdown command with the /l switch logs off the current user on a Windows workstation. For the exam, remember that /s shuts down the machine, /r reboots it, and /h initiates hibernation or sleep mode.
Q16. Which command would be used to display the network address and subnet mask for the wired network connection on a Linux system?
Answer: D. ip
The ip command displays network address and subnet mask information on a Linux system. Use ipconfig specifically for Windows networking details, while netstat shows active connections and nslookup troubleshoots DNS resolution issues.
Q17. Which of the following macOS features is the equivalent of File Explorer in Windows?
Answer: C. Finder
Finder is the macOS file manager used to navigate folders and files, equivalent to Windows File Explorer. Mission Control manages multiple desktops, Spotlight handles search functions, and the Dock provides application shortcuts.
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