Comptia A Certification All in One Exam Guide Exams 220 901 220 902 Ninth Edition Meyers Full Chapter

CompTIA A+ certification all-in-one
exam guide (exams 220-901 & 220-902)

Ninth Edition Meyers
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michael Meyers is the industry’s leading authority on CompTIA A+ and CompTIA
Network+ certifications. He is the president and founder of Total Seminars, LLC, a
major provider of computer and network repair seminars for thousands of organizations
throughout the world, and a member of CompTIA.
Mike has written numerous popular textbooks, including the best-selling Mike Mey-
ers’ CompTIA A+® Guide to Managing & Troubleshooting PCs and Mike Meyers’ CompTIA
Network+® Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting Networks.
About the Contributor

Scott Jernigan wields a mighty red pen as Editor in Chief for Total Seminars. With a
Master of Arts degree in Medieval History, Scott feels as much at home in the musty
archives of London as he does in the crisp IPS glow of Total Seminars’ Houston HQ.
After fleeing a purely academic life, he dove headfirst into IT, working as an instructor,
editor, and writer.
Scott has written, edited, and contributed to dozens of books on computer literacy,
hardware, operating systems, networking, and certification, including Computer
Literacy—Your Ticket to IC3 Certification, and co-authoring with Mike Meyers the All-in-
One CompTIA Strata® IT Fundamentals Exam Guide.
Scott has taught computer classes all over the United States, including stints at the
United Nations in New York and the FBI Academy in Quantico. Practicing what he
preaches, Scott is a CompTIA A+ and CompTIA Network+ certified technician, a Mi-
crosoft Certified Professional, a Microsoft Office User Specialist, and Certiport Internet
and Computing Core Certified.
About the Technical Editor

Chris Crayton (CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+, MCSE) is an author, editor, tech-
nical consultant, and trainer. Chris has worked as a computer technology and network-
ing instructor, information security director, network administrator, network engineer,
and PC specialist. Chris has authored several print and online books on PC Repair,
CompTIA A+, CompTIA Security+, and Microsoft Windows. Chris has served as tech-
nical editor on numerous professional technical titles for leading publishing companies,
including the CompTIA A+ All-in-One Exam Guide, the CompTIA A+ Certification Study
Guide, and the Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+ Certification Passport.
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ALL ■ IN ■ ONE
CompTIA
A+ ®
Certification
EXAM GUIDE
Ninth Edition
(Exam 220-901 & 220-902)
Mike Meyers
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Athens • London • Madrid • Mexico City
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To my grandson, Stephen Meyers Kelly.

Can’t wait to dismantle our first system together!
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Becoming a CompTIA Certified

IT Professional Is Easy
It’s also the best way to reach greater professional opportunities and rewards.
Why Get CompTIA Certified?
Growing Demand
Labor estimates predict some technology fields will experience growth of more than 20%
by the year 2020. (Source: CompTIA 9th Annual Information Security Trends study:
500 U.S. IT and Business Executives Responsible for Security.) CompTIA certification
qualifies the skills required to join this workforce.
Higher Salaries
IT professionals with certifications on their resume command better jobs, earn higher
salaries, and have more doors open to new multi-industry opportunities.
Verified Strengths
91% of hiring managers indicate CompTIA certifications are valuable in validating IT exper-
tise, making certification the best way to demonstrate your competency and knowledge to
employers. (Source: CompTIA Employer Perceptions of IT Training and Certification.)
Universal Skills
CompTIA certifications are vendor neutral—which means that certified professionals can pro-
ficiently work with an extensive variety of hardware and software found in most organizations.
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Learn more about what Purchase a voucher at a Congratulations on your

the exam covers by Pearson VUE testing center CompTIA certification!
reviewing the following: or at CompTIAstore.com. • Make sure to add your
• Exam objectives for • Register for your exam at a certification to your resume.
key study points. Pearson VUE testing center.
• Check out the CompTIA
• Sample questions for a general • Visit pearsonvue.com/CompTIA to Certification Roadmap to plan
overview of what to expect find the closest testing center to you. your next career move.
on the exam and examples
of question format. • Schedule the exam online. You will
be required to enter your voucher
• Visit online forums, like LinkedIn, to number or provide payment
see what other IT professionals say information at registration.
about CompTIA exams.
• Take your certification exam.
Learn More: Certification.CompTIA.org/aplus
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CONTENTS AT A GLANCE
Chapter 1 The Path of the PC Tech .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Chapter 2 Operational Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Chapter 3 The Visible Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Chapter 4 Microprocessors .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Chapter 5 RAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Chapter 6 BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Chapter 7 Motherboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Chapter 8 Power Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Chapter 9 Hard Drive Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Chapter 10 Implementing Hard Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
Chapter 11 Essential Peripherals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
Chapter 12 Building a PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475
Chapter 13 Windows Under the Hood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
Chapter 14 Users, Groups, and Permissions .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
Chapter 15 Maintaining and Optimizing Operating Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613
Chapter 16 Working with the Command-Line Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 653
Chapter 17 Troubleshooting Operating Systems .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703
Chapter 18 Virtualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759
Chapter 19 Display Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 797
Chapter 20 Essentials of Networking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859
Chapter 21 Local Area Networking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 895
Chapter 22 Wireless Networking .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 945
Chapter 23 The Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 983
Chapter 24 Portable Computing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1045
Chapter 25 Understanding Mobile Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1099
Chapter 26 Care and Feeding of Mobile Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1147
ix
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CompTIA A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide

x
Chapter 27 Printers and Multifunction Devices .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1179
Chapter 28 Securing Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1231
Appendix A Mapping to the CompTIA A+ Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1289
Appendix B About the CD-ROM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1331
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1335
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1419
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxix
Chapter 1 The Path of the PC Tech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
CompTIA A+ Certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Who Is CompTIA? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The Path to Other Certifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
CompTIA A+ Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Windows-Centric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Windows 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Exam 220–901 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Exam 220-902 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
The Path to Certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Finding a Testing Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Exam Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
How to Pass the CompTIA A+ Exams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Historical/Conceptual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Chapter 2 Operational Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
902 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
The Professional Tech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Appearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
The Traits of a Tech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Effective Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Assertive Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Respectful Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Eliciting Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Expectations and Follow-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Tools of the Trade and Personal Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Antistatic Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Personal Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Physical Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Troubleshooting Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
xi
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xii
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Chapter 3 The Visible Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
The Computing Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
The Computing Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Stages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Why the Process Matters to Techs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Breaking It Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
901 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Computing Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
902 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Computing Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Common Operating System Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
User Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
File Structures and Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
The Tech Launch Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Chapter 3 Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Chapter 4 Microprocessors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
CPU Core Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
The Man in the Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Back to the External Data Bus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Memory and RAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Address Bus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
901 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Modern CPUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Developers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Selecting and Installing CPUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Selecting a CPU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Installation Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Troubleshooting CPUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Symptoms of Overheating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Catastrophic Failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Beyond A+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Intel Core M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
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Contents
xiii
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Chapter 5 RAM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Understanding DRAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Organizing DRAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Practical DRAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
DRAM Sticks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Consumer RAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Types of RAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
SDRAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
RDRAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
901 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
DDR SDRAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
DDR2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
DDR2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
DDR3L/DDR3U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
DDR4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
RAM Variations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Working with RAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Do You Need More RAM? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Getting the Right RAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Installing DIMMs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Installing SO-DIMMs in Laptops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Troubleshooting RAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Testing RAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Chapter 6 BIOS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
901 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
We Need to Talk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Talking to the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
CMOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Modify CMOS: The Setup Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Typical CMOS Setup Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Option ROM and Device Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Option ROM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Device Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
BIOS, BIOS, Everywhere! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
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Power-On Self Test (POST) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Before and During the Video Test: The Beep Codes . . . . . . . 214
Text Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
POST Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
The Boot Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Care and Feeding of BIOS and CMOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Default/Optimized Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Clearing CMOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Losing CMOS Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Flashing the ROM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Chapter 7 Motherboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
How Motherboards Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Form Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
901 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Chipset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Motherboard Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Expansion Bus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Structure and Function of the Expansion Bus . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
PCI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
AGP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
PCI-X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Mini-PCI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
PCI Express . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Installing Expansion Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Troubleshooting Expansion Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Upgrading and Installing Motherboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Choosing the Motherboard and Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Installing the Motherboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Troubleshooting Motherboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Symptoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Chapter 8 Power Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Understanding Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
901 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
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Powering the PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
Supplying AC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
902 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
901 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Supplying DC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Installing and Maintaining Power Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Installing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
Cooling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
Troubleshooting Power Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
No Motherboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
When Power Supplies Die Slowly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
Fuses and Fire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Beyond A+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
It Glows! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
Modular Power Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Temperature and Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Chapter 9 Hard Drive Technologies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
How Hard Drives Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Magnetic Hard Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
901 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Solid-State Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Hybrid Hard Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
Parallel and Serial ATA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
PATA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
SATA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Protecting Data with RAID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
RAID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
Implementing RAID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
Hardware Versus Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
Installing Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
Choosing Your Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
Jumpers and Cabling on PATA Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
Cabling SATA Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
Connecting Solid-State Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
BIOS Support: Configuring CMOS and Installing Drivers . . . . . . . 335
Configuring Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
Autodetection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
Boot Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
Enabling AHCI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
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Troubleshooting Hard Drive Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
Chapter 10 Implementing Hard Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
Hard Drive Partitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
902 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
Master Boot Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
Dynamic Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
GUID Partition Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
Other Partition Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
When to Partition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
Partition Naming Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
Hard Drive Formatting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
File Systems in Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
FAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
FAT32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
NTFS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
FAT64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
File Systems in Mac OS X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
File Systems in Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
The Partitioning, Formatting, and Pooling Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Bootable Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
Partitioning and Formatting with the Installation Media . . . . 368
Disk Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
Formatting a Partition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
Storage Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
Maintaining and Troubleshooting Hard Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
901 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
Troubleshooting Hard Drive Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
Beyond A+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
Third-Party Partition Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
Chapter 11 Essential Peripherals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
901 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
Supporting Common Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
USB Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
FireWire Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
Thunderbolt Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
General Port Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
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Common Peripherals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
Keyboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422
Pointing Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
Biometric Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
Smart Card Readers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
Bar Code Readers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
Touch Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
Motion Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
KVM Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
Gamepads and Joysticks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
Digitizers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
Multimedia Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
Video Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
TV Tuners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
Smart TV and Set-Top Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
Storage Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
Flash Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
Optical Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474
Chapter 12 Building a PC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475
901 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475
Specialized Custom PCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475
Evaluating Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475
Workstation PCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476
Specialized Consumer PCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481
902 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
Installing and Upgrading Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
Media Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
Types of Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492
The Installation and Upgrade Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
Troubleshooting Installation Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508
Post-Installation Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510
Patches, Service Packs, and Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510
Upgrading Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511
Restoring User Data Files (If Applicable) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511
Migrating and Retiring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511
No Installation Is Perfect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514
Beyond A+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516
Installing Windows 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519
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Chapter 13 Windows Under the Hood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
902 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
Registry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
Accessing the Registry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522
Registry Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522
Talkin’ Registry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523
Manual Registry Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525
Command-Line Registry Editing Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526
The Boot Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
Processes, Services, and Threads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528
Task Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528
Performance Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
Tools for Programmers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554
Component Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554
Data Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558
Chapter 14 Users, Groups, and Permissions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
902 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
Authentication with Users and Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
User Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560
Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562
Configuring Users and Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563
Local Users and Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574
Authorization Through NTFS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577
NTFS Permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 578
Inheritance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581
Permission Propagation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583
Techs and Permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 584
Permissions in Linux and Mac OS X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585
Sharing Resources Securely . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587
Sharing a Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589
Add/Edit Users and/or Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590
Administrative Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593
Protecting Data with Encryption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594
Beyond Sharing Users and Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597
Security Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597
User Account Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599
How UAC Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602
How to Turn Off UAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606
UAC in Modern Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607
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Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612
Chapter 15 Maintaining and Optimizing Operating Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613
902 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614
Maintaining Operating Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614
Windows Patch Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614
Patch Management in Mac OS X and Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617
Managing Temporary Files in Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 618
Registry Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619
Disk Maintenance Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620
Scheduling Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622
Controlling Autostarting Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624
System Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 628
Optimizing Operating Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629
Installing and Removing Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629
Installing/Optimizing a Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 634
Performance Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637
Preparing for Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638
Backing Up Personal Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638
System Restore in Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651
Chapter 16 Working with the Command-Line Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 653
902 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654
Deciphering the Command-Line Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654
Shells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655
Accessing the Command-Line Interface in Windows . . . . . . . 655
Accessing the Command-Line Interface
in Mac OS X and Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 657
The Command Prompt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 659
Closing the Terminal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 659
Filenames and File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 659
Drives and Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661
Mastering Fundamental Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 662
Structure: Syntax and Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
Viewing Directory Contents: dir and ls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
Changing Directory Focus: The cd Command . . . . . . . . . . . 666
Moving Between Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667
Making Directories: The md/mkdir Command . . . . . . . . . . . 668
Removing Directories: The rd Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 670
Running a Program in Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 672
Running a Program in Mac OS X and Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673
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Working with Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 675
Using Wildcards to Locate Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 675
Deleting Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677
Copying and Moving Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678
Pruning and Grafting Folder Trees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 680
Assorted Windows Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682
chkdsk (/f /r) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682
format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682
hostname . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683
gpupdate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684
gpresult . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684
sfc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684
shutdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685
Using Special Keys in Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685
Using Special Keys in Mac OS X and Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686
Beyond A+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686
The compact and cipher Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686
902 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690
PowerShell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690
Assorted Mac OS X and Linux Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692
ifconfig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692
iwconfig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 693
ps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 693
grep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 695
apt-get . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 695
vi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 697
dd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699
shutdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699
passwd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 702
Chapter 17 Troubleshooting Operating Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703
902 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704
Failure to Boot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704
Failure to Boot: Hardware or Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . 705
Failure to Boot: Windows XP (A CompTIA Retro Moment) . 706
Failure to Boot: Modern Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710
Failure to Boot: Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729
Failure to Start Normally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729
Device Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 730
Registry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731
Advanced Startup Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 732
Troubleshooting Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 736
More Control Panel Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 742
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Application Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747
Application Installation Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747
Problems with Uninstalling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 749
Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750
Missing File or Incorrect File Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753
Crashing Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753
Volume Shadow Copy Service and System Protection . . . . . . 754
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 756
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 756
Review Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 758
Chapter 18 Virtualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759
What Is Virtualization? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760
Meet the Hypervisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 762
Emulation Versus Virtualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 765
Client-Side Virtualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766
902 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 779
Why Do We Virtualize? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 779
Power Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 779
Hardware Consolidation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 779
System Management and Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 780
Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 781
Real-world Virtualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 781
To the Cloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 784
The Service-Layer Cake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 785
Ownership and Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 790
Why We Cloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 792
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 793
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 793
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 795
Chapter 19 Display Technologies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 797
Video Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 798
CRT Monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 798
901 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801
LCD Monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 802
Projectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813
Plasma Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 816
Common Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 816
Display Adapters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 820
Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 820
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901 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823
Motherboard Slot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823
Graphics Processor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 825
Video Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 826
Integrated GPUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 828
Connector Types and Associated Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 828
Installing and Configuring Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 833
Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 834
902 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 835
Working with Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 844
3-D Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 844
Troubleshooting Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 851
Troubleshooting Video Cards/Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 851
Troubleshooting Monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852
Beyond A+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 854
Changing Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 854
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 855
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 855
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 857
Chapter 20 Essentials of Networking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859
902 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859
Roles Hosts Play in Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859
Networking Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 863
901 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 864
Frames and NICs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 864
Ethernet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 867
Ethernet with Twisted Pair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 870
Ethernet with Alternative Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 872
Implementing Ethernet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875
The Typical LAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875
Structured Cabling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877
Going Wide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 891
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 892
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 892
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 893
Chapter 21 Local Area Networking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 895
901/902 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 896
TCP/IP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 896
Network Addressing with IPv4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 896
Network Addressing with IPv6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 909
Installing and Configuring a Wired Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 915
Installing a NIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 915
Configuring a Network Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 919
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Sharing and Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 919
Network Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 920
Network Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 920
Troubleshooting Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 933
Repairing Physical Cabling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 934
Fixing Common Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 938
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 941
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 941
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 942
Chapter 22 Wireless Networking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 945
Wireless Networking Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 945
901 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 948
Wireless Networking Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 949
Wireless Network Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 950
902 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 952
Wireless Networking Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 952
901 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 955
Speed and Range Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 955
Wireless Networking Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 956
IEEE 802.11-Based Wireless Networking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 956
Other Wireless Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 959
902 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 962
Installing and Configuring Wireless Networking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 962
Wi-Fi Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 962
Bluetooth Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 971
Cellular Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 974
Troubleshooting Wi-Fi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975
Hardware Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 976
Software Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 976
Connectivity Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 977
Configuration Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 978
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 979
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 979
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 981
Chapter 23 The Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 983
How the Internet Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 983
Internet Tiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 984
TCP/IP—The Common Language of the Internet . . . . . . . . 986
Internet Service Providers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 986
Connection Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 986
901 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 988
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Connecting to the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 988
Dial-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 988
DSL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 993
Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 994
Fiber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995
Wi-Fi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995
Cellular . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 996
Satellite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 998
Connection to the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 998
Internet Application Protocols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1004
902 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1007
The World Wide Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1007
E-mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1014
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1020
Telnet and SSH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1022
SFTP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1023
Voice over IP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1023
Remote Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1024
Virtual Private Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1028
Support Applications (Internet Utilities) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1031
901 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1032
Internet Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1032
No Connectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1033
Limited Connectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1035
Local Connectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1035
Slow Transfer Speeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1036
Beyond A+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1037
Online Gaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1038
Chat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1038
File Sharing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1039
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1042
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1042
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1043
Chapter 24 Portable Computing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1045
Portable Computing Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1046
Taxonomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1046
901 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1052
Input Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1052
Display Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1054
Extending Portable Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1056
Single-Function Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1056
Networking Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1060
Portable-Specific Expansion Slots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1061
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Storage Card Slots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1063
General-Purpose Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1063
Managing and Maintaining Portable Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1065
Batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1065
Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1066
Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1075
Heat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1075
Protecting the Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1076
Upgrading and Repairing Laptop Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1078
Disassembly Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1078
Standard Upgrades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1081
Hardware Replacement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1086
Troubleshooting Portable Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1090
Power and Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1090
Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1092
Chapter 24 Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1096
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1096
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1098
Chapter 25 Understanding Mobile Devices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1099
901 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1100
Types of Mobile Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1100
Smartphones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1100
Tablets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1102
Phablets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1103
E-Readers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1104
Wearable Technology Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1104
Mobile Hardware Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1107
902 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1110
Meet the Big Three Mobile OSs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1110
Apple iOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1111
Google Android . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1111
Microsoft Windows Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1113
Mobile OS Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1113
Configuring a Mobile Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1122
Enhancing Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1122
Adding Apps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1126
Network Connectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1129
Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1131
E-mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1132
Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1134
Mobile Device Communication and Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1139
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1144
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1144
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1146
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Chapter 26 Care and Feeding of Mobile Devices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1147
901/902 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1147
Troubleshooting Mobile Device Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1147
Touchscreen Is Nonresponsive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1148
App Not Loading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1149
Slow Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1149
E-mail Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1149
Battery Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1151
Swollen Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1152
Overheating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1153
Frozen System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1153
Cannot Broadcast to an External Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1154
No Sound from Speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1154
GPS and Location Services Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1154
System Lockout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1156
Troubleshooting Steps and Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1157
Securing Mobile Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1158
BYOD vs. Corporate-Owned Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1158
Profile Security Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1158
Preventing Physical Damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1160
Combating Malware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1161
Dealing with Loss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1162
Recovering from Theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1164
Securing Your Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1165
Mobile OS and Application Security Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1169
Connectivity and Data Usage Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1169
Unauthorized Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1171
Unauthorized Data Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1171
Unauthorized Account Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1172
Unauthorized Root Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1172
Unauthorized Location Tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1173
Unauthorized Camera and Microphone Activation . . . . . . . . 1173
Troubleshooting Steps and Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1174
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1175
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1175
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1177
Chapter 27 Printers and Multifunction Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1179
901 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1180
Printer and Multifunction Device Components and Technologies . . 1180
Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1180
Scanners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1194
Copy and Fax Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1199
Connectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1199
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The Laser Printing Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1200
Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1201
Charging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1202
Exposing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1203
Developing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1203
Transferring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1204
Fusing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1204
Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1204
Installing a Multifunction Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1206
Setting Up Printers in Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1206
Configuring Print Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1212
Optimizing Print Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1214
Managing Shared/Public/Networked Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . 1214
Troubleshooting Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1215
Troubleshooting General Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1215
Troubleshooting Impact Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1220
Troubleshooting Thermal Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1220
Troubleshooting Inkjet Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1220
Troubleshooting Laser Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1223
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1228
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1228
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1229
Chapter 28 Securing Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1231
902 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1231
Analyzing Threats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1231
Unauthorized Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1232
Social Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1232
Data Destruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1234
Administrative Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1234
System Crash/Hardware Failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1235
Physical Theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1235
Malware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1236
Environmental Threats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1236
Security Concepts and Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1239
Access Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1239
Data Classification and Compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1249
Licensing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1250
Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1251
Network Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1254
Malicious Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1254
Malware Signs and Symptoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1262
Malware Prevention and Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1263
Firewalls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1272
xxvii
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xxviii
Internet Appliances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1280
Authentication and Encryption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1281
Wireless Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1285
Chapter 28 Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1286
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1286
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1288
Appendix A Mapping to the CompTIA A+ Objectives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1289
220-901 Exam Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1289
220-902 Exam Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1309
Appendix B About the CD-ROM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1331
Playing the Mike Meyers Introduction Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1331
System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1331
Total Tester Exam Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1331
Pre-assessment Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1332
TotalSims for CompTIA A+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1332
Mike’s Video Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1332
Mike’s Cool Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1332
PDF Copy of the Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1333
Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1333
Total Seminars Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1333
McGraw-Hill Education Content Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1333
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1335
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1419
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’d like to acknowledge the many people who contributed their talents to make this book
possible:
To my in-house Editor in Chief, Scott Jernigan: I couldn’t have done it without
you, amigo. Truthfully, has there ever been a better combo than a wizard and a paladin?
To Christopher Crayton, technical editor: Another great project with you, Chris.
Thanks for keeping my toes to the fire and for your relentless push to update, update,
update! This is a much better product than it could have been without your help.
To Bill McManus, copy editor: Another amazing and excellent effort, Bill. Thank
you!
To Michael Smyer, tech guru and photographer: Brilliant photos for this edition.
Your technical contributions are always such a bonus. Great stuff!
To Dave Rush, technologist: Love, love, love arguing technology with you, Dave.
And your research skills blow me away! Thanks for all the great work in this edition.
To Travis Everett, Internet guru and writer: Great contributions on this edition,
Travis, from writing and research to copyedit and page proofing. Looking forward to
many more.
To Ford Pierson, editor: Thanks for jumping in on the page proofs, Ford. And thanks
for keeping it simple and diaper free.
To Dudley Lehmer, my partner at Total Seminars: As always, thanks for keeping the
ship afloat while I got to play on this book!
To Amy Stonebraker, acquisitions coordinator at McGraw-Hill: Thanks for keep-
ing us on track on so many levels. Love your quiet, but forceful voice at our weekly meet-
ings. Looking forward to the next one!
To Jody McKenzie and Howie Severson, project editors: It was a joy to work with
you both again. I couldn’t have asked for a better team. In fact, I asked for the best team
and got exactly what I wanted!
To Richard Camp, proofreader: Awesome work!
xxix
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CertPrs8 / OCA Java SE 7 Programmer I Study Guide (Exam 1Z0-803) / Finegan & Liguori / 942-1 / Front Matter / Blind Folio Cer
ii
This page is intentionally left blank to match the printed book.
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All-In-One / CompTIA A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide / Meyers / 951-X / Chapter 1
The Path of the PC Tech

CHAPTER
1
In this chapter, you will learn how to
• Explain the importance of CompTIA A+ certification
• Detail the CompTIA A+ certification objectives
• Describe how to become CompTIA A+ certified
The field of computing has changed dramatically over the decades since the introduc-
tion of the IBM Personal Computer (PC) in 1981, and so has the job of the people
who build, maintain, and troubleshoot computers. A PC tech for many years serviced
IBM-compatible desktop systems running a Microsoft operating system (OS), such as
DOS or, later, Windows. Figure 1-1 shows a typical system from the early days, running
Microsoft Windows 3.1. All a tech needed to service such a machine was a Phillips-head
screwdriver and knowledge of the hardware and OS.
Figure 1-1 An IBM-compatible PC, circa 1996
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2
The personal computing landscape today includes a zillion devices in all shapes, sizes,
and purposes. How many computing devices do you interact with every day? Seriously,
count them.
Here’s my typical contact in a day. My smartphone alarm clock awakens me in the
morning. I use either a Windows or Mac OS X desktop to check the morning news
and my e-mail by connecting to other computers over the Internet. Or, if the family
is on both systems, I’ll retreat to the study with a laptop running Ubuntu Linux to do
the same tasks. At the gym, my smartwatch keeps track of my exercises and my heart
rate. The computer in my car handles navigation and traffic reports for my daily com-
mute. At the office I’m literally surrounded by dozens of computing devices, because
everyone has a desktop or laptop computer, a tablet, a smartphone, plus any number of
wearable devices. See Figure 1-2.
Someone needs to set up, manage, maintain, and troubleshoot all of these devices.
Because you’re reading this book, I’m guessing that you are that someone. You’re going to
need a lot of knowledge about many systems to be a modern personal computer techni-
cian. A modern PC tech, therefore, works with many devices running many different
systems. Almost everything interconnects as well, and a PC tech makes that connection
happen.
Figure 1-2 We’re all PCs!
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Chapter 1: The Path of the PC Tech

3
NOTE This book uses the term “personal computer” and the initials “PC”
generically to refer to any kind of personal computing device. PCs here
mean things that techs interact with, can set up, and repair.
This book teaches you everything you need to know to become a great tech. It might
seem like a lot of information at first, but I’ll show you how each system functions and
interacts, so you learn the patterns they all follow. At some point in the process of reading
this book and working on computers, it will all click into place. You’ve got this!
Along the way, you’ll pick up credentials that prove your skill to employers and clients.
The rest of this chapter explains those credentials and the steps you need to take to
gain them.
CompTIA A+ Certification
Nearly every profession has some criteria that you must meet to show your competence
and ability to perform at a certain level. Although the way this works varies widely from
one profession to another, all of them will at some point make you take an exam or
series of exams. Passing these exams proves that you have the necessary skills to work at
a certain level in your profession, whether you’re an aspiring plumber, teacher, barber,
or lawyer.
If you successfully pass these exams, the organization that administers them grants you
certification. You receive some piece of paper or pin or membership card that you can
show to potential clients or employers. This certification gives those potential clients or
employers a level of confidence that you can do what you say you can do. Without this
certification, either you will not find suitable work in that profession or no one will trust
you to do the work.
Modern PC techs attain the CompTIA A+ certification, the essential credential that
shows competence in the modern field of information technology (IT), a fancy way of
saying computing technology plus all the other stuff needed to connect and support comput-
ers. CompTIA A+ is an industry-wide, vendor-neutral certification program developed
and sponsored by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA). You achieve
this certification by taking two computer-based exams consisting of multiple-choice
and performance-based questions. The tests cover what technicians should know after
12 months of hands-on work on personal computing devices, either from a job or as a
student in the lab. CompTIA A+ certification enjoys wide recognition throughout the
computer industry. To date, more than 1,000,000 technicians have become CompTIA
A+ certified, making it the most popular of all IT certifications.
Who Is CompTIA?
CompTIA is a nonprofit industry trade association based in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois.
It consists of over 20,000 members in 102 countries. You’ll find CompTIA offices in
such diverse locales as Amsterdam, Dubai, Johannesburg, Tokyo, and São Paulo.
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4
CompTIA provides a forum for people in these industries to network (as in meeting
people), represents the interests of its members to the government, and provides certifi-
cations for many aspects of the computer industry. CompTIA sponsors CompTIA A+,
CompTIA Network+, CompTIA Security+, and other certifications. CompTIA works
hard to watch the IT industry and constantly looks to provide new certifications to meet
the ongoing demand from its membership. Check out the CompTIA Web site at www
.comptia.org for details on the other certifications you can obtain from CompTIA.
Virtually every company of consequence in the IT industry is a member of CompTIA.
Here are a few of the biggies:
AT&T AMD Best Buy Brother International

Canon Cisco Systems Epson Fujitsu
Gateway Hewlett-Packard IBM Intel
Kyocera McAfee Microsoft NCR
Novell Panasonic Sharp Electronics Siemens
Symantec Toshiba Total Seminars, LLC (that’s Plus many
my company) thousands more
CompTIA began offering CompTIA A+ certification back in 1993. When it debuted,

the IT industry largely ignored CompTIA A+ certification. Since that initial stutter,
however, the CompTIA A+ certification has grown to become the de facto requirement
for entrance into the PC industry. Many companies require CompTIA A+ certification
for all of their PC support technicians, and the CompTIA A+ certification is widely rec-
ognized both in the United States and internationally.
The Path to Other Certifications

Most IT companies—big and small—see CompTIA A+ certification as the entry point
to IT. From CompTIA A+, you have a number of certification options, depending on
whether you want to focus more on hardware and operating systems or move into net-
work administration (although these aren’t mutually exclusive goals). The following three
certifications are worth serious consideration:
• CompTIA Network+ certification

• Microsoft technical certifications
• Cisco certifications
NOTE CompTIA A+ is the entry point to IT, though definitely not the only
route for learning about computers and having certifications to prove that
knowledge. Several certifications cover computer literacy or digital literacy,
the phrase that means “what every person needs to know about computers to
survive in the 21st century.” The most popular computer literacy certification
is Certiport’s IC3 certification that tests on general computer knowledge;
office productivity applications, such as Microsoft Word and PowerPoint; and
Internet applications such as Web browsers and e-mail clients.
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5
CompTIA has a pre–CompTIA A+ certification called CompTIA IT
Fundamentals that’s geared a bit more to a user preparing to become a tech.
It’s designed to check basic knowledge levels for people getting into IT.
CompTIA Network+ Certification

Building, maintaining, and fixing networks—groups of computers that enable people to
share resources—represent a logical set of skills for computer technicians. Networks are
so integral to modern life that you have to learn a lot about them just to get CompTIA
A+ certified.
So, if you haven’t already achieved CompTIA Network+ certification, make it your
next certification goal after CompTIA A+ certification. Just as CompTIA A+ certifica-
tion shows that you have solid competency as a PC technician, CompTIA Network+
certification demonstrates your skills as a network technician, including your under-
standing of network hardware, installation, and troubleshooting. CompTIA’s Network+
certification is a natural step for continuing toward your Microsoft or Cisco certifications.
Microsoft Technical Certifications

Microsoft operating systems control a huge portion of all installed networks, and those net-
works need qualified support people to make them run. Pursuing Microsoft’s series of certi-
fications for networking professionals is a natural next step after completing the CompTIA
certifications. They offer a whole slew of tracks and exams, ranging from specializations
in Windows 8 to numerous Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) certifications and
beyond. You can find more details on the Microsoft Learning Web site at
www.microsoft.com/learning/en-us/default.aspx
Cisco Certification
Cisco routers pretty much run the Internet and most intranets in the world. A router
is a networking device that controls and directs the flow of information over networks,
such as e-mail messages, Web browsing, and so on. Cisco provides multiple levels of IT
certification for folks who want to show their skills at handling Cisco products, such as
the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA), plus numerous specialty certifications. See
the Cisco IT Certification Web site here for more details:
www.cisco.com/web/learning/certifications/index.html
CompTIA A+ Objectives
CompTIA splits A+ certification into two exams: CompTIA A+ 220-901 and CompTIA
A+ 220-902. It’s common to refer to these two exams as the “2015” exams to differenti-
ate them from older CompTIA exams.
Although you may take either of the two exams first, I recommend taking 220-901 fol-
lowed by 220-902. The 220-901 exam concentrates on understanding terminology and
technology, how to do fundamental tasks such as upgrading RAM, and basic network
and mobile device support. The 220-902 exam builds on the first exam, concentrating
on operating system support, advanced configuration, and troubleshooting scenarios.
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6
Both of the exams are extremely practical, with little or no interest in theory, aside
from troubleshooting. All questions are multiple-choice, simulation, or “click on the
right part of the picture” questions. The following is an example of the type of questions
you will see on the exams:
Your laser printer is printing blank pages. Which item should you check first?
A. Printer drivers
B. Toner cartridge
C. Printer settings
D. Paper feed
The correct answer is B, the toner cartridge. You can make an argument for any of the
others, but common sense (and skill as a PC technician) tells you to check the simplest
possibility first.
The 2015 exams use a regular test format in which you answer a set number of ques-
tions and are scored based on how many correct answers you give. CompTIA makes
changes and tweaks over time, so always check the CompTIA Web site before final prep-
arations for the exams. These exams have no more than 90–100 questions each.
Be aware that CompTIA may add new questions to the exams at any time to keep
the content fresh. The subject matter covered by the exams won’t change, but new ques-
tions may be added periodically at random intervals. This policy puts strong emphasis
on understanding concepts and having solid PC-tech knowledge rather than on trying
to memorize specific questions and answers that may have been on the tests in the past.
No book or Web resource will have all the “right answers” because those answers change
constantly. Luckily for you, however, this book not only teaches you what steps to follow
in a particular case, but also explains how to be a knowledgeable tech who understands
why you’re doing those steps. That way, when you encounter a new problem (or test
question), you can work out the answer. This will help you pass the exams and function
as a master tech.
To keep up to date, we monitor the CompTIA A+ exams for new content and update
the special Tech Files section of the Total Seminars Web site (www.totalsem.com) with
new articles covering subjects we believe may appear on future versions of the exams.
Windows-Centric
The CompTIA A+ exams cover five different operating systems and many versions within
each OS. When you review the objectives a little later in this section, though, you’ll see
that the majority of content focuses on the Microsoft Windows operating systems you
would expect to find on a PC at a workstation or in a home. The exams cover a specific
and limited scope of questions on Linux, Mac OS X, iOS, and Android.
Objectives in the exams cover the following operating systems:
• Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista
Business, Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows Vista Enterprise
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7
• Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional,
Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 7 Enterprise
• Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro, Windows 8 Enterprise
• Windows 8.1, Windows 8.1 Pro, Windows 8.1 Enterprise
• Linux
• Mac OS X
• iOS
• Android
Windows 10
CompTIA has the darnedest luck when it comes to the timing of new CompTIA A+
exams compared to releases of new Windows versions. In 2006, CompTIA released
an update to the CompTIA A+ exams about four months before Microsoft released
Windows Vista. In 2009, CompTIA missed Windows 7 by about one month (though
CompTIA released a Windows 7 update to the exams in late 2009). The 2012 objectives
similarly missed the rollout of Windows 8.
It seems that CompTIA will once again run into what I’m going to call the “CompTIA
Windows Curse.” Microsoft released Windows 10 after CompTIA announced the objec-
tives for the 220-901 and 220-902 exams, but before the exams went live in December
2015. Assuming CompTIA stays true to form, there’s a very good chance that you’ll see
a Windows 10 update on the exams within a year or two of the Windows 10 rollout. Be
sure to check the CompTIA Web site or contact me directly at michaelm@totalsem.com
to see if any Windows 10 updates have taken place.
Try This!
Recommending an OS
Imagine this scenario. One of your first clients wants to upgrade her computing
gear and doesn’t know which way to go. It’s up to you to make a recommenda-
tion. This is a great way to assess your knowledge at the start of your journey into
CompTIA A+ certification, so Try This!
Open a Web browser on a computer or smartphone and browse to my favorite
tech store, Newegg (www.newegg.com). Scan through their computer systems.
What operating systems seem to be most common? What can you get from read-
ing reviews of, say, Chrome OS vs. Windows 10? Do they sell any Apple products?
Don’t get too wrapped up in this exercise. It’s just a way to ease you into the
standard research we techs do all the time to stay current. We’ll revisit this exercise
in later chapters so you can gauge your comfort and knowledge level over time.
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8
Table 1-1 Domain Percentage
Exam 220-901 1.0 Hardware 34%
Domains and
2.0 Networking 21%
Percentages
3.0 Mobile Devices 17%
4.0 Hardware and Network Troubleshooting 28%
Exam 220–901
The questions on the CompTIA A+ 220-901 exam fit into one of four domains. The
number of questions for each domain is based on the percentages shown in Table 1-1.
The 220-901 exam tests your knowledge of computer components, expecting you to
be able to identify just about every common device on PCs, including variations within
device types. Here’s a list:
• Hard drives • Video and multimedia cards

• Optical drives • Network and modem cards
• Solid state drives (SSDs) • Cables and connectors
• Motherboards • Heat sinks, fans, and liquid cooling systems
• Power supplies • Laptops and mobile devices
• CPUs • Printers and multifunction devices
• RAM • Scanners
• Monitors • Network switches, cabling, and wireless
• Input devices, such as keyboards, adapters
mice, and touchscreens • Biometric devices
The 220-901 exam tests your ability to install, configure, and maintain all the hard-
ware technology involved in a personal computer. You need to be able to install and
set up a hard drive, for example, and configure devices in Windows Vista, Windows 7,
Windows 8, and Windows 8.1. You have to understand device drivers.
The 220-901 exam tests you on mobile devices. While the smartphone and tablet
market covers an impossibly wide array of hardware and software, the 220-901 exam
focuses on Apple iOS and Google Android devices. You’ll need to know how to interact
with the hardware and software.
The 220-901 exam tests extensively on networking. You need to know how to set up
a typical local area network (LAN), for example, understanding cabling standards, net-
work protocols, and Windows configuration.
The 220-901 exam requires you to know a lot about hardware and network trouble-
shooting. You’ll get questions, for example, on how to fix a network failure.
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9
Table 1-2 Domain Percentage
Exam 220-902 1.0 Windows Operating Systems 29%
Domains and
2.0 Other Operating Systems & Technologies 12%
Percentages
3.0 Security 22%
4.0 Software Troubleshooting 24%
5.0 Operational Procedures 13%
Exam 220-902
The CompTIA A+ 220-902 exam covers five domains. Table 1-2 lists the domains and
the percentage of questions dedicated to each domain.
The 220-902 exam covers the configuration, repair, and troubleshooting of the Win-
dows operating system. You have to know your way around Windows and understand
the tasks involved in updating, upgrading, and installing Windows Vista, Windows 7,
Windows 8, and Windows 8.1. You need to know the standard diagnostic tools available
in Windows so that you can fix problems and work with higher-level techs. Make sure
you know Windows; 29% of the 220-902 questions are going to challenge you on this.
You need to know your way around the Linux and Mac OS X interfaces. Plus, the
220-902 exam tests you on accessing and properly using various tech tools for run-
ning maintenance, backup, and so forth. The exam goes into lots of detail on iOS and
Android configuration, such as setting up e-mail and securing the devices. But it’s not
just mobile devices . . .
In general, security is a big topic on the 220-902 exam. You need to know quite a
bit about computer security, from physical security (door locks to retinal scanners), to
knowledge of security threats (malware and viruses), to the ways in which to secure an
individual computer. This also includes coverage of how to recycle and dispose of com-
puter gear properly.
You’ll also be tested on methods for securing networks. You’ll need to know how to
access a small office/home office (SOHO) router or wireless access point and configure
that device to protect your network.
Additionally, this exam puts a lot for emphasis on operational procedures, such as safety
and environmental issues, communication, and professionalism. You need to understand
how to avoid hazardous situations. The exam tests your ability to communicate effectively
with customers and coworkers. You need to understand professional behavior and demon-
strate that you have tact, discretion, and respect for others and their property.
The Path to Certification

You become CompTIA A+ certified, in the simplest sense, by taking and passing two
computer-based exams. There are no prerequisites for taking the CompTIA A+ certifi-
cation exams (although there’s an assumption of computer literacy, whether or not you
have one of the computer literacy certifications). There is no required training course and
01-ch01.indd 9 19/11/15 7:25 PM


10
no training materials to buy. You do have to pay a testing fee for each of the two exams.
You pay your testing fees, go to a local testing center, and take the tests. You immediately
know whether you have passed or failed. By passing both exams, you become CompTIA
A+ certified.
To stay certified, every three years you’ll need to either retake the exam or perform
sufficient continuing education as specified by CompTIA.
Retaking the exams isn’t that hard to understand, but the continuing education require-
ment is a bit more complex. Instead of trying to explain it all, please review CompTIA’s
documentation here:
https://certification.comptia.org/stayCertified.aspx
Most importantly, if you pursue the continuing education path, you’ll need to earn 20
continuing education units (CEUs) each three-year period to renew your CompTIA A+
certification. How do you earn these CEUs? You can participate in industry events and
seminars, complete a presentation, participate in IT training, teach a course, or earn
another higher-level certification. The number of CEUs that you earn by completing
each of these requirements varies, and each requires that you submit documentation to
CompTIA for review.
Finding a Testing Center

Pearson VUE administers the CompTIA A+ testing at over 5000 testing centers in
165 countries. You may take the exams at any testing center. You can select the closest
training center and schedule your exams right from the comfort of your favorite Web
browser by going to the Pearson VUE Web site:
www.vue.com
Alternatively, in the United States and Canada, call Pearson VUE at 877-551-PLUS
(7587) to schedule the exams and to locate the nearest testing center. International cus-
tomers can find a list of Pearson VUE international contact numbers for various regions
of the world on their Web site here:
www.pearsonvue.com/comptia/contact/
You must pay for the exam when you call to schedule. Be prepared to sit on hold for a
while. Have your Social Security number (or international equivalent) and a credit card
ready when you call. Pearson VUE will be glad to invoice you, but you won’t be able to
take the exam until they receive full payment.
Pearson VUE will accommodate any special needs, although this may limit your selec-
tion of testing locations.
Exam Costs
The cost of the exam depends on whether you work for a CompTIA member or not. At
this writing, the cost for non-CompTIA members is $194 (U.S.) for each exam. Inter-
national prices vary, but you can check the CompTIA Web site for international pricing.
01-ch01.indd 10 19/11/15 7:25 PM


11
Of course, the prices are subject to change without notice, so always check the CompTIA
Web site for current pricing.
Very few people pay full price for the exam. Virtually every organization that provides
CompTIA A+ training and testing also offers discount vouchers. You buy a discount
voucher and then use the voucher number instead of a credit card when you schedule the
exam. Vouchers are sold per exam, so you’ll need two vouchers to take the two CompTIA
A+ exams. Total Seminars is one place to get discount vouchers. You can call Total Semi-
nars at 800-446-6004 or 281-922-4166, or get vouchers via the Web site: www.totalsem.
com. No one should ever pay full price for CompTIA A+ exams.
How to Pass the CompTIA A+ Exams

CompTIA designed the A+ exams to test the knowledge of a technician with only
12 months of experience, so keep it simple! The exams aren’t interested in your ability
to overclock DDR4 CAS latency in CMOS or whether you can explain the differences
between the Intel X99 and the AMD 990FX chipsets. Think in terms of practical knowl-
edge and standards. Read this book, do whatever works for you to memorize the key
concepts and procedures, take the practice exams on the media accompanying this book,
review any topics you miss, and you should pass with no problem.
NOTE Those of you who just want more knowledge in managing and
troubleshooting PCs can follow the same strategy as certification-seekers.
Think in practical terms and work with the PC as you go through each
chapter.
Some of you may be in or just out of school, so studying for exams is nothing novel.
But if you haven’t had to study for and take an exam in a while, or if you think maybe you
could use some tips, you may find the next section valuable. It lays out a proven strategy
for preparing to take and pass the CompTIA A+ exams. Try it. It works.
Obligate Yourself
The very first step you should take is to schedule yourself for the exams. Have you ever
heard the old adage, “Heat and pressure make diamonds?” Well, if you don’t give your-
self a little “heat,” you’ll end up procrastinating and delay taking the exams, possibly
forever. Do yourself a favor. Using the following information, determine how much time
you’ll need to study for the exams, and then call Pearson VUE or visit their Web site and
schedule the exams accordingly. Knowing the exams are coming up makes it much easier
to put down the game controller and crack open the book. You can schedule an exam
as little as a few weeks in advance, but if you schedule an exam and can’t take it at the
scheduled time, you must reschedule at least a day in advance or you’ll lose your money.
Set Aside the Right Amount of Study Time

After helping thousands of techs get their CompTIA A+ certification, we at Total Semi-
nars have developed a pretty good feel for the amount of study time needed to pass the
CompTIA A+ certification exams. The following table provides an estimate to help you
plan how much study time you must commit to the CompTIA A+ certification exams.
01-ch01.indd 11 19/11/15 7:25 PM


12
Keep in mind that these are averages. If you’re not a great student or if you’re a little on
the nervous side, add 10%; if you’re a fast learner or have a good bit of computer experi-
ence, you may want to reduce the figures.
To use Table 1-3, just circle the values that are most accurate for you and add them up
to get your estimated total hours of study time.
Amount of Experience
Tech Task None Once or Twice Every Now and Then Quite a Bit
Installing an adapter card 6 4 2 1
Installing and configuring hard 12 10 8 2
drives and SSDs
Connecting a computer to the 8 6 4 2
Internet
Installing printers and 16 8 4 2
multifunction devices
Installing RAM 8 6 4 2
Installing CPUs 8 7 5 3
Repairing printers 6 5 4 3
Repairing boot problems 8 7 7 5
Repairing portable computers 8 6 4 2
Configuring mobile devices 4 3 2 1
Building complete systems 12 10 8 6
Using the command line 8 8 6 4
Installing and optimizing 10 8 6 4
Windows
Using Windows Vista 6 6 4 2
Using Windows 7 8 6 4 2
Using Windows 8/8.1 8 6 4 2
Using Linux 8 6 6 3
Using Mac OS X 8 4 4 2
Configuring NTFS, Users, and 6 4 3 2
Groups
Configuring a wireless network 6 5 3 2
Configuring a software firewall 6 4 2 1
Configuring sound 2 2 1 0
Removing malware 4 3 2 0
Using OS diagnostic tools 8 8 6 4
Using a multimeter 4 3 2 1
Table 1-3 Analyzing Skill Levels
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13
Months of Direct, Professional Experience Hours to Add to Your Study Time
0 50
Up to 6 30
6 to 12 10
Over 12 0
Table 1-4 Adding Up Your Study Time
To that value, add hours based on the number of months of direct, professional expe-
rience you have had supporting PCs, as shown in Table 1-4.
A total neophyte often needs roughly 240 hours of study time. An experienced tech
shouldn’t need more than 60 hours.
Total hours for you to study: _____________.
A Strategy for Study

Now that you have a feel for how long it’s going to take to prepare for the exams, you’re
ready to develop a study strategy. I suggest a strategy that has worked for others who’ve
come before you, whether they were experienced techs or total newbies.
This book accommodates the different study agendas of these two groups of students.
The first group is experienced techs who already have strong PC experience but need to
be sure they’re ready to be tested on the specific subjects covered by the CompTIA A+
exams. The second group is those with little or no background in the computer field.
These techs can benefit from a more detailed understanding of the history and concepts
that underlie modern PC technology, to help them remember the specific subject matter
information they must know for the exams. I’ll use the shorthand terms Old Techs and
New Techs for these two groups. If you’re not sure which group you fall into, pick a few
chapters and go through some end-of-chapter questions. If you score less than 70%, go
the New Tech route.
I have broken most of the chapters into four distinct parts:
• Historical/Conceptual Topics that are not on the CompTIA A+ exams but

will help you understand more clearly what is on the CompTIA A+ exams
• 901 Topics that clearly fit under the CompTIA A+ 220-901 exam domains
• 902 Topics that clearly fit under the CompTIA A+ 220-902 exam domains
• Beyond A+ More advanced issues that probably will not be on the CompTIA
A+ exams—yet
01-ch01.indd 13 19/11/15 7:25 PM


14
The beginning of each of these parts is clearly marked with a large banner that looks
like this:
Historical/Conceptual
Those of you who fall into the Old Tech group may want to skip everything except
the 901 and 902 parts in each chapter. After reading the sections in those parts, jump
immediately to the questions at the end of the chapter. The end-of-chapter questions
concentrate on information in the 901 and 902 sections. If you run into problems,
review the Historical/Conceptual sections in that chapter. Note that you may need to
skip back to previous chapters to get the Historical/Conceptual information you need
for later chapters.
After going through every chapter as described, Old Techs can move directly to test-
ing their knowledge by using the free practice exams on the media that accompanies
the book. Once you start scoring above 90%, you’re ready to take the exams. If you’re a
New Tech—or if you’re an Old Tech who wants the full learning experience this book
can offer—start by reading the book, the whole book, as though you were reading a novel,
from page one to the end without skipping around. Because so many computer terms
and concepts build on each other, skipping around greatly increases the odds that you
will become confused and end up closing the book and firing up your favorite game.
Not that I have anything against games, but unfortunately that skill is not useful for the
CompTIA A+ exams!
Your goal on this first read is to understand concepts, the whys behind the hows. Hav-
ing a PC nearby as you read is helpful so you can stop and inspect the PC to see a piece of
hardware or how a particular concept manifests in the real world. As you read about hard
drives, for example, inspect the cables. Do they look like the ones in the book? Is there a
variation? Why? It is imperative that you understand why you are doing something, not
just how to do it on one particular system under one specific set of conditions. Neither
the exams nor real life as a PC tech will work that way.
If you’re reading this book as part of a managing and troubleshooting PCs class
rather than a certification-prep course, I highly recommend going the New Tech route,
even if you have a decent amount of experience. The book contains a lot of details that
can trip you up if you focus only on the test-specific sections of the chapters. Plus,
your program might stress historical and conceptual knowledge as well as practical,
hands-on skills.
The CompTIA A+ certification exams assume that you have basic user skills. The
exams really try to trick you with questions on processes that you may do every day
and not think much about. Here’s a classic: “To move a file from the C:\DATA folder
to the D:\ drive using File Explorer, what key must you hold down while dragging the
file?” If you can answer that without going to your keyboard and trying a few likely
keys, you’re better than most techs! In the real world, you can try a few wrong answers
before you hit on the right one, but for the exams, you have to know it. Whether Old
01-ch01.indd 14 19/11/15 7:25 PM


15
Tech or New Tech, make sure you are proficient at user-level Windows skills, including
the following:
• Recognizing all the components of the standard Windows desktop (Start menu,
notification area, etc.)
• Manipulating windows—resizing, moving, and so on
• Creating, deleting, renaming, moving, and copying files and folders within
Windows
• Understanding file extensions and their relationship with program associations
• Using common keyboard shortcuts/hotkeys
• Installing, running, and closing a Windows application
When you do your initial read-through, you may be tempted to skip the Historical/
Conceptual sections—don’t! Understanding the history and technological developments
behind today’s personal computing devices helps you understand why they work—or
don’t work—the way they do. Basically, I’m passing on to you the kind of knowledge you
might get by apprenticing yourself to an older, experienced PC tech.
After you’ve completed the first read-through, go through the book again, this time in
textbook mode. If you’re an Old Tech, start your studying here. Try to cover one chapter
at a sitting. Concentrate on the 901 and 902 sections. Get a highlighter and mark the
phrases and sentences that bring out major points. Be sure you understand how the pic-
tures and illustrations relate to the concepts being discussed.
Once you feel you have a good grasp of the material in the book, you can check your
knowledge by using the practice exams included on the media accompanying this book.
You can take these in Practice mode or Final mode. In Practice mode, you can use the
Assistance window to get a helpful hint for the current questions, use the Reference fea-
ture to find the chapter that covers the question, check your answer for the question, and
see an explanation of the correct answer. In Final mode, you answer all the questions and
receive an exam score at the end, just like the real thing. You can also adjust the number
of questions on a Practice or Final mode exam with the Customize option.
Both modes show you an overall grade, expressed as a percentage, as well as a break-
down of how well you did on each exam domain. The Review Questions feature lets you
see which questions you missed and what the correct answers are. Use these results to
guide further studying. Continue reviewing the topics you miss and taking additional
exams until you are consistently scoring in the 90% range. When you get there, you are
ready to pass the CompTIA A+ certification exams.
Study Tactics
Perhaps it’s been a while since you had to study for a test. Or perhaps it hasn’t, but you’ve
done your best since then to block the whole experience from your mind. Either way,
savvy test-takers know that certain techniques make studying for tests more efficient
and effective.
01-ch01.indd 15 19/11/15 7:25 PM

Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
plate, and both had settled down to a long and peaceful life in Nova
Scotia.
CHAPTER V.
A FEARFULL FEMALE TRAVAILLER.
In the autumn and winter of the year 1704, Madam Sarah Knight,
a resident of Boston, made a journey on horseback from Boston to
New York, and returned in the same manner. It was a journey difficult
and perilous, “full of buggbears to a fearfull female travailler,” and
which “startled a masculine courage,” but which was performed by
this woman with the company and protection only of hired guides,
the “Western Post,” or whatever chance traveller she might find
journeying her way, at a time when brave men feared to travel
through New England, and asked for public prayers in church before
starting on a journey of twenty miles. She was probably the first
woman who made such a journey, in such a manner, in this country.
Madam Knight was the daughter of Captain Kemble, of Boston,
who was in 1656 set two hours in the public stocks as a punishment
for his “lewd and unseemly behavior,” which consisted in his kissing
his wife “publicquely” on the Sabbath Day, upon the doorstep of his
house, when he had just returned from a voyage and absence of
three years.
The diary which Madam kept on this eventful trip contains the
names of no persons of great historical interest, though many of
historical mention; but it is such a vivacious and sprightly picture of
the customs of the time, and such a valuable description of localities
as they then appeared, that it has an historical interest of its own,
and is a welcome addition to the few diaries and records of the times
which we possess.
Everything was not all serene and pleasant in the years 1704 and
1705 in New England. Events had occurred which could not have
been cheerful for Madam Knight to think of when riding through the
lonely Narragansett woods and along the shores of the Sound. News
of the frightful Indian massacre at Deerfield had chilled the very
hearts of the colonists. At Northampton shocking and most
unexpected cruelties had been perpetrated by the red men. At
Lancaster, not any too far from Boston, the Indians had been most
obstreperous. We can imagine Madam Knight had no very pleasant
thoughts of these horrors when she wrote her description of the red
men whom she saw in such numbers in Connecticut. Bears and
wolves, too, abounded in the lonely woods of Massachusetts and
Connecticut. The howls of wolves were heard every night, and
rewards were paid by New England towns for the heads of wolves
that were killed, provided the heads were brought into town and
nailed to the side of the meeting-house. Twenty-one years later than
Madam Knight’s journey, in 1725, twenty bears were killed in one
week in September, within two miles of Boston, so says the History
of Roxbury; and all through the eighteenth century bears were
hunted and killed in upper Narragansett. Hence “buggbears” were
not the only bears to be dreaded on the lonely journey.
The year 1704 was memorable also because it gave birth to the
first newspaper in the colonies, the Boston News-Letter. Only a few
copies were printed each week, and each copy contained but four or
five square feet of print, and the first number contained but one
advertisement—that of the man who printed it.
When Madam Knight’s journal was published in New York by Mr.
Theodore Dwight, in 1825, the editor knew nothing of the diarist, not
even her family name; hence it was confidently believed by many
that the journal was merely a clever and entertaining fiction. In 1852,
however, Miss Caulkins published her history of the town of New
London, and contradicted that belief, for she gave an account of the
last days of Madam Knight, which were spent in Norwich and New
London. Madam Knight’s daughter married the Colonel Livingston
who is mentioned in the journal, and left no children. From a
descendant of Mrs. Livingston’s administratrix, Mrs. Christopher, the
manuscript of the journal was obtained for publication in 1825, it
having been carefully preserved all those years. In Blackwood’s
Magazine for the same year an article appeared, entitled Travelling
in America, which reprinted nearly all of Madam Knight’s journal, and
which showed a high appreciation of its literary and historical merits.
In 1858 it was again printed by request in Littell’s Living Age, with
some notes of Madam Knight’s life, chiefly compiled from Miss
Caulkins’ History of New London, and again provoked much inquiry
and discussion. Recently a large portion of the journal has been
reprinted in the Library of American Literature, with many alterations,
however, in the spelling, use of capitals, and punctuation, thus
detracting much from the interest and quaintness of the work; and
most unnecessarily, since it is perfectly easy to read and understand
it as first printed, when, as the editor said, “the original orthography
was carefully preserved for fear of introducing any unwarrantable
modernism.”
The first edition is now seldom seen for sale, and being rare is
consequently high-priced. The little shabby, salmon-colored copy of
the book which I saw was made interesting by two manuscript
accounts of Sarah Knight, which were inserted at the end of the
book, and which are very valuable, since they give positive proof of
the reality of the fair traveller, as well as additional facts of her life.
The first account was in a fine old-fashioned, unpunctuated
handwriting, on yellow, time-stained paper, and read thus:—
Madam Knight was born in Boston She was the daughter of
Capt. Kemble who was a rich merchant of Boston he was a
native of Great Britain settled in Boston built him a large
house for that day near New North Square in the year 1676
this daughter Sarah Kemble was married to a son of a
London trader by the name of Knight he died abroad and left
her a smart young widow in October 1703 she made a
journey to New York to claim some property of his there. She
returned on horse-backe March 1705 Soon after her return
she opened a school for children Dr. Frankelin and Dr Saml
Mather secured their first rudiments of Education from her her
parents both died and as She was the only child they left she
continued to keep school in the Mansion house till the year
1714. She then sold the estate to Peter Papillion he died not
long after in the year 1736 Thomas Hutchinson Esqr
purchased the estate of John Wolcott, who was administrator
of the Papillion estate Mr Hutchinson gave the estate to his
daughter Hannah who was the wife of Dr Saml Mather. The
force of Madam Knight’s Diamond Ring was displayed on
several panes of glass in the old house in the year 1763 Dr
Mather had the house new glazed and one pane of glass was
preserved as a curiosity for years till 1775 it was lost at the
conflagration when Charlestown was burnt by the British June
17th. The lines on the pane of glass were committed to
memory by the present writer. She was an original genius our
ideas of Madam are formed from hearing Dr Frankelin and Dr
Mather converse about their old school misstress
Through many toils and many frights

I have returned poor Sarah Knights
Over great rocks and many stones
God has preserv’d from fractur’d bones
as spelt on the pane of glass.

Underneath this account was written in the clear, distinct
chirography of Isaiah Thomas, the veteran printer, this endorsement:
—
The above was written by Mrs. Hannabell Crocker, of
Boston, granddaughter of the Rev. Cotton Mather, and
presented to me by that lady.—Isaiah Thomas.
The other manuscript account is substantially the same, though in
a different handwriting; it tells of the pane of glass with the rhymed
inscription being “preserved as a curiosity by an antiquicrity” (which
is a delightful and useful old word-concoction), “until the British set
fire to the town,” in Revolutionary times, and “Poor Madam Knight’s
poetrys, with other curiosities, were consumed.” It says, “She
obtained the honorable title of Madam by being a famous
schoolmistress in her day. She taught Dr. Franklin to write. She was
highly respected by Dr. Cotton Mather as a woman of good wit &
pleasant humour.”
Sarah Knight was born in 1666, and thus was about thirty-eight
years old when she made her “perilous journey.” She started
October 2d, and did not reach New York until December 6th. Of
course much of this time was spent visiting friends and kinsfolk in
New London and New Haven, and often, too, she had to wait to
obtain companion travellers. She rode upon the first night of her
journey until very late in order to “overtake the post,” and this is the
account of her reception at her first lodging-place:—
My guide dismounted and very complasently and shewed
the door signing to me with his hand to Go in, which I Gladly
did. But had not gone many steps into the room ere I was
interrogated by a young Lady I understood afterwards was the
Eldest daughter of the family, with these, or words to this
purpose, (viz) Law for mee—what in the world brings you
here at this time-a-night? I never see a woman on the Rode
so Dreadfull late in all my Varsall Life. Who are You? Where
are you going? I’m scar’d out of my witts—with much now of
the same Kind I stood aghast Prepareing no reply—when in
come my Guide—to him Madam turn’d roreing out: Lawfull
heart John is it You? how de do? Where in the world are you
going with this woman? Who is She? John made no Ans’r but
sat down in the corner, fumbled out his black Junk, and
saluted that instead of Debb. She then turned agen to mee
and fell anew into her silly questions without asking mee to sit
down. I told her she treated mee very Rudely and I did not
think it my duty to answer her unmannerly Questions. But to
gett ridd of them I told her I come there to have the Posts
company with me to-morrow on my Journey &c. Miss stared
awhile, drew a chair bid me sitt And then run upstairs and
putts on two or three Rings (or else I had not seen them
before) and returning sett herself just before me shewing the
way to Reding, that I might see her Ornaments.
It appears from this account that human nature, or rather feminine
love of display, was the same in colonial times as in the present day.
Very vivid are her descriptions of the various beds upon which she
reposed. This is her entry in her diary after the first night of her
journey:—
I pray’d Miss to shew me where I must Lodg. Shee
conducted me to a parlour in a little back Lento, which was
almost filled with the bedstead, which was so high that I was
forced to climb on a chair to gitt up to ye wretched bed that
lay on it, on which having Strecht my tired Limbs, and lay’d
my head on a Sad-colour’d pillow, I began to think on the
transactions of ye past day.
We can imagine her (if such an intrusive fancy is not impertinent
after one hundred and eighty years), attired in her night-hood and
her “flowered calico night-rayle with high collared neck,” climbing
wearily upon a chair and thence to the mountainous bed with its
dingy pillow. The fashion of wearing “immoderate great rayles” had
been prohibited by law in Massachusetts in 1634, but the garment
mentioned must have been some kind of a loose gown worn in the
day-time, for we cannot fancy that even the meddlesome
interference and aspiring ambition for omnipotence of those Puritan
magistrates would make them dare to attempt to control what kind of
a nightgown a woman should wear.
Here is another vivid description of a night’s lodging, where her
room was shared, as was the country custom of that time (and
indeed for many years later), by the men who had journeyed with
her:—
Arriving at my apartment found it to be a little Lento
Chamber furnished amongst other Rubbish with a High Bedd
and a Low one, a Long Table, a Bench and a Bottomless
chair. Little Miss went to scratch up my Kennell which
Russelled as if shee’d bin in the Barn amongst the Husks,
and supose such was the contents of the tickin—nevertheless
being exceeding weary-down I laid my poor Carkes (never
more tired) and found my Covering as scanty as my Bed was
hard. Anon I heard another Russelling noise in Ye Room—
called to know the matter—Little Miss said shee was making
a bed for the men; who, when they were in Bed complained
their leggs lay out of it by reason of its shortness—my poor
bones complained bitterly not being used to such Lodgings,
and so did the man who was with us; and poor I made but
one Grone, which was from the time I went to bed to the time
I Riss, which was about three in the morning, Setting up by
the Fire till Light.
The word “lento,” or “lean to,” was sometimes called “linter,” and
you will still hear old-fashioned or aged country-people use the word.
The “lean-to” was the rear portion of a form of house peculiar to New
England, which was two stories high in front, with a roof which
sloped down from a steep gable to a very low single story at the rear.
Madam Sarah speaks with some surprise throughout her travels of
the height of the beds, so it is evident that very towering beds were
not in high fashion in Boston in 1704, in spite of the exceeding tall
four-posters that have descended to us from our ancestors, and
which surely no one could mount in modern days without a chair as
an accessory. Even a chair was not always a sufficient stepping-
block by the bedsides that Madam Sarah found, for she thus writes:
“He invited us to his house, and shewed me two pair of stairs, viz,
one up the loft, and tother up the Bedd, which was as hard as it was
high, and warmed with a hott stone at the foot.”
After the good old Puritan custom of contumelious reviling, in
which clergymen, laymen, and legal lights alike joined, Madam
Knight could show a rare choice of epithets and great fluency of
uncomplimentary description when angered. Having expected to
lodge at the house of a Mr. DeVille in Narragansett, and being
refused, she writes thus of the DeVilles:—
I questioned whether we ought to go to the Devil to be helpt
out of the affliction. However, like the Rest of Deluded souls
that post to ye Infernall denn, Wee made all possible speed to
this Devil’s Habitation; where alliting, in full assurance of good
accommodation, wee were going in. But meeting his two
daughters, as I suposed twins, they so neerly resembled each
other both in features and habit and look’t as old as the Divel
himself, and quite as Ugly. We desired entertainment, but
could hardly get a word out of ’um, till with our Importunity
telling them our necessity &c they call’d the old Sophister,
who was as sparing of his words as his daughters had bin,
and no or none, was the reply’s he made us to our demands.
Hee differed only in this from the old fellow in tother Country,
hee let us depart. However I thought it proper to warn poor
Travaillers to endeavour to Avoid falling into circumstances
like ours, which at our next Stage I sat down and did as
followeth:—
May all that dread the cruel fiend of night

Keep on and not at this curst Mansion light
Tis Hell: Tis Hell: and Devills here do dwell
Here Dwells the Devill—surely this is Hell.
Nothing but Wants: a drop to cool yo’re Tongue
Cant be procured those cruel Fiends among
Plenty of horrid grins and looks sevear
Hunger and thirst, But pitty’s banish’d here.
The Right hand keep, if Hell on Earth you fear—
Madam Knight had a habit of “dropping into poetry” very readily

and upon almost any subject. Upon the moon, upon poverty, even
upon the noise of drunken topers in the next room to her own. The
night-scene that brought forth the rhymes upon rum was graced by a
conversation upon the derivation of the word Narragansett, and her
report of it is of much interest, and is always placed among the many
and various authorities for, and suggestions about, the meaning of
the word:—
I went to bed which tho’ pretty hard Yet neet and handsome
but I could get no sleep because of the Clamor of some of the
Town-tope-ers in next Room who were entered into a strong
debate concerning ye Signifycation of the name of their
Country (viz) Narraganset. One said it was named so by ye
Indians because there grew a Brier there of a prodigious
Highth and bigness, the like hardly ever known, called by the
Indians Narragansett. And quotes an Indian of so Barberous a
name for his Author that I could not write it. His Antagonist
Replyd No.—It was from a spring it had its name, which he
well knew where it was, which was extreem cold in summer,
and as Hott as could be imagined in the winter which was
much resorted to by the natives and by them called
Narragansett (Hott & Cold) and that was the originall of their
places name—with a thousand Impertinances not worth
notice, which He uttered with such a Roreing voice &
Thundering blows with the fist of wickedness on the Table that
it pierced my very head. I heartily fretted and wisht ’um
tonguetyed; but with little success.
They kept calling for tother Gill which while they were
swallowing, was some Intermission But presently like Oyle to
fire encreased the flame. I set my Candle on a Chest by the
bedside, and setting up fell to my old way of composing my
Resentments in the following manner:—
I ask thy aid O Potent Rum

To charm these wrangling Topers Dum
Thou hast their Giddy Brains possest
The man confounded with the Beast
And I, poor I, can get no rest
Intoxicate them with thy fumes
O still their Tongues till morning comes
And I know not but my wishes took effect for the dispute
soon ended with tother Dram.
To one who, unused to venturing abroad in boats on stormy
waters, has trusted her bodily safety to one of those ticklish Indian
vehicles, a canoe, this vivid account of the sensations of an early
female colonist in a similar situation may prove of interest; nor do I
think, after the lapse of centuries, could the description be improved
by the added words of our newer and more profuse vocabulary:—
The Cannoo was very small & shallow so that when we
were in she seemd redy to take in water which greatly terrify’d
me, and caused me to be very circumspect, sitting with my
hands fast on each side, my eyes stedy, not daring so much
as to lodge my tongue a hairs breadth more on one side of
my mouth than tother, nor so much as think on Lotts wife, for
a very thought would have oversett our wherey.
We are so accustomed to hearing of the great veneration and
respect always shown in olden times by children toward their
parents, and the dignified reserve and absolute authority of parents
towards children, that the following scene rather shocks our
established notions:—
Thursday about 3 in the afternoon I set forward with
neighbour Polly & Jemima a girl about 18 years old, who her
father said he had been to fetch out of the Narragansetts and
said they had rode thirty miles that day on a sorry lean Jade
with only a Bagg under her for a pillion which the poor Girl
often complain’d was very uneasy. Wee made Good speed
along wch made poor Jemima make many a sowr face the
mare being a very hard trotter, and after many a hearty &
bitter Oh she at length low’d out: Lawful Heart father! this bare
mare hurts mee Dingeely. I’m direfull sore I vow, with many
words to that purpose. Poor Child—sais Gaffer—she us’t to
serve your mother so. I dont care how mother ust to do, quoth
Jemima in a passionate tone. At which the old man Laught
and kikt his Jade o’ the side, which made her Jolt ten times
harder. About seven that evening we came to New London
Ferry here by reason of a very high wind, we mett with great
difficulty in getting over. The boat tost exceedingly and our
Horses cappered at a very Surprising rate and set us all in a
fright especially poor Jemima who desired father to say So
Jack! to the Jade to make her stand. But the careless parent,
taking no notice of her repeated desires, She Rored out in a
Pasionate manner Pray Suth father Are you deaf? Say So
Jack to the Jade I tell you. The Dutiful Parent obeyed saying
So Jack So Jack as gravely as if he had bin saying Chatchise
after young Miss who with her fright look’t all the Colours of ye
Rainbow.
It is very evident from entries in her Journal that Madam Knight
thought much of gratifying her appetite, for the food she obtained at
her different resting-places is often described. She says:—
Landlady told us shee had some mutton which shee would
broil. In a little time she bro’t it in but it being pickled and my
Guide said it smelt strong of head-sause we left it and paid six
pence apiece for our dinners which was only smell.
Again, she thus describes a meal:—
Having call’d for something to eat the woman bro’t in a
Twisted thing like a cable, but something whiter, laying it on
the bord, tugg’d for life to bring it into a capacity to spread;
which having with great pains accomplished shee served a
dish of Pork and Cabage I supose the remains of Dinner. The
sause was of a deep purple which I tho’t was boiled in her dye
Kettle; the bread was Indian and everything on the Table
service agreeable to these. I being hungry gott a little down,
but my stomach was soon cloy’d and what cabage I
swallowed served me for a Cudd the whole day after.
The early colonists never turned very readily to Indian meal and
pumpkins—pumpions as they called them in the “times wherein old
Pompion was a saint;” and Johnson, in his Wonder-Working
Providence, reproved them for making a jest of pumpkins, since they
were so good a food. Madam Knight had them offered to her very
often, “pumpkin sause” and “pumpkin bred.” “We would have eat a
morsell ourselves But the Pumpkin and Indian-mixt Bread had such
an aspect, and the Bare-legg’d Punch so awkerd or rather Awfull a
sound that we left both.”
She gives a glimpse of rather awkward table-manners when she
complains that in Connecticut masters permitted their slaves to sit
and eat with them, “and into the dish goes the black Hoof as freely
as the white hand.” Doubtless in those comparatively forkless days
fingers were very freely used at the table.
She tells many curious facts about Connecticut. Divorces were
plentiful in that State, as they are at the present day. She writes:—
These uncomely Standaways are too much in Vogue
among the English in this Indulgent Colony as their Records
plentifully prove, and that on very trivial matters of which
some have been told me, but are not Proper to be Related by
a Female Pen.
She says they will not allow harmless kissing among the young
people, and she tells of a curious custom at weddings, where the
bridegroom ran away and had to be chased and dragged back by
force to the bride.
Her descriptions of the city of New York; of the public vendues
“where they give drinks;” of the Dutch houses and women; of the
“sley-riding” where she “mett fifty or sixty sleys,” are all very
entertaining. There were few sleighs in Boston at that date.
Everything is compared with “ours in Boston,” or said to be “not like
Boston,” after a fashion still somewhat followed by the Boston
“Female Pen” of the present day. As New York then was only a small
town of five thousand inhabitants, while Big Boston possessed ten
thousand inhabitants, such comparisons were certainly justifiable.
We must give her vivid and vivacious picture of a country “lubber”
in a merchant’s shop:—
In comes a tall country fellow with his Alfogeos full of
Tobaco. He advanced to the middle of the room, makes an
awkward nodd and spitting a large deal of Aromatic Tincture,
he gave a scrape with his shovel-like shoo, leaving a small
shovel-full of dirt on the floor, made a full stop, hugging his
own pretty body with his hands under his arms, Stood Staring
round him like a Catt let out of a Baskett. At last like the
creature Balaam rode on he opened his mouth and said Have
you any Ribinen for Hat bands to sell I pray? The Questions
and answers about the pay being past the Ribin is bro’t and
opened. Bumpkin simpers, cryes, Its confounded Gay I vow;
and beckoning to the door in comes Joan Tawdry, dropping
about 50 curtsies, and stands by him. He shews her the Ribin.
Law You, sais shee, its right Gent, do you take it, its dreadful
pretty. Then she enquires: Have you any hood silk I pray?
which being brought and bought. Have you any Thred silk to
sew it with? says shee, which being accomodated with they
departed.
Though Madam Knight left no account of the costume which she
wore on her “perilous journey,” we know very well what the fashions
of the time were and of what her dress consisted. She wore a
woollen round-gown, perhaps of camlet, perhaps of calimanco, of
which the puffed sleeves came to the elbow and were finished with
knots of ribbons and ruffles. Riding-habits were then never worn. I
am sure she did not wear a neck-ruff on this journey, but a scarf or
neck-kerchief or “cross cloth” instead. Long gloves of leather or kid
protected her fair hands, and came to the elbow, and were firmly
secured at the top by “glove-tightens” made of braided black
horsehair. A pointed beaver or beaverette hat covered her head; the
hat and peruke had not then reached the excessive size which made
them for a lady’s “riding equipage” so bitterly and openly condemned
in 1737 as an exceeding and abominable affectation. She doubtless
wore instead of the fine, stately peruke, a cap, a “round cap,” which
did not cover the ears, or a “strap cap,” which came under the chin;
or perhaps a “quoif” or a “ciffer”—New England French for coiffure.
During her cold winter ride home she surely donned a hood. One is
described at that date thus: “A woman’s worsted camlet riding-hood
of grayish color faced with crimson coulour’d Persian.” Over her
shoulders she wore a heavy woollen short cloak, or a scarlet
“whittle,” and doubtless also added a “drugget-petticoat” for warmth,
or a “safeguard” for protection against mud. High-heeled pointed
shoes of leather, with knots of green ribbon or silver buckles,
completed Madam Sarah’s picturesque and comfortable attire. One
other useful article of dress, or rather of protection, she surely as a
lady of high gentility carried and wore: a riding-mask made of black
velvet with a silver mouthpiece, or with two little strings with a silver
bead at the end, which she placed in either corner of her mouth, to
hold her mask firmly in place.
The “nagg” upon which Madam rode was without doubt a pacer,
as were all good saddle-horses at that date. No one making any
pretension to fashion or good style would ride upon a trotting-horse,
nor indeed until Revolutionary times was a trotter regarded as of any
account or worth.
I do not think Madam Knight had a Narragansett pacer, for as soon
as they were raised in any numbers they were sent at once to the
West Indies for the use of the wives and daughters of the wealthy
sugar-planters, and few New England people could afford to own
them. The “horse furniture” of which she speaks included, of course,
her side-saddle and saddle-bag, which held her travelling-wardrobe
and her precious journal.
Madam Sarah Knight did not end her days in Boston. She
removed to Norwich, Conn., and in 1717 it is recorded that she gave
a silver cup for the communion-service of the church there. The town
in gratitude, by vote, gave her liberty to “sitt in the pue where she
was used to sitt in ye meeting house.” She also kept an inn on the
Livingston Farm near New London, and I doubt not a woman of her
large experience kept a good ordinary. No rustling beds, no sad-
colored pillow-bears, no saucy maids, no noisy midnight topers, no
doubtful fricassees, no pumpkin-bread, and, above all, no bare-
legged punch in her house.
It is painful to record, however, that in 1718 the teacher of
Benjamin Franklin and friend of Cotton Mather was indicted and
fined for “selling strong liquor to Indians.”
Altogether, Madam Knight was far ahead of the time in which she
lived. She was a woman of great energy and talent. She kept a
school when a woman-teacher was almost unheard of. She ran a
tavern, a shop. She wrote poetry and a diary. She cultivated a farm,
and owned mills, and speculated largely in Indian lands, and was
altogether a sharp business-woman; and she must have been
counted an extraordinary character in those early days.
CHAPTER VI.
TWO COLONIAL ADVENTURESSES.
A “strange true story of Louisiana” so furnished with every

attractive element of romance, so calculated to satisfy every exaction
of literary art, that it seems marvellous it has not been eagerly seized
upon and frequently utilized by dramatists and novelists, is that of a
Louisiana princess—or pretender—whose death in a Parisian
convent in 1771 furnished a fruitful topic of speculation and
conversation in the courts of France, Austria, Russia, and Prussia.
This Louisiana princess (were she no pretender) was the daughter-
in-law of Peter the Great of Russia, wife of the Grand Duke Alexis,
and mother of Peter II. of Russia. The story, as gathered from a few
European authorities and some old French chronicles and histories
of Louisiana, is this.
The Princess Christine, daughter of a German princeling and wife
of the Grand Duke Alexis, is said by Russian official and historical
records to have died in 1716 after a short and most unhappy married
life with a brutal royal profligate, and to have been buried with proper
court honors and attendance. But there is another statement, half-
history, half-romance, which denies that she died at that time, and
asserts that her death and burial were but a carefully planned
deception, to permit her to escape her intolerable life in Russia, and
only concealed her successful flight from St. Petersburg and the
power of the Russian throne. Aided by the famous Countess
Königsmark, the princess, after some delay and frightened hiding in
France, sailed from the port of L’Orient, accompanied by an old
devoted court retainer named Walter. Of course there must always
be a lover to form a true romance, and a young officer named
D’Aubant successfully fills that rôle. He had often seen Christine in
the Russian court, and had rescued her from danger when she was
hunting in the Hartz Mountains, and had cherished for her a deep
though hopeless love. When the news of her death came to the
knowledge of Chevalier D’Aubant, he sadly left the Czar’s service
and went to France. Soon after he chanced to see at the cathedral in
Poitiers a woman who raised her veil, glanced at him with a look of
recognition, and apparently a face like that of his loved Christine.
After long search for the unknown, he found her temporary home,
only to learn that she, with her father Mons. De L’Ecluse (who was of
course Walter), had just sailed for the New World. But the woman of
the house gave him a slip of paper which the fair one had left for him
in case he called and asked concerning her. On it was written this
enigmatical lure:—
I have drunk of the waters of Lethe,

Hope yet remains to me.
Now, he would not have been an ideal court-lover, nor indeed but
a sorry hero, if, after such a message, he had not promply sailed
after the possible Christine. He learned that the vessel which bore
her was to land at Biloxi, Louisiana. He sailed for the same port with
his fortune in his pockets. But on arriving in Louisiana, Walter (or
Mons. De L’Ecluse) had taken the disguising name of Walter Holden,
and Christine posed as his daughter, Augustine Holden; so her
knight-errant thus lost trace of her. Christine-Augustine and her
father settled in the Colonie Roland on the Red River. D’Aubant, with
sixty colonists, founded a settlement but fifty miles away, which he
named the Valley of Christine. Of course in due time the lovers met,
and disguise was impossible and futile, and Augustine confessed her
identity with the Crown Princess. As her husband Alexis had by this
time conveniently died in prison, in Moscow, where he had been tried
and condemned to death (and probably been privately executed),
there was no reason, save the memory of her past exalted position,
why she should not become the wife of an honest planter. They were
married by a Spanish priest, and lived for twenty happy years in the
Valley of Christine.
But D’Aubant’s health failed, and he sought physicians in Paris.
One day when Christine was walking in the garden of the Tuileries,
with her two daughters, the children of D’Aubant, the German
conversation of the mother attracted the attention of Marshal Saxe,
who was the son of the very Countess Königsmark who had aided
Christine’s escape. The marshal recognized the princess at once, in
spite of the lapse of years, and through his influence with Louis XV.
obtained for D’Aubant a commission as major of troops, and the
office of governor of the Isle of Bourbon. The King also informed the
Empress of Austria, who was a niece of Christine, that her aunt was
alive; and an invitation was sent from the Empress for the D’Aubant
family to become residents of the Austrian Court. They remained,
however, at the Isle of Bourbon until the death of D’Aubant and the
two daughters, when Christine came to Brunswick and was granted
a pension for life by the Empress. Her death in a convent, and her
burial, took place over half a century after her pretended legal
demise.
This is the Christine of romance, of court gossip, of court credulity,
but there is another aspect of her story. Judge Martin has written a
standard history of Louisiana. In it he says:—
Two hundred German settlers of Law’s grant were landed in
the month of March 1721 at Biloxi out of the twelve hundred
who had been recruited. There came among the German
new-comers a female adventurer. She had been attached to
the wardrobe of the wife of the Czarowitz Alexis Petrovitz, the
only son of Peter the Great. She imposed on the credulity of
many persons, particularly on that of an officer of the garrison
of Mobile (called by Bossu, the Chevalier D’Aubant, and by
the King of Prussia, Waldeck), who, having seen the princess
at St. Petersburg imagined he recognized her features in
those of her former servant, and gave credit to the report that
she was the Duke of Wolfenbuttel’s daughter, and the officer
married her.
Grimm and Voltaire in their letters, Levesque in his History, all
unite in pronouncing her an impostor. But you can choose your own
estimate of this creature of high romance; if you elect to deem her a
princess, you find yourself in the goodly company of the King of
France, the Empress of Austria, Marshal Saxe, and a vast number of
other folk of rank and intelligence.
In the year 1771 there was sent to this country from England a
woman convict, who had in her enforced home a most extraordinary
and romantic career of successful fraud.
The first account which I have seen of her was printed in the
Gentleman’s Magazine in 1771, and told simply of her startling
intrusion into the Queen’s apartments in London; but Dr. Doran’s
Lives of the Queens of England of the House of Hanover gives this
account of this interesting bit of Anglo-American romance.
Sarah Wilson, yielding to a strong temptation in the year
1771, filched one or two of the Queen’s jewels, and was
condemned to be executed. It was considered almost a
violation of justice that the thief should be saved from the
halter and be transported instead of hanged. She was sent to
America, where she was allotted as slave, or servant, to a Mr.
Dwale, Bud Creek, Frederick County. Queen Charlotte would
have thought nothing more of her, had her majesty not heard
with some surprise, that her sister Susannah Caroline Matilda
was keeping her court in the plantations. Never was surprise
more genuine than the Queen’s; it was exceeded only by her
hilarity when it was discovered that the Princess Susannah
was simply Sarah Wilson, at large. That somewhat clever girl
having stolen a Queen’s jewels, thought nothing, after
escaping from the penal service to which she was
condemned, of passing herself off as a Queen’s sister. The
Americans were not so acute as their descendants; so in love
were some of them with the greatness they affected to
despise, that they paid royal honors to the clever impostor.
She passed the most joyous of seasons before she was
consigned again to increase of penalty for daring to pretend
relationship with the consort of King George. The story of the
presuming girl, whose escapades, however, were not fully
known in England at that time, served, as far as knowledge of
them had reached the court, to amuse the gossips who had
assembled about the cradle of the young Elizabeth.
In this account of Dr. Doran’s there are some errors. The real story
of the crime of Sarah Wilson and her subsequent career was this. In
August, 1770, a strange woman found her way by means of a private
staircase to the apartments of Queen Charlotte. She entered a room
where the Queen and the Duchess of Ancaster were sitting, to their
alarm. While she was taking a leisurely survey of the contents of the
room, a page was summoned, who expelled the intruder, but did not
succeed in arresting her. Shortly after, the Queen’s apartments were
broken into by a thief, who stole valuable jewels and a miniature of
the Queen. The thief proved to be a woman named Sarah Wilson,
who had been maid of the Honorable Miss Vernon, and this thief was
asserted to be the inquisitive intruder whose visit had so alarmed the
Queen.
Sarah Wilson was arrested, tried as a felon, and sentenced to
death; but by the exertions and influence of her former mistress the
sentence was commuted to transportation to the American colonies
for a seven years’ term of servitude. This leniency caused
considerable stir in London and some dissatisfaction.
In 1771, after passage in a convict ship, Sarah Wilson was sold to
a Mr. William Duvall, of Bush Creek, Frederick County, Maryland, for
seven years’ servitude. After a short time, in which she apparently
developed her plans of fraud, she escaped from her master, and
went to Virginia and the Carolinas, where she assumed the title of
Princess Susannah Caroline Matilda, and asserted she was the
sister of the Queen of England. She still owned the miniature of the
Queen, and some rich jewels, which gave apparent proof of her
assertion, and it is said some rich clothing. It is indeed mysterious
that a transported convict could retain in her possession, through all
her reverses, the very jewels for whose theft she was punished; yet
the story can scarcely be doubted.
She travelled through the South from plantation to plantation, with
plentiful promises of future English offices and court favors to all who
assisted her progress; and liberal sums of money were placed at her

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