220-1102 Software Troubleshooting Practice Question
A user reports that their Windows 10 workstation's screen flickers occasionally when watching videos. The technician updates the display driver to the latest version, but the problem persists. Which built-in Windows tool should the technician use to review a history of application and driver failures to help identify the cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse Reliability Monitor with Event Viewer, but the exam specifically tests that Reliability Monitor provides a user-friendly, graphical history of failures, while Event Viewer is a more granular log viewer not listed as an option.
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
✓
Reliability Monitor
Reliability Monitor is the correct built-in Windows tool because it provides a detailed, historical timeline of application and driver failures, including critical events like crashes, hangs, and driver-related errors. Since the display driver update did not resolve the flickering, Reliability Monitor can reveal whether the issue is linked to a specific driver failure or other software instability, helping the technician pinpoint the root cause.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
System Configuration (msconfig)
Why it's wrong here
System Configuration (msconfig) is a boot and startup management utility that lets you toggle services, startup programs, and boot options. It does not maintain a log of past system crashes, driver failures, or application errors, so it cannot reveal why the screen flickers intermittently. Even though performing a clean boot with msconfig might isolate a problematic service, it provides no historical failure data, making it unsuitable for reviewing failure history.
- ✓
Reliability Monitor
Why this is correct
Reliability Monitor is the correct choice because it maintains a time-stamped, graphical history of system stability, including driver failures, application crashes, Windows updates, and other hardware or software errors. For an intermittent flicker caused by a faulty display driver, it will show when that driver failed and correlate those events with the symptoms. This makes it the ideal tool for troubleshooting recurring issues that lack an immediate error dialog.
- ✗
Disk Cleanup
Why it's wrong here
Disk Cleanup is a storage maintenance tool that deletes temporary files, recycle bin contents, and other low-value data to free disk space. It has no capability to scan for driver faults, read event logs, or record application or system failures. Since screen flickering is typically a video driver or hardware issue, Disk Cleanup cannot diagnose or even log the condition, so it is entirely irrelevant here.
- ✗
Windows Security
Why it's wrong here
Windows Security provides real-time antivirus protection, firewall management, and device security features like memory integrity and core isolation. It does not maintain a chronological record of driver or application failures, nor does it offer any stability graph or crash history. While a malware infection could theoretically cause display anomalies, the tool's purpose is prevention and remediation, not retrospective analysis of system reliability events.
Visual reference
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Related to this question
Learn chapter
Troubleshoot: Windows Update Failures
Key term
Reliability
Reliability is the measure of a system's ability to consistently perform its intended functions without failure over a specified period of time under stated conditions.
Key term
Windows 10
Windows 10 is a personal computer operating system developed by Microsoft that combines the familiarity of Windows 7 with the modern features of Windows 8, designed to run on a wide range of devices from desktops to tablets.
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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.