220-1102 Software Troubleshooting Practice Question
A technician is supporting a finance laptop. The immediate goal is to reduce slow sign-in caused by unnecessary launch items. Which tool, control, or procedure is the best fit?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse the Startup tab in Task Manager with the Services console (services.msc) or the System Configuration utility (msconfig), but the question specifically asks for the tool that directly reviews and manages launch items, which is Task Manager's Startup tab.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
startup app review in Task Manager
The best tool to reduce slow sign-in caused by unnecessary launch items is the startup app review in Task Manager. Task Manager's Startup tab lists all applications configured to launch at user logon, showing their status (enabled/disabled) and startup impact (None, Low, Medium, High). Disabling high-impact, non-essential startup applications directly reduces the number of processes that must load during sign-in, thereby speeding up the logon process.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Local Users and Groups
Why it's wrong here
Lusrmgr.msc (Local Users and Groups) manages account credentials, group membership, and password policies for security and access control. It has no mechanism to alter the set of software that initializes during the Windows boot sequence, so it cannot reduce the time a heavily loaded finance laptop takes to become usable. While a malicious or unusual user account could indirectly affect performance, this tool is not the immediate action for a slow-starting device.
- ✗
Event Viewer
Why it's wrong here
Event Viewer is a diagnostic snapshot of system, application, and security logs that can reveal error codes or recurring warnings after a problem occurs. However, it is a passive logging tool and does not provide a direct control to stop unnecessary programs from launching at sign-in. The task at hand requires an actionable step that immediately changes boot behavior, not a retrospective analysis of logs that might or might not point to a cause.
- ✓
startup app review in Task Manager
Why this is correct
The Startup tab in Task Manager lists every program that runs automatically when the user logs in and shows the measured impact of each item on CPU, disk, and startup time. Disabling non-essential entries prevents those processes from loading at boot, directly reducing the time and resource contention that cause the laptop to feel slow. This is the correct immediate action for a finance laptop because it is non-invasive, reversible, and gives the user control over what runs automatically.
- ✗
System Restore
Why it's wrong here
System Restore can revert the operating system to a previous restore point, which is appropriate when a recent driver, update, or configuration change caused the slowness. But it is a broad, blunt instrument that may undo legitimate changes or remove recently installed applications, and it requires that a restore point already exists. It does not specifically trim the startup workload, so it would not be the first choice for simply reducing slow boot performance without evidence of a recent system alteration.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 220-1102 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 220-1102 exam.