1 Windows admin interview questions (includes Vista)

1. What is Active Directory?
An active directory is a directory structure used on Microsoft Windows based computers and servers to store information and data about networks and domains.



A central component of the Windows platform, Active Directory directory service provides the means to manage the identities and relationships that make up network environments. Windows Server 2003 makes Active Directory simpler to manage, easing migration and deployment.

Backing Up the Registry

There are many backup programs for the registry but if the computer goes down and you can't fire off Win95 because of the registry problem.
Backup to a directory the following files:

• SYSTEM.DATA
• SYSTEM.DA0 (Yes seem to be the same size)
• USER.DAT
• USER.DA0 (Same size likely)
• WIN.INI
• CONTROL.INI
• SYSTEM.INI

These files can be copied to the windows directory from Win95 or DOS to help correct problems.

Keyboard Shortcuts

When speed counts, the keyboard is still king. Almost all the actions and commands you can perform with a mouse you can perform faster using combinations of keys on your keyboard. These simple keyboard shortcuts can get you where you want to go faster than several clicks of a mouse. You'll work faster on spreadsheets and similar documents, too, because you won't lose your place switching back and forth between mouse and keys.



Here are some of the most useful keyboard shortcuts:

Copy. CTRL+C
Cut. CTRL+X
Paste. CTRL+V
Undo. CTRL+Z
Delete. DELETE

Delete selected item permanently without placing the item in the Recycle Bin. SHIFT+DELETE
Copy selected item. CTRL while dragging an item
Create shortcut to selected item. CTRL+SHIFT while dragging an item
Rename selected item. F2
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next word. CTRL+RIGHT ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word. CTRL+LEFT ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next paragraph. CTRL+DOWN ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous paragraph. CTRL+UP ARROW
Highlight a block of text. CTRL+SHIFT with any of the arrow keys
Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text within a document. SHIFT with any of the arrow keys
Select all. CTRL+A
Search for a file or folder. F3
View properties for the selected item. ALT+ENTER
Close the active item, or quit the active program. ALT+F4
Opens the shortcut menu for the active window. ALT+SPACEBAR
Close the active document in programs that allow you to have multiple documents open simultaneously. CTRL+F4
Switch between open items. ALT+TAB
Cycle through items in the order they were opened. ALT+ESC
Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop. F6
Display the Address bar list in My Computer or Windows Explorer. F4
Display the shortcut menu for the selected item. SHIFT+F10
Display the System menu for the active window. ALT+SPACEBAR
Display the Start menu. CTRL+ESC
Display the corresponding menu. ALT+Underlined letter in a menu name
Carry out the corresponding command. Underlined letter in a command name on an open menu
Activate the menu bar in the active program. F10
Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu. RIGHT ARROW
Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu. LEFT ARROW
Refresh the active window. F5
View the folder one level up in My Computer or Windows Explorer. BACKSPACE
Cancel the current task. ESC
SHIFT when you insert a CD into the CD-ROM drive Prevent the CD from automatically playing.

Use these keyboard shortcuts for dialog boxes:

Move forward through tabs. CTRL+TAB
Move backward through tabs. CTRL+SHIFT+TAB
Move forward through options. TAB
Move backward through options. SHIFT+TAB
Carry out the corresponding command or select the corresponding option. ALT+Underlined letter
Carry out the command for the active option or button. ENTER
Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check box. SPACEBAR
Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons. Arrow keys
Display Help. F1
Display the items in the active list. F4
Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in the Save As or Open dialog box. BACKSPACE

If you have a Microsoft Natural Keyboard, or any other compatible keyboard that includes the Windows logo key and the Application key , you can use these keyboard shortcuts:

Display or hide the Start menu.
Display the System Properties dialog box. +BREAK
Show the desktop. +D
Minimize all windows. +M
Restores minimized windows. +Shift+M
Open My Computer. +E
Search for a file or folder. +F
Search for computers. CTRL+ +F
Display Windows Help. +F1
Lock your computer if you are connected to a network domain, or switch users if you are not connected to a network domain. + L
Open the Run dialog box. +R
Display the shortcut menu for the selected item.
Open Utility Manager. +U

Helpful accessibility keyboard shortcuts:

Switch FilterKeys on and off. Right SHIFT for eight seconds
Switch High Contrast on and off. Left ALT +left SHIFT +PRINT SCREEN
Switch MouseKeys on and off. Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK
Switch StickyKeys on and off. SHIFT five times
Switch ToggleKeys on and off. NUM LOCK for five seconds
Open Utility Manager. +U

Keyboard shortcuts you can use with Windows Explorer:

Display the bottom of the active window. END
Display the top of the active window. HOME
Display all subfolders under the selected folder. NUM LOCK+ASTERISK on numeric keypad (*)
Display the contents of the selected folder. NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN on numeric keypad (+)
Collapse the selected folder. NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN on numeric keypad (-)
Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder. LEFT ARROW
Display current selection if it's collapsed, or select first subfolder. RIGHT ARROW

Remove shortcut arrow from desktop icons

Here's how you can remove those shortcut arrows from your desktop icons in Windows XP.

1. Start regedit.
2. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTlnkfile
3. Delete the IsShortcut registry value.

You may need to restart Windows XP.

My Computer Won't Shut Down Itself After Installing XP

There are a number of users who are noticing that their PC will no longer automatically power down/shut off without pressing the power off button on the computers unlike in Windows Me/95/2000. There could be a number of reasons for this - but the main one seems to be that ACPI is not enabled on the computer or in Windows XP. Here is how to try that out:

1. Click - Start - Control Panel - Performance and Maintenance - Power Options Tab
2. Then click APM - Enable Advanced Power Management Support

How To Enable Hibernation

Under Windows 98, Me, or 2000 there was an option in the shutdown dialog box to enter the computer into hibernation (where all the content of the RAM is copied to the hard disk). The shutdown dialog box of Windows XP doesn't offer any longer the hibernation button. Some users may get confused about how to enable the hibernation mode. If this mode is supported by your motherboard (ACPI) you have to do the following:

1. Click Start and Shut Down,
2. Point the standby button and maintain the shift key pushed,
3. A new hibernation button appears: click it while still holding the shift key: voila your PC will hibernate.

Microsoft Office 2007 filename extensions

Word 2007 File Type Extension


• docx - Word 2007 XML Document

• docm - Word 2007 XML Macro-Enabled Document

• dotx - Word 2007 XML Template

• dotm - Word 2007 XML Macro-Enabled Template

Excel 2007 File Type Extension

Restricting Logon Access

If you work in a multiuser computing environment, and you have full (administrator level) access to your computer, you might want to restrict unauthorized access to your "sensitive" files under Windows 95/98.
One way is to disable the Cancel button in the Logon dialog box.
Just run Regedit and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Network/Logon
Create the "Logon" subkey if it is not present on your machine: highlight the Network key -> right-click in the left hand Regedit pane -> select New -> Key -> name it "Logon" (no quotes) -> press Enter. Then add/modify a DWORD value and call it "MustBeValidated" (don't type the quotes). Double-click it, check the Decimal box and type 1 for value.
Now click the Start button -> Shut Down (Log off UserName) -> Log on as a different user, and you'll notice that the Logon Cancel button has been disabled.

Search For Hidden Or System Files In Windows XP

The Search companion in Windows XP searches for hidden and system files differently than in earlier versions of Windows. This guide describes how to search for hidden or system files in Windows XP.
Search for Hidden or System Files By default, the Search companion does not search for hidden or system files. Because of this, you may be unable to find files, even though they exist on the drive.
To search for hidden or system files in Windows XP:
Click Start, click Search, click All files and folders, and then click More advanced options.

Click to select the Search system folders and Search hidden files and folders check boxes.
NOTE: You do not need to configure your computer to show hidden files in the Folder Options dialog box in Windows Explorer to find files with either the hidden or system attributes, but you need to configure your computer not to hide protected operating system files to find files with both the hidden and system attributes. Search Companion shares the Hide protected operating system files option (which hides files with both the system and hidden attributes) with the Folder Options dialog box Windows Explorer.

Add Open With to all files

You can add "Open With..." to the Right click context menu of all files.This is great for when you have several programs you want to open the same file types with. I use three different text editors so I added it to the ".txt" key.

1. Open RegEdit
2. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\Shell
3. Add a new Key named "OpenWith" by right clicking the "Shell" Key and selecting new
4. Set the (Default) to "Op&en With..."
5. Add a new Key named "Command" by right clicking the "OpenWith" Key and selecting new
6. Set the (Default) to "C:\Windows\rundll32.exe shell32.dll,OpenAs_RunDLL %1", C:\ being your Windows drive. You must enter the "OpenAs_RunDLL %1" exactly this way.

Turn off Welcome screen

Open User Accounts in Control Panel.
Click Change the way users log on or off

XP Computer management console

To quickly access the computer management console, where you can see event logs (to see what's causing a problem, for example), right-click My Computer and choose Manage.
Then, select the Event viewer and double-click highlighted events in the Applications or System areas to view detailed explanations of what went wrong.

Automatic Screen Refresh

When you make changes to your hard drive and use Explorer, the changes are not usually displayed until you press the F5 key
To make the updates automatic:

1. Start Regedit
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / System / CurrentControlSet / Control / UpdateMode
3. Edit the DWORD value to be between 1 and 7
4. Restart Windows

Deleting Registry Keys from the Command Line

With the OEM Version of Windows95, a new switch, /D, is added to Regedit.
This enables you to delete items from Registry.
The syntax is: REGEDIT /L:system.dat_location /R:user.dat_location /D Reg_Key
where Reg_Key is the key you want to delete
There are two requirements:
1. That you have to boot to the same OEM version of Windows95 as the REGEDIT.EXE file.
2. You cannot be in Win95 at the time you use this switch.

Creating a Default File Opener

If you have a un-registered file type and want to view it with Explorer's Right-click
you can add your program to the right-click options by:

1. Starting Regedit
2. Go to HKEY_CLASS_ROOT / Unknown
3. Highlight the Shell Folder below it
4. Right click on Shell and create a New Key
5. Name it anything you want (For example NOTEPAD)
6. Create a New Key under that named command
7. Highlight the Command key
8. Double click on the Default value in the right hand panel
9. In Value Data, enter the path and filename of the program you want to use to open the file type
10. For example: C:\WINDOWS\NOTEPAD.EXE %1
11. Click on OK

In this example, when you right click on a file in Explorer, NOTEPAD will show up as an option.

Creating a Network Logon Banner

If you want to create a Network Logon Banner:

1. Start Regedit
2. Go To HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
3. Create a new String called LegalNoticeCaption
4. Enter the text for your banner

Changing the Location of Windows95's Installation Files

If you need to change the drive and or path where Windows95 will look for it's installation files:

1. Start Regedit
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Setup \ SourcePath
3. Change the location from there

Getting Rid of Tips

Remember those "Tips of the day" that appeared when you first install Win95?
If you don't want them any longer and want to clear yet more Clutter, approximately 5K, you can delete them at:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ explorer \ Tips

Saving Desktop Settings

When I would go to Control Panel or Start Menu Programs, or any other Desktop window setting; meaning size, position, icon arrangement, they would never be as I set them. I found an answer:
At [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
There is a "NoSaveSettings" key. I deleted it and now my all my stuff stays where I tell it.
The same key shows up at:
[HKEY_USERS\bwil\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer](where bwil is your password profile) Just thought I'd share this with you all.

Adding Explore From Here to Every Folder

1. Start Regedit
2. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ Folder \ shell
3. Add a key rootexplore
4. Give it a default value of E&xplore From Here
5. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ Folder \ shell \ rootexplore
6. Add a key command
7. Give it a default value of Explorer.exe /e,/root,/idlist,%i

Now when you right click on any folder, you can open up an Explorer window

of that folder.
This will work for both Windows95 and NT 4.0

Adding an Application to the Right Click on Every Folder

Here is how to add any application to the menu when you right click on any Folder.
This could be useful if there is an app you always want available and don't want to go through the Start menu

1. Start Regedit
2. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ Folder \ shell
3. Add a key Name_of_Your_App
4. This can really be any label, just use one that makes sense to you
5. Give it a default value of Name_of_Your_App
6. Putting a & in front of a character will allow you to use the keyboard
7. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ Folder \ shell \ Name_of_Your_App
8. Add a key command
9. Give it a default value of the application you want to run
10. For example: c:\program files\internet explorer\iexplore.exe
11. Include the full path

Changing the Registered Owner

1. Starting Regedit
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SOFTWARE / Microsoft / Windows / CurrentVersion
3. From there you can edit the name in the Registered Owner key