hardMultiple Choice
FC0-U71 Practice Question: A small accounting office uses three desktop…
A small accounting office uses three desktop computers running Windows 10. One computer has become extremely slow over the past week. The user reports that the computer takes a long time to start up and applications are unresponsive. The technician checks Task Manager and sees that physical memory usage is at 95% and the page file is heavily used. The hard drive activity light is solid. The computer has 4GB of RAM and a 1TB HDD with 200GB free. Which course of action should the technician take first to most directly address the performance issue?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often choose 'Increase the page file size' (Option A) thinking more virtual memory will help, but they fail to recognize that the bottleneck is the speed of the HDD, not the size of the page file, and that adding physical RAM is the only way to reduce paging activity.
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
✓
Upgrade the RAM to at least 8GB
The system has only 4GB of RAM, and physical memory usage is at 95% with heavy page file utilization. This indicates the computer is thrashing — constantly swapping data between RAM and the slow HDD, causing the solid hard drive activity light and unresponsiveness. Adding more RAM (to at least 8GB) directly reduces reliance on the page file, alleviating the bottleneck and addressing the root cause of the performance issue.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Increase the page file size
Why it's wrong here
Enlarging the page file increases disk-backed virtual memory, yet the disk light is already solid from paging, so it adds more slow disk I/O instead of relieving the 95% physical memory pressure. It is tempting when RAM is exhausted, but the correct fix is adding physical memory.
- ✓
Upgrade the RAM to at least 8GB
Why this is correct
Upgrading RAM directly addresses the memory shortage, reducing swapping and improving overall speed.
- ✗
Disable unnecessary startup programs
Why it's wrong here
Disabling startup programs reduces what loads at boot, but the 95% physical memory usage and heavy paging persist once applications open, so the underlying RAM shortfall remains. It is tempting because startup bloat genuinely causes slow boots, making it valid when memory headroom is otherwise adequate.
- ✗
Run a full antivirus scan
Why it's wrong here
A full antivirus scan addresses malware, but Task Manager shows 95% physical memory use with heavy paging on a 4GB machine, indicating memory exhaustion rather than infection. It is tempting because malware commonly causes slowness, making a scan reasonable when unexplained CPU or network activity appears alongside the slowdown.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This FC0-U71 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 FC0-U71 exam.