A user wants to improve the security of a recently purchased laptop.

The correct answer is A. Remove unnecessary software. Removing software that is not needed is a device-hardening step. Unnecessary applications can increase the attack surface of a laptop, so removing them helps reduce vulnerabilities. Installing drivers may be required for hardware functionality, but it is not the best security improvement. Configuring backups helps with recovery, but it does not directly harden the device. Benchmark testing measures performance, not security.

Exact Extract/Reference: The CompTIA Tech+ Study Guide explains that device hardening makes a device harder to exploit and includes “removing or disabling unused software and services.” The guide’s Chapter 11 lab also lists the task “Remove unwanted, unnecessary, or malicious software.”