James Pengelly - The Official CompTIA A+ Core 1 and Core 2 Study Guide (Exams 220-1101 & 220-1102)

Review Activity: System Memory

Virtual RAM or virtual memory. The operating system creates a virtual address space for each process. This address space can use physical system random-access memory (RAM) modules and swap space or paging files stored on fixed disks (hard drives and SSDs). Paging moves data between system RAM and the swap space as required.

No. The DDR generation of the motherboard slot and modules must match. You can only use DDR3 modules.

Check the vendor's setup/service manual. Many systems will use the slots marked A1 and B1, but it's best not to proceed without consulting the vendor's documentation.

No. If the vendor documentation specifies registered memory (RDIMMs), you must use RDIMM modules. Unbuffered DIMMs (UDIMMs) will not be compatible even if they are ECC.

Review Activity: Print Device Issues

Answer the following questions:

Review Activity: Browser Security

The package can be signed using a developer certificate issued by a trusted certificate authority. Alternatively, a cryptographic hash of the installer can be made, and this value can be given to each support technician. When installing the software, the technician can make his or her own hash of the downloaded installer and compare it to the reference hash.

No. The chrome://flags page is for advanced configuration settings. General user, security, and privacy settings are configured via chrome://settings.

That the browser address bar displays the lock icon to indicate that the site uses a trusted certificate. This validates the site identity and protects information submitted via the form from interception.

False. Incognito mode can prevent the use of cookies but cannot conceal the users source IP address. You do not need to include this in your answer, but the main way to conceal the source IP address is to connect to sites via a virtual private network (VPN).

OS Compatibility Issues

One of the major challenges of supporting a computing environment composed of devices that use different operating systems is compatibility concerns. Compatibility concerns can be considered in several categories: OS compatibility with device hardware, software app compatibility with an OS, host-to-host compatibility for exchanging data over a network, and user training requirements.

Hardware Compatibility and Update Limitations

When you plan to install a new version of an operating system as an upgrade or replace one OS with another, you must check that your computer meets the new hardware requirements. There is always a chance that some change in a new OS version will have update limitations that make the CPU and memory technology incompatible or cause hardware device drivers written for an older version not to work properly. For example, Windows 11 requires a CPU or motherboard with support for trusted platform module (TPM) version 2. This strongly limits its compatibility with older PCs and laptops.

Running PC Health Check to verify compatibility with Windows 11. This computers CPU is not supported, and it does not have a version 2 TPM. (Screenshot courtesy of Microsoft.)

Software Compatibility

A software application is coded to run on a particular OS. You cannot install an app written for iOS on an Android smartphone, for instance. The developer must create a different version of the app. This can be relatively easy for the developer or quite difficult, depending on the way the app is coded and the target platforms. The app ecosystemthe range of software available for a particular OSis a big factor in determining whether an OS becomes established in the marketplace.

Network Compatibility

Compatibility is also a consideration for how devices running different operating systems can communicate on data networks. Devices running different operating systems cannot "talk" to one another directly. The operating systems must support common network protocols that allow data to be exchanged in a standard format.

User Training and Support

Different desktop styles introduced by a new OS version or changing from one OS to another can generate issues as users struggle to navigate the new desktop and file system. An upgrade project must take account of this and prepare training programs and self-help resources as well as p repare technicians to provide support on the new interface.

In the business client market, upgrade limitations and compatibility concerns make companies reluctant to update to new OS versions without extensive testing. As extensive testing is very expensive, they are generally reluctant to adopt new versions without a compelling need to do so.

These compatibility concerns are being mitigated somewhat using web applications and cloud services. A web application only needs the browser to be compatible, not the whole OS. The main compatibility issue for a web application is supporting a touch interface and a very wide range of display resolutions on the different devices that might connect to it.