A+ Core 2 Windows Tools: Task Manager, MMC Snap-ins, msconfig, and Settings

Learn the tools by the problem they solve

Objective 1.4 of 220-1202 is a "given a scenario" objective, so a question rarely asks "what does perfmon.msc do?" It describes a user's problem and asks which tool you open first. Objective 3.1 supplies the problems: BSODs, degraded performance, boot issues, services not starting, crashing applications, low memory warnings, USB controller resource warnings, a missing OS, slow profile loads, and time drift. This page connects the two lists. Command-line tools such as sfc and chkdsk live in the Windows command line guide.

Symptom to tool

Two details to know. First, msconfig's Startup tab no longer manages startup programs. Microsoft's clean boot instructions say to select Open Task Manager from that tab and disable startup items there. Second, Local Users and Groups and Group Policy Editor are not available on Home editions. On Home, net user from the command line still manages local accounts.

Task Manager's five tabs in one line each

• Processes: what is running now and what it is using.
• Performance: CPU, memory, disk, network, and GPU graphs.
• Users: who is signed in and what each session is using.
• Startup: what launches at sign-in, the first place to look when sign-in is slow.
• Services: service status, with a link to the full Services console.

Settings: the objectives use Windows 10 names

Objective 1.6 mixes Control Panel applets with Settings app pages. The Settings names it lists, such as Update and Security, Devices, and Ease of Access, match Windows 10. Microsoft's own Settings overview shows how Windows 11 names the same areas:

The Control Panel items in 1.6 are still worth opening on a real PC: Internet Options, Devices and Printers, Programs and Features, Network and Sharing Center, System, Windows Defender Firewall, Mail, Sound, User Accounts, Device Manager, Indexing Options, Administrative Tools, File Explorer Options, Power Options, and Ease of Access.

Two of them hold details worth knowing:

• File Explorer Options. Turning off "Hide extensions for known file types" lets a user see that invoice.pdf.exe is a program, not a PDF. Showing hidden files helps when a support article points to a hidden folder.
• Power Options. Know the difference between sleep and hibernate, what "choose what closing the lid does" changes, why USB selective suspend can make a USB device drop off, and that fast startup means a shutdown is not a full restart. When a fix requires a clean start, use Restart.

Editions: what each one can do

Objective 1.3 covers Windows 10 Home, Pro, Pro for Workstations, and Enterprise, and Windows 11 Home, Pro, and Enterprise, plus N versions. The feature differences it names are domain versus workgroup, the user interface, Remote Desktop, RAM limits, BitLocker, and gpedit.msc.

Microsoft's BitLocker documentation lists Pro, Enterprise, Pro Education/SE, and Education as the editions that support BitLocker enablement, and describes device encryption as a separate, automatic feature on qualifying devices. Microsoft's Remote Desktop page says the PC you connect to must run a Pro edition, while the device you connect from can run any edition. The memory limits come from Microsoft's memory limits page, which also lists 6 TB for Windows 11 Pro for Workstations.

For upgrades, Windows 11 requires UEFI firmware that is Secure Boot capable and TPM 2.0, which is why objective 1.3 lists TPM and UEFI under hardware requirements.

Windows 10 status. Microsoft ended support for Windows 10 Home and Pro on October 14, 2025. The 220-1202 objectives were published in 2024 and still name Windows 10 editions, and their note says Windows versions that have not reached end of Mainstream Support, up to and including Windows 11, are intended content. Study the Windows 10 items the objectives name, and practice on Windows 11 for everything else.

How to practice without breaking anything

Open each tool on your own PC and find one real piece of information in it: your last unexpected shutdown in Event Viewer, your startup items in Task Manager, your disk layout in Disk Management. Change nothing in Disk Management or Registry Editor on a computer you depend on. A virtual machine is the right place for that.

The NTFS and share permissions guide picks up where Local Users and Groups leaves off, and the Core 2 security guide covers Defender, the firewall, UAC, and BitLocker settings. When the scenario is unclear, the troubleshooting methodology guide helps you pick the next step.

Cover the right two columns of the symptom table and name the tool for each row, then practice A+ Core 2 operating system questions with Passy →.