easyMultiple Choice
FC0-U71 Practice Question: That their computer is slow when running multiple…
A user reports that their computer is slow when running multiple applications simultaneously. Which component upgrade would best improve performance?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse a slow system with a CPU bottleneck, but the question specifically describes running multiple applications simultaneously, which points to RAM as the limiting factor, not processor speed.
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
✓
RAM
When multiple applications run simultaneously, the operating system uses RAM to store active data for quick access. Insufficient RAM forces the system to rely on the hard drive as virtual memory (paging), which is dramatically slower. Upgrading RAM reduces this paging activity, improving multitasking performance.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
RAM
Why this is correct
Running multiple applications concurrently exhausts physical memory, forcing the OS to page data to disk and slowing execution. Adding RAM increases the number of active pages held in memory, reducing paging and directly addressing the simultaneous-application constraint described.
- ✗
Video card
Why it's wrong here
The video card renders graphics; it contributes nothing to the memory capacity that simultaneous applications exhaust. It is tempting because a GPU upgrade genuinely transforms frame rates and 3D rendering, making it the correct purchase when gaming or CAD performance, not multitasking responsiveness, is the complaint.
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CPU
Why it's wrong here
A faster CPU raises instruction throughput, yet the scenario's bottleneck is RAM exhaustion, which forces paging to disk regardless of clock speed. It is tempting because CPU upgrades do accelerate heavily compute-bound workloads such as video encoding, where the processor, not memory capacity, is the limiting resource.
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Hard drive
Why it's wrong here
A hard drive upgrade raises storage capacity or sequential throughput, but it does not add the RAM capacity that concurrent applications contend for. It is tempting because replacing a mechanical disk with an SSD dramatically speeds boot and load times, which is the right fix when slowness stems from disk-bound I/O rather than memory pressure.
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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.