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A+ Operating Systems Tutorial

Related exams: A+ IT Technician 220-602   A+ Remote Support Technician 220-603   A+ Depot Technician 220-604 A+ Essentials 220-601

Introductions: A+ Operating Systems (A+ OS) is one of the two exams that constitute A+ certification requirement. The other exam that you need to pass to obtain A+ certification is A+ Core Hardware exam. ( Read A+ Core Hardware tutorial).

3. Diagnosing, and Troubleshooting

3.3 Recognize common operational and usability problems and determine how to resolve them.
Content may include the following:

Troubleshooting Windows-specific printing problems

Some of the frequently encountered print problems include the following:

  • Print spool is stalled
  • Incorrect/incompatible driver for print
  • Incorrect parameter

Documents on the print server will not print and cannot be deleted. The likely reason is that the print spooler might be stalled.

Solution: On the print server, try to stop and restart the Print Spooler service.

             Normally, most of the established printers have driver software bundled with the Windows OS CD. However, some times, a printer might have been released at a later date and the driver software is not yet bundled with the OS software. Under such circumstances, you may need to load the printer driver software manually. Follow the steps below to load the software manually:

  1. Download (if not already available with the printer) the driver software from the printer vendor's website. Extract the files and save to an empty folder.
  2. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers and Faxes.
  3. Double-click Add Printer to start the Add Printer Wizard, click Next, click Local printer attached to this computer, and then click Next.
  4. Click the port where your printer is attached, and then click Next.
  5. Click Have Disk, enter the path from Step 1, and then click OK.
  6. Click the appropriate printer, click Next, and then continue with the Add Printer Wizard.

After completion of driver installation, verify by printing a test document.

Some times, you get an error says "Incorrect parameter". Try re-installing the driver, verifying the cable connections, spooler, and printer configuration.

Other Common problems

  1. Verify that you have applied latest Service Pack to the OS

  2. Verify that the application is supported on the given OS ( see application vendor's docs)

  3. Verify that the necessary dll or class files are properly installed.

If necessary, you may un-install and re-install the application by going to Add/Remove programs in the Control Panel.

Sometimes, the application itself may not respond. An example error message is given below:

A typical error message is shown above.

You may need to remove and re-install such application.

Viruses and virus types

A Trojan is a malicious program and usually do not replicate itself. It performs some malicious action, like loss of data files etc. A Trojan arrives as a seemingly harmless program with hidden malicious intention. 

A worm is a self-contained program that spreads itself to other computer systems. The propagation usually takes place through internal networks, Internet or email attachments. Some worms may also prevent you from accessing antivirus websites. 

Many a times, these viruses infect, and stay resident on your computer. These viruses initialize when some particular action (like executing program or opening a file) is performed. Internet viruses may also transmit your files over the Internet using your email or FTP programs.

Some examples of viruses include MyDoom, Slammer, Melissa, etc. MyDoom spreads through emails and file-sharing software. MyDoom entices email recipients to open an attachment that allows hackers to access the hard drive of the infected computer. T he Melissa virus executes a macro in a document attached to an email, which forwards the document to people in the user's Outlook address book. The virus also infects other Word documents and subsequently mails them out as attachments. Each of these viruses have their own properties, and no two viruses act the same. There are several thousands of viruses existing to-date. Earlier days, when the Floppy disk was the primary means of transporting software, viruses used to get transmitted through Floppy disks. But this is not the case any more, as the Floppy disks are hardly used these days. The primary means of transport for Viruses is the Internet.

Viruses normally do not spread through data files, that are not capable of performing any action themselves. Such files include image files (.gif, .jpg, etc.) or data files (.txt). 

To determine the presence of a virus, you need to scan your hard disk, and emails regularly using any antivirus software such as Norton or Avasti. Most of the antivirus softwares have the ability to stay resident in memory, and scan any documents, web pages or emails that you download or view in real time. The antivirus programs basically look for any virus signature, and prompt you to isolate or remove the virus infected files. You need to keep the virus database files up to date for detecting latest viruses.

Popular paid versions of antivirus software include Norton, Mcafee, and AVG. On the other hand free versions of the software include Avast! (avast.com), and others.

 

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