What technology was created to replace the bios program on modern personal computer motherboards?

What technology was created to replace the bios program on modern personal computer motherboards?

The BIOS will soon be dead: Intel has announced plans to completely replace it with UEFI on all their chipsets by 2020. But what is UEFI, and how is it different from the BIOS we’re all familiar with?

Both UEFI and BIOS are low-level software that starts when you boot your PC before booting your operating system, but UEFI is a more modern solution, supporting larger hard drives, faster boot times, more security features, and—conveniently—graphics and mouse cursors.

We’ve seen newer PCs that ship with UEFI still refer to it as the “BIOS” to avoid confusing people who are used to a traditional PC BIOS. Even if your PC uses the term “BIOS”, modern PCs you buy today almost certainly ship with UEFI firmware instead of a BIOS. Here’s why.

What Is a BIOS?

What technology was created to replace the bios program on modern personal computer motherboards?

RELATED: What Does a PC's BIOS Do, and When Should I Use It?

BIOS is short for Basic Input-Output system. It’s low-level software that resides in a chip on your computer’s motherboard. The BIOS loads when your computer starts up, and the BIOS is responsible for waking up your computer’s hardware components, ensures they’re functioning properly, and then runs the bootloader that boots Windows or whatever other operating system you have installed.

You can configure various settings in the BIOS setup screen. Settings like your computer’s hardware configuration, system time, and boot order are located here. You can access this screen by pressing a specific key—different on different computers, but often Esc, F2, F10, or Delete—while the computer boots. When you save a setting, it’s saved to the memory on your motherboard itself. When you boot your computer, the BIOS will configure your PC with the saved settings.

The BIOS goes through a POST, or Power-On Self Test, before booting your operating system. It checks to ensure your hardware configuration is valid and working properly. If something is wrong, you’ll see an error message or hear a cryptic series of beep codes. You’ll have to look up what different sequences of beeps mean in the computer’s manual.

When your computer boots—and after the POST finishes—the BIOS looks for a Master Boot Record, or MBR, stored on the boot device and uses it to launch the bootloader.

You may also see the acronym CMOS, which stands for Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor. This refers to the battery-backed memory where the BIOS stores various settings on the motherboard. It’s actually not accurate anymore, since this method has been replaced with flash memory (also referred to as EEPROM) in contemporary systems.

Why the BIOS Is Outdated

The BIOS has been around for a long time, and hasn’t evolved much. Even MS-DOS PCs released in the 1980s had a BIOS!

Of course, the BIOS has evolved and improved over time. Some extensions were developed, including ACPI, the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface. This allows the BIOS to more easily configure devices and perform advanced power management functions, like sleep. But the BIOS hasn’t advanced and improved nearly as much as other PC technology has since the days of MS-DOS.

The traditional BIOS still has serious limitations. It can only boot from drives of 2.1 TB or less. 3 TB drives are now common, and a computer with a BIOS can’t boot from them. That limitation is due to the way the BIOS’s Master Boot Record system works.

The BIOS must run in 16-bit processor mode, and only has 1 MB of space to execute in. It has trouble initializing multiple hardware devices at once, which leads to a slower boot process when initializing all the hardware interfaces and devices on a modern PC.

The BIOS has needed replacement for a long time. Intel started work on the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) specification back in 1998. Apple chose EFI when it switched to the Intel architecture on its Macs in 2006, but other PC manufacturers didn’t follow.

In 2007, Intel, AMD, Microsoft, and PC manufacturers agreed on a new Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) specification. This is an industry-wide standard managed by the Unified Extended Firmware Interface Forum, and isn’t solely driven by Intel. UEFI support was introduced to Windows with Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows 7. The vast majority of computers you can buy today now use UEFI rather than a traditional BIOS.

How UEFI Replaces and Improves on the BIOS

What technology was created to replace the bios program on modern personal computer motherboards?

UEFI replaces the traditional BIOS on PCs. There’s no way to switch from BIOS to UEFI on an existing PC. You need to buy new hardware that supports and includes UEFI, as most new computers do. Most UEFI implementations provide BIOS emulation so you can choose to install and boot old operating systems that expect a BIOS instead of UEFI, so they’re backwards compatible.

RELATED: What's the Difference Between GPT and MBR When Partitioning a Drive?

This new standard avoids the limitations of the BIOS. The UEFI firmware can boot from drives of 2.2 TB or larger—in fact, the theoretical limit is 9.4 zettabytes. That’s roughly three times the estimated size of all the data on the Internet. That’s because UEFI uses the GPT partitioning scheme instead of MBR. It also boots in a more standardized way, launching EFI executables rather than running code from a drive’s master boot record.

UEFI can run in 32-bit or 64-bit mode and has more addressable address space than BIOS, which means your boot process is faster. It also means that UEFI setup screens can be slicker than BIOS settings screens, including graphics and mouse cursor support. However, this isn’t mandatory. Many PCs still ship with text-mode UEFI settings interfaces that look and work like an old BIOS setup screen.

UEFI is packed with other features. It supports Secure Boot, which means the operating system can be checked for validity to ensure no malware has tampered with the boot process. It can support networking features right in the UEFI firmware itself, which can aid in remote troubleshooting and configuration. With a traditional BIOS, you have to be sitting in front of a physical computer to configure it.

It’s not just a BIOS replacement, either. UEFI is essentially a tiny operating system that runs on top of the PC’s firmware, and it can do a lot more than a BIOS. It may be stored in flash memory on the motherboard, or it may be loaded from a hard drive or network share at boot.

Different PCs with UEFI will have different interfaces and features. It’s all up to your PC manufacturer, but the basics will be the same on each PC.

How to Access UEFI Settings on Modern PCs

If you’re a normal PC user, switching to a computer with UEFI won’t be a noticeable change. Your new computer will boot up and shut down faster than it would have with a BIOS, and you can use drives of 2.2 TB or more in size.

RELATED: Three Ways to Access the Windows 10 and 8 Boot Options Menu

If you need to access low-level settings, there may be a slight difference. You may need to access the UEFI settings screen through the Windows boot options menu rather than pressing a key while your computer starts. With PCs now booting so quickly, PC manufacturers don’t want to slow down the boot process by waiting to see if you press a key. However, we’ve also seen PCs with UEFI that allow you to access the BIOS in the same way, by pressing a key during the boot-up process.

What technology was created to replace the bios program on modern personal computer motherboards?

While UEFI is a big upgrade, it’s largely in the background. Most PC users will never notice—or need to care—that their new PCs use UEFI instead of a traditional BIOS. They’ll just work better and support more modern hardware and features.

For more detailed information, read Adam Williamson of Red Hat’s explanation of how the UEFI boot process is different. You can also read the official UEFI FAQ.

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What are two advantages of the NTFS file system compared with FAT32? (Choose two.)NTFS allows faster access to external peripherals such as a USB drive.NTFS supports larger files.NTFS provides more security features.NTFS allows faster formatting of drives.NTFS is easier to configure.

NTFS allows the automatic detection of bad sectors.

NTFS supports larger files.NTFS provides more security features.Answers Explanation & Hints:

The file system has no control over the speed of access or formatting of drives, and the ease of configuration is not file system-dependent.

What technology was created to replace the BIOS program on modern personal computer motherboards?UEFIRAMCMOS

MBR

UEFIAnswers Explanation & Hints:

As of 2015, most personal computer motherboards are shipped with UEFI as the replacement for the BIOS program.

A technician has installed a third party utility that is used to manage a Windows 7 computer. However, the utility does not automatically start whenever the computer is started. What can the technician do to resolve this problem?Uninstall the program and then choose Add New Programs in the Add or Remove Programs utility to install the application.Use the Add or Remove Programs utility to set program access and defaults.Change the startup type for the utility to Automatic in Services .Set the application registry key value to one.

Match the Windows 10 boot sequence after the boot manager (bootmgr.exe) loads.

Change the startup type for the utility to Automatic in Services .Answers Explanation & Hints:

The Services console in Windows OS allows for the management of all the services on the local and remote computers. The setting of Automatic in the Services console enables the chosen service to start when the computer is started.

dir - lists files in a directory.

mkdir - creates a new directory

What is the Windows 10 boot sequence after the boot manager (bootmgr.exe) loads.

The windows boot loader Winload.exe loadsNtoskrnl.exe and hal.dll are loadedWinload.exe reads the Registry, chooses a hardware profile, and loads the device drivers.Ntoskrnl.exe takes over the process.

Winlogon.exe is loaded and executes the logon process.

Which two commands could be used to check if DNS name resolution is working properly on a Windows PC? (Choose two.)nslookup cisco.comnet cisco.comping cisco.comnbtstat cisco.com

ipconfig /flushdns

ping cisco.comnslookup cisco.comAnswers Explanation & Hints:The ping command tests the connection between two hosts. When ping uses a host domain name to test the connection, the resolver on the PC will first perform the name resolution to query the DNS server for the IP address of the host. If the ping command is unable to resolve the domain name to an IP address, an error will result.

Nslookup is a tool for testing and troubleshooting DNS servers.

A user logs in to Windows with a regular user account and attempts to use an application that requires administrative privileges. What can the user do to successfully use the application?Right-click the application and choose Run as root .Right-click the application and choose Run as Priviledge .Right-click the application and choose Run as Superuser .

Right-click the application and choose Run as Administrator .

Right-click the application and choose Run as Superuser .Answers Explanation & Hints:

As a security best practice, it is advisable not to log on to Windows using the Administrator account or an account with administrative privileges. When it is necessary to run or install software that requires the privileges of the Administrator, the user can right-click the software in the Windows File Explorer and choose Run as Administrator .

Which type of Windows PowerShell command performs an action and returns an output or object to the next command that will be executed?scriptscmdletsroutines

functions

cmdletsAnswers Explanation & Hints:The types of commands that PowerShell can execute include the following: cmdlets – perform an action and return an output or object to the next command that will be executedPowerShell scripts – files with a .ps1 extension that contain PowerShell commands that are executed

PowerShell functions – pieces of code that can be referenced in a script

A user creates a file with .ps1 extension in Windows. What type of file is it?PowerShell scriptPowerShell cmdletPowerShell function

PowerShell documentation

PowerShell scriptAnswers Explanation & Hints:The types of commands that PowerShell can execute include the following: cmdlets – perform an action and return an output or object to the next command that will be executedPowerShell scripts – files with a .ps1 extension that contain PowerShell commands that are executed

PowerShell functions – pieces of code that can be referenced in a script

What is the purpose of using the net accounts command in Windows?to start a network serviceto display information about shared network resourcesto show a list of computers and network devices on the network

to review the settings of password and logon requirements for users

to review the settings of password and logon requirements for usersAnswers Explanation & Hints:These are some common net commands:net accounts – sets password and logon requirements for usersnet start – starts a network service or lists running network servicesnet use – connects, disconnects, and displays information about shared network resourcesnet view – shows a list of computers and network devices on the network

When used without options, the net accounts command displays the current settings for password, logon limitations, and domain information.

What is the purpose of entering the netsh command on a Windows PC?to create user accountsto test the hardware devices on the PCto change the computer name for the PC

to configure networking parameters for the PC

to configure networking parameters for the PCAnswers Explanation & Hints:

The netsh.exe tool can be used to configure networking parameters for the PC from a command prompt.

Which statement describes the function of the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol?It is used to manage remote PCs.It is used to stream media contents.It is used to share network resources.

It is used to compress files stored on a disk.

It is used to share network resources.Answers Explanation & Hints:

The Server Message Block (SMB) protocol is primarily used by Microsoft to share network resources.

A PC user issues the netstat command without any options. What is displayed as the result of this command?a local routing tablea network connection and usage reporta list of all established active TCP connections

a historical list of successful pings that have been sent

a list of all established active TCP connectionsAnswers Explanation & Hints:

When used by itself (without any options), the netstat command will display all the active TCP connections that are available.

a hierarchical database of all system and user information.

Windows firewall description

Selectively denies traffic on specific interfaces

a CLI environment used to run scripts and automate tasks.

Which Windows tool can be used by a cybersecurity administrator to secure stand-alone computers that are not part of an active directory domain?Local Security PolicyWindows DefenderWindows Firewall

PowerShell

Local Security PolicyAnswers Explanation & Hints:

Windows systems that are not part of an Active Directory Domain can use the Windows Local Security Policy to enforce security settings on each stand-alone system.

An IT technician wants to create a rule on two Windows 10 computers to prevent an installed application from accessing the public Internet. Which tool would the technician use to accomplish this task?Computer ManagementDMZLocal Security Policy

Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security

Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced SecurityAnswers Explanation & Hints:

Windows Firewall with Advanced Security or the Windows 10 Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security is used to create inbound and outbound rules, connection security rules such as security traffic between two computers, and monitoring any active connection security rules.

Why would a network administrator choose Linux as an operating system in the Security Operations Center (SOC)?It is easier to use than other operating systems.It is more secure than other server operating systems.More network applications are created for this environment.

The administrator has more control over the operating system.

The administrator has more control over the operating system.Answers Explanation & Hints:There are several reasons why Linux is a good choice for the SOC.Linux is open source.The command line interface is a very powerful environment.The user has more control over the operating system.

Linux allows for better network communication control.

Which type of tool allows administrators to observe and understand every detail of a network transaction?log managerticketing systempacket capture software

malware analysis tool

packet capture softwareAnswers Explanation & Hints:

Network packet capture software is an important tool because it makes it possible to observe and understand the details of a network transaction.

Why is Kali Linux a popular choice in testing the network security of an organization?It is an open source Linux security distribution containing many penetration tools.It can be used to intercept and log network traffic.It can be used to test weaknesses by using only malicious software.

It is a network scanning tool that prioritizes security risks.

It is an open source Linux security distribution containing many penetration tools.Answers Explanation & Hints:

Kali is an open source Linux security distribution that is commonly used by IT professionals to test the security of networks.

A Linux system boots into the GUI by default, so which application can a network administrator use in order to access the CLI environment?file viewersystem viewerterminal emulator

package management tool

terminal emulatorAnswers Explanation & Hints:

A terminal emulator is an application program a user of Linux can use in order to access the CLI environment.

chmod - modifies file permissions

ps - lists the processes that are currently running.

pwd - displays the name of the current working directory.

sudo - elevates privileges.

What is the outcome when a Linux administrator enters the man man command?The man man command configures the network interface with a manual addressThe man man command provides a list of commands available at the current promptThe man man command provides documentation about the man command

The man man command opens the most recent log file

The man man command provides documentation about the man commandAnswers Explanation & Hints:

The man command is short for manual and is used to obtain documentation about a Linux command. The command man man would provide documentation about how to use the manual.

Which Linux command can be used to display the name of the current working directory?pspwdchmod

sudo

pwdAnswers Explanation & Hints:

One of the most important commands in Linux is the pwd command, which stands for print working directory. It shows users the physical path for the directory they are working in.

a text based interface that accepts user commands.

a program that interprets and executes user commands.

a background process that runs without the need for user interaction.

What is the well-known port address number used by DNS to serve requests?2511053

60

53Answers Explanation & Hints:

Port numbers are used in TCP and UDP communications to differentiate between the various services running on a device. The well-known port number used by DNS is port 53.

Which two methods can be used to harden a computing device? (Choose two.)Allow USB auto-detection.Ensure physical security.Enforce the password history mechanism.Allow default services to remain enabled.

Update patches on a strict annual basis irrespective of release date.

Ensure physical security.Enforce the password history mechanism.Answers Explanation & Hints:The basic best practices for device hardening are as follows:Ensure physical security.Minimize installed packages.Disable unused services.Use SSH and disable the root account login over SSH.Keep the system updated.Disable USB auto-detection.Enforce strong passwords.Force periodic password changes.Keep users from reusing old passwords.

Review logs regularly.

Consider the result of the ls -l command in the Linux output below. What are the file permissions assigned to the sales user for the analyst.txt file?ls –l analyst.txt-rwxrw-r-- sales staff 1028 May 28 15:50 analyst.txtread, write, executeread onlyread, write

write only

read, write, executeAnswers Explanation & Hints:The file permissions are always displayed in the User, Group and Other order. In the example displayed, the file has the following permissions:The dash ( – ) means that this is a file. For directories, the first dash would replaced with a “d”.The first set of characters is for user permission (rwx). The user, sales, who owns the file can read, write and execute the file.The second set of characters is for group permissions (rw-). The group, staff, who owns the file can read and write to the file.

The third set of characters is for any other user or group permissions (r–). Any other user or group on the computer can only read the file.

Which user can override file permissions on a Linux computer?any user that has ‘group’ permission to the fileroot userany user that has ‘other’ permission to the file

only the creator of the file

root userAnswers Explanation & Hints:

A user has as much rights to a file as the file permissions allow. The only user that can override file permission on a Linux computer is the root user. Because the root user has the power to override file permissions, the root user can write to any file.

a running background process that does not need user interaction.

a type of file that is a reference to another file or directory.

000 file permission description in Linux.

001 file permission description in Linux.

010 file permission description in Linux.

101 file permission description in Linux.

110 file permission description in Linux.

What are two benefits of using an ext4 partition instead of ext3? (Choose two.)compatibility with CDFScompatibility with NTFSdecreased load timeimproved performancean increase in the number of supported devices

increase in the size of supported files

improved performanceincrease in the size of supported filesAnswers Explanation & Hints:

Based on the ex3 file system, an ext4 partition includes extensions that improve performance and an increase in the of supported files. An ext4 partition also supports journaling, a file system feature that minimizes the risk of file system corruption if power is suddenly lost to the system.

n the Linux shell, which character is used between two commands to instruct the shell to combine and execute these two commands in sequence?$|#

%

|Answers Explanation & Hints:

In the Linux shell, several commands can be combined to perform a complex task. This technique is known as piping. The piping process is indicated by inserting the character “|” between two consecutive commands.

Why is Linux considered to be better protected against malware than other operating systems?customizable penetration and protection toolsfewer deploymentsfile system structure, file permissions, and user account restrictions

integrated firewall

file system structure, file permissions, and user account restrictionsAnswers Explanation & Hints:

The Linux operating design including how the file system is structured, standard file permissions, and user account restrictions make Linux a better protected operating system. However, Linux still has vulnerabilities and can have malware installed that affects the operating system.