Question

Which of the following is the most appropriate first step to hardening a new Windows installation?

A. creating back-ups of the computer.
B. activating and defining rules for the Windows Firewall.
C. considering the computer's purpose and only installing the features and services needed to fill that purpose.
D. conducting penetration testing on the computer.

Answer 1

C. considering the computer's purpose and only installing the features and services needed to fill that purpose.

Step-by-step explanation:

Hardening is the process of finding out the vulnerabilities of a system and deploying measures to counter these issues. It is important to install only the features that are needed to fill the purpose of the computer. This is because having lots of unnecessary features will extend the attack surface of the system.

Therefore, the user needs to ensure that only the needed features are installed. Features and applications that have been in the system for a long time should also be uninstalled.