COMPTIA A+ Practice Exam 2025 - Free CompTIA A+ Practice Questions and Study Guide

AFP, or Apple Filing Protocol, is a network protocol primarily used for sharing files and other resources among Apple systems. Developed by Apple Inc., this protocol enables users to access files on a remote computer over a network as if they were local. It facilitates services such as file sharing, printing, and connecting to shared resources among Mac computers, making it essential for environments heavily utilizing Apple products. This is why it is the correct answer to the question about the purpose of AFP.

The other options present different protocols or misconstrue AFP's functionality. File transfer protocols such as FTP (File Transfer Protocol) serve distinct purposes and do not directly relate to replacing SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), which is specifically used for email transfer. Additionally, while Microsoft systems often utilize their own protocols, such as SMB (Server Message Block) for sharing resources, AFP is distinctly tied to Apple. Lastly, the mention of transferring articles between news servers and clients aligns more with the NNTP (Network News Transfer Protocol) instead of AFP, which focuses on file sharing rather than news distribution.