Do you really need to completely drain your battery before charging? Can you really permanently delete your files?
Does leaving it plugged-in even when fully-charged damages the battery? Technological progress are like anything else. Myths and urban legends have built up over time, passed from person to person.
Technology Myths
Turning Off Your Computer At Night Is A Requirement
Shutting down your computer isn’t something you should regularly have to do, assuming you’re using a computer made at any point in the last decade. No, you don’t want your computer running at full-tilt all night. But putting it to sleep makes it use almost no power, and it’ll be ready to go immediately when you turn it on. On a typical laptop, just closing the lid should make it sleep. Even powerful desktop PCs can use low-power sleep and hibernate modes. Computers can be set to automatically hibernate after a while, and they’ll use no power in this mode — but all your open applications and work will be ready when you sit down at your computer again. Going through a full shutdown every night and restart the next day isn’t necessary at all and just wastes your time. You might want to reboot occasionally, but you don’t need to shut down every day.
Automatic Updates Will Always Break Your PC
Internet Explorer is Slow, Vulnerable, Non-Standard, and Bad
Among geeks in the know, Internet Explorer is a joke. Microsoft is even replacing Internet Explorer with a new browser named Edge in Windows 10 to get away from Internet Explorer’s reputation. But recent versions of Internet Explorer are actually pretty good. Internet Explorer 9 improved things dramatically, and IE 10 and 11 are even better. Modern versions of Internet Explorer support a lot of the modern HTML standards found in other browsers and have speedy JavaScript engines. Internet Explorer also has a “protected mode” sandbox and a multi-process design, two important features Mozilla Firefox still doesn’t offer. Some tests have even found that Internet Explorer is easier on a Windows laptop’s battery than Chrome, Firefox, and Opera. No, we’re not saying you necessarily need to use Internet Explorer — we’re still mostly Chrome users here at How-To Geek. But Internet Explorer isn’t the laughing stock it used to be.
Viruses and Malware Are Why Your Computer is Broken
Is your computer not performing well? “It must have a virus,” some people think. But this isn’t really true. In fact, modern malware is so profit-driven that you might not even notice a performance change if you have a keylogger running in the background Sure, it’s possible that your computer is infected by malware and is using its resources on behalf of a botnet, mining BitCoin and participating in DDoS attacks against legitimate websites. But viruses aren’t usually what slows down a computer. Perhaps you have too many programs running at startup or your browser is loaded down with unnecessary add-ons. Or there may be an actual hardware problem — it’s not just a mysterious “virus” that makes your computer slow and sick.
Your Antivirus Will Always Protect You
Most people do understand that antivirus software isn’t perfect — nothing can function perfectly 100 percent of the time. But many people seem to think that antivirus software is pretty effective. The truth is scarier. Antivirus software is a helpful last line of defense on Windows, but it’s nothing you should rely on completely. Even Symantec — makes of Norton Antivirus — have said that antivirus software fails to stop most cyberattacks. Worse yet, most antivirus software doesn’t even protect you against obnoxious software you don’t want. Antivirus software allows obnoxious adware and spyware that inserts itself into your web browser, forcing you to use worse search engines and pushing additional advertisements onto you. Heck, free antivirus programs usually bundle this junkware. This doesn’t mean the sky is falling, and it doesn’t mean you should abandon antivirus completely. But antivirus should be your last line of defense behind other security precautions.
Clearing Your Cache Will Speed Up Your PC
Some applications store cache files, which are offline copies of files they’ve already downloaded. They hold onto these files in case they need them again, so they can be accessed from your hard drive instead of re-downloaded. This saves time and bandwidth. Your web browser has its own cache full of bits of downloaded web pages, scripts, images, and more. Tools like CCleaner will wipe this cache to free up space, but that’s not necessarily a good idea. Regularly clearing away this cache means your browser has to redownload everything every time you use it — it’ll slow down your web browsing. You save a bit of disk space, but that space fills right back up again with more cache files.
Deleting Contents from Your Hard Drive Actually Erases Them
It would be comforting to all of us knowing that anything we deleted from our PC was gone forever. It’s not. When you delete data, the visible traces of its existence might vanish, but the way data storage works the actual data remains until it is overwritten. To keep things simple, think of your data as a footprint on a dusty floor. When you leave the room, your footprints remain, but as more and more people enter, they begin to cover your footprints with theirs. This is pretty similar to how data storage works. Deleted files are marked as available space on your drive, allowing the data to be overwritten. That will eventually happen, but until it does, the data remains recoverable.
To Securely Erase Data, Use a Magnet
To Securely Erase Data, Use a Magnet
To actually erase your data, some suggest using a magnet. This idea would work great if we were still using floppy disks, but with modern HDDs or flash storage devices, a magnet is a rather ineffective way of destroying data. Instead, experts suggest one of two methods:
1. Use a program that makes multiple passes on your hard drive, and overwrites it with a series of 1’s and 0’s until it’s un-recoverable.
2. Grab your drill and drill 10 to 12 holes through the drive and be sure to scatter them out rather than drilling in a straight line.
To Protect Yourself From Vulnerabilities, Use Firefox/Safari/Chrome/IE
“X” Browser being safer than “Y” browser is a comparison that really doesn’t have much to do with the consumers who use it. Browsers are simply an execution environment for JavaScript, and as such they’re all equally at risk to exploits and attacks. It’s also important to note that most browser-based attacks are through browser add-ons and plug-ins, not the browser itself. To protect yourself, get a good antivirus program that detects online malware as well as local infections.
You Must Completely Drain Your Laptop or Cellular Phone Battery Before You Recharge
In the past, this myth was reality, as the underlying battery technology at that time was Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMH), which had a notorious memory effect. Modern equipment, including laptops, phones and tablets, use lithium ion batteries and they do the exact opposite. They can actually lose maximum battery charge if you take them down to zero as the batteries develop a chemical resistance to recharging, which can kill their lifespan. Recharging often and every day is a safer option.
Charging Your Phone or Laptop Overnight Kills the Battery
This is another myth that was true at one point, but as battery and charging technologies have improved, it’s now completely false. Older batteries weren’t smart enough to realize when they’re full, and overcharging them consistently led to decreased battery life over time.
Today’s charging mechanisms are smarter. Once your phone is fully charged, it stops drawing electricity. It’s completely acceptable to charge your smartphone or laptop while you sleep.
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