Correct Answer:

His switch only supports 100BaseT. When two Ethernet devices connect, they negotiate in order to set themselves to the highest possible speed. In this case, the switch is 100BaseT.

Incorrect Answers:

The drivers are fine.

Your NIC's speed has nothing to do with the other computers. However, your actual data throughput will depend on the speed of the entire connection between the two communicating devices.

Most NICs do have a property that defines the speed. In almost all cases this is set by default to "AUTO." There is a tiny chance that Scott's NIC is set to 100BaseT, but it's not nearly as common as the correct answer.

Correct Answers:

If the LCD's inverter fails, the backlights can't get any power, causing the image to be so dim as to look almost black.

Incorrect Answers:

Laptops don't use plasma screens or CRTs, since they are heavy and bulky.

OLED screens are very uncommon and don't require a backlight.

They either work or they don't; the picture won't get dim from an error.

Correct Answer:

Your Web browser is using a proxy server. One of the main reasons for using a proxy server is to block unacceptable sites. The error described in the question is indicative of a proxy server.

Incorrect Answers:

If DNS was down, your browser would not be able to find the website and would give an error to that effect.

While it is possible to shut down HTTPS on your browser, it is highly unlikely.

If the problem sites all required usernames and passwords, you would get a prompt for a username and password.

Correct Answer:

Traditional hard drives use platters that spin and use read/write heads on actuator arms to read the top and bottom of the platters. The arms are controlled by a servo motor. All these moving metal parts can wear down over time and break.

Incorrect Answers:

Your system uses electronic signal and no audible sound occurs.

Solid state drives do not use moving parts.

The hard drive does not have spindle motor bearings.

Correct Answer:

The default gateway enables systems on a LAN to contact systems outside the local network.

Incorrect Answers:

A Domain Name Server (DNS) translates names into IP addresses, and is used inside the LAN as well as outside.

Hubs and switches are not default gateways.

Correct Answer:

Virtually all laptops require you to use a key combination including the FN (Function) key along with a second key.

Incorrect Answers:

The Ctrl, Windows, and Alt keys do not control monitor output.

Correct Answer:

The fall damaged the DC jack, rendering both the charging process and the plugged in failure.

Incorrect Answers:

The fall damaged the battery. This would have resulted in a very spectacular fire.

The fall damaged the power brick. The laptop fell, not the power brick.

The fall damaged the hard drive. In such a scenario, the computer would still have turned on, but would have been unable to access the OS.

Correct Answer:

Power over Ethernet (or PoE) enables networking devices to get their power through an Ethernet cable rather than a power cord.

Incorrect Answers:

A VPN, or virtual private network, is used to enable remote connections to a local network.

QoS, or quality of service, is a method for maintaining stable network performance by prioritizing some network packets over others.

WEP is an encryption standard for wireless networks.

Correct Answer:

A single-processor motherboard with eight hyperthreaded cores will provide excellent performance and minimum costs.

Incorrect Answers:

A single-processor motherboard with eight threaded cores doesn't make a lot of sense. All CPUs process threads.

A dual-processor motherboard with six overclocked cores would provide good performance, but would cost more than a single-processor solution.

A dual-processor motherboard with ten overclocked cores would provide good performance, but would cost more than a single-processor solution.

Correct Answer:

The correct URL is https://xyztest.com. Web addresses are not case-sensitive, so XyzTest is the same as xyztest.

Incorrect Answers:

ftp://xyztest.com FTP is the file transfer protocol, used to transfer files from one computer to another over the Internet.

Http://XyzTest.com. This would be correct if the site was not secured.

Httpsec://XyzTest.com. This is made up and incorrect.