Common Technical Interview Questions and Answers Update on April 29, 2020

Question 1: You are running virtual machines on a single physical server. The server operating system does not run any other applications and is dedicated to virtualization. What type of hypervisor is this?
A. Type 1
B. Type 2
C. Type 3
D. Type 4
Correct Answer: A. Type 1
Explanation: Type 1 hypervisors run directly on the physical hardware and are dedicated to running virtual machines. Type 2 hypervisors are not dedicated to virtualization; they run within an existing operating system that can do more than run virtual machines. Type 3 and Type 4 are not valid hypervisor types.

Question 2: Which of these is not a feature of a CPU?
A. Multicore
B. 64-bit processing
C. L1 cache
D. DDR
Correct Answer: D. DDR
Explanation: DDR is a type of memory. All the others are CPU features.

Question 3: What manages and controls the speed of a motherboard’s buses?
A. RAM
B. CPU
C. Chipset
D. L1 cache
Correct Answer: C. Chipset
Explanation: The chipset manages the motherboard. RAM and CPU are items installed on the motherboard. The L1 cache is a memory cache inside the CPU.

Question 4: Which of these ports are physically identical?
A. USB Type-A and USB Type-B
B. Thunderbolt and Mini DisplayPort
C. DisplayPort and FireWire
D. DVI and VGA
Correct Answer: B. Thunderbolt and Mini DisplayPort
Explanation: Thunderbolt and Mini DisplayPort are correct. The other pairs are not identical.

Question 5: What kind of drive reads CompactFlash storage?
A. USB flash drive
B. Card reader
C. HDD
D. SDD
Correct Answer: B. Card reader
Explanation: A card reader reads from a variety of flash memory cards, including CompactFlash. All other drive types listed contain their own storage and do not accept cards.

Question 6: If you have a PC with a 32-bit CPU, which operating systems will run on it?
A. 32-bit only
B. Both 32-bit and 64-bit
C. Neither 32-bit nor 64-bit
D. 64-bit only
Correct Answer: A. 32-bit only
Explanation: A PC with 32-bit hardware will run only 32-bit operating systems.

Question 7: Which OS configuration uses data labels to control resource access?
A. Services
B. Scheduled tasks
C. Mandatory access control
D. EULA
Correct Answer: C. Mandatory access control
Explanation: Mandatory access control uses data labels to enforce policies that dictate resource access. Services are programs started by the OS and not the end user. Scheduled tasks run programs on a schedule basis, normally for OS maintenance purposes. The end-user license agreement (EULA) is a commercial software license agreement.

Question 8: What should you install before you download and install additional software on a new PC?
A. Security software
B. Nothing
C. Updates to other applications
D. Drivers for hardware devices
Correct Answer: A. Security software
Explanation: You should make sure security software is installed before downloading anything else.

Question 9: What is a root directory?
A. The top-level storage location on a volume
B. The folder containing the system files
C. The folder containing the boot files
D. The folder containing the signed-in user’s personal files
Correct Answer: A. The top-level storage location on a volume
Explanation: The root directory is the top-level location on a volume. The other options don’t describe the top-level location.

Question 10: Which file property makes a search faster for content within files?
A. Archive
B. Indexed
C. Compressed
D. Encrypted
Correct Answer: B. Indexed
Explanation: Indexed allows a file’s content to be indexed, speeding up searches. Archive indicates whether a file has changed since it has been backed up. Compressed and Encrypted are NTFS-specific properties that control how the file is stored in a file system. See Using Windows 10 search effectively to learn more.