WITH VERIFIED ANSWERS 2026 EDITION.
master boot record (MBR
Sector on a mass storage device that holds information about partitions and the OS boot loader.
globally unique identifier(GUID) partition table (GPT)
Modern disk partitioning system allowing large numbers of partitions and very large partition sizes.
recovery partition
OEM recovery media enabling the user to reset the system to its factory configuration.
System requirements
Minimum specifications for CPU speed, memory, and disk capacity for installing an OS or app.
distribution method
Formats for provisioning application installation files, such as via optical discs, downloads, and image
files.
potential impacts
Considerations that should be made when planning the installation or upgrade of new apps.
Safe Mode
Troubleshooting startup mode that loads a limited selection of drivers and services.
Startup Repair
Troubleshooting boot options that allow use of tools such as safe mode and recovery discs.
Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE)
Windows troubleshooting feature that installs a command shell environment to a recovery partition to
remediate boot issues.
System Restore
Windows System Protection feature that allows the configuration to be reverted to a restore point.
Roll Back Driver
Windows troubleshooting feature that allows removal of an update or reversion to a previous driver
version.
Reset this PC
Windows feature to attempt system recovery by reinstalling Windows from source.
, fixboot
Windows command in Windows allowing for the repair (or attempted repair) of the boot manager and
boot loader.
blue screen of death (BSoD)
Microsoft status screen that indicates an error from which the system cannot recover (also called a stop
error). Blue screens are usually caused by bad driver software or hardware faults (memory or disk).
Other operating systems use similar crash indicators, such as Apple's pinwheel and Linux's kernel panic
message.
drifting out of sync
Situation where hosts on a network are not closely synchronized to the same date/time source.
network interface card (NIC)
Adapter card that provides one or more Ethernet ports for connecting hosts to a network so that they
can exchange data over a link.
subnet mask
Number of bits applied to an IP address to mask the network ID portion from the host/interface ID
portion.
Internet Protocol (IP)
Format for logical host and network addressing. In IPv4, a 32-bit binary address is expressed in dotted
decimal notation, such as 192.168.1.1. In IPv6, addresses are 128-bit expressed as hexadecimal (for
example, 2001:db8::0bcd:abcd:ef12:1234).
Domain Name System (DNS)
Service that maps fully qualified domain name labels to IP addresses on most TCP/IP networks, including
the Internet.
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
Protocol used to automatically assign IP addressing information to hosts that have not been configured
manually.
Network Location Awareness (NLA)
Windows feature that categorizes network profile as public or private. Each profile can have a different
firewall configuration, with public network types being more restricted, by default.
virtual private network (VPN)
Secure tunnel created between two endpoints connected via an unsecure transport network (typically
the Internet).
Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN)