Software Troubleshooting
Free CompTIA A+ (Core 2) practice — 6 questions on Software Troubleshooting, with explanations. No sign-up. Full 12-question mixed test →
A technician has already investigated symptoms and quarantined an infected workstation from the network, following CompTIA best-practice malware removal procedures. What is the correct NEXT step before remediating the system?
CompTIA's official malware removal order is: 1) Identify/investigate symptoms, 2) Quarantine infected systems, 3) Disable System Restore, 4) Remediate infected systems (update anti-malware and scan), 5) Schedule scans and run updates, 6) Enable System Restore and create a restore point, 7) Educate the end user. Disabling System Restore comes immediately after quarantine so the malware isn't preserved in restore points.
A user reports their laptop displayed a blue screen referencing a third-party driver file after installing a new printer, and the system now automatically reboots before the error can be read. Which troubleshooting step should the technician perform FIRST to safely diagnose the issue?
Safe Mode loads only essential drivers, preventing the faulty third-party driver from loading and causing another crash. From Safe Mode, Event Viewer and Device Manager can be used to identify and roll back or remove the problematic driver referenced in the BSOD.
A critical Windows service fails to start and Event Viewer logs Error 1053: 'The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.' The technician checks Services.msc and finds the service it depends on is set to Disabled. What is the MOST likely fix?
A service depending on another service that is disabled will fail to start because its dependency chain is broken. Setting the dependency service to Automatic and starting it resolves the root cause, allowing the dependent service to start normally afterward.
A user logs into their Windows 11 workstation and sees the message 'You have been logged on with a temporary profile. You cannot access your files and files created in this profile will be deleted when you log off.' Simply deleting and recreating the user profile through System Properties has not fixed the issue on repeat logins. What should the technician check next?
Recurring temporary profile issues are commonly caused by a corrupted entry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList, where Windows creates a duplicate SID key with a .bak suffix during a failed profile load. Renaming/removing the corrupted key and correcting the State value resolves the root cause that a simple profile deletion won't fix.
Windows Update on a workstation repeatedly fails to install a cumulative update, showing the same error code after multiple restart attempts. A quick reboot did not fix it. Which sequence of actions is the BEST next troubleshooting approach?
Repeated update failures often indicate corruption in the Windows component store or system files. DISM repairs the component store from Windows Update sources, and SFC then repairs system files using that repaired store, resolving most persistent update failures without a full OS reinstall.
A user reports that all of their personal documents now have a '.locked' file extension, and a text file on the desktop demands cryptocurrency payment to restore access. Which category of malware does this describe?
Ransomware encrypts a victim's files and demands payment (often cryptocurrency) for the decryption key, exactly matching the symptoms of renamed/encrypted files and a ransom note.
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