22 technology myths you need to stop believing - Android

The development that our technology has gone through for the past decades has been extraordinary. Think about a world with bulky computers and no Internet, and you’ll see how easy life is today thanks to these technological advancements. And progress doesn’t seem to be stopping any time soon, with newer versions and inventions made by […] More

This article, 22 technology myths you need to stop believing, was originally published at NoypiGeeks | Philippines Technology News, Reviews and How to's.

The development that our technology has gone through for the past decades has been extraordinary. Think about a world with bulky computers and no Internet, and you’ll see how easy life is today thanks to these technological advancements. And progress doesn’t seem to be stopping any time soon, with newer versions and inventions made by the minute.

Because of such a rapidly changing world technology-wise, the average user finds it hard to keep track and know everything about a device, how it works, or how to properly take care of it. And when many people don’t understand something, myths will arise.

There are a lot of technology myths and misconceptions about our everyday gadgets, and we are here to debunk 22 of the most common ones that many people still believe in. Does higher computer RAM really mean faster speed? Does Apple really make their old devices slower to force you to buy new ones? We’ll find out.

Computer Myths

Myth #1: You should shut down your computer every night.

For purposes like saving battery power or rebooting, shutting down your computer when not in use definitely has its advantages. But doing so every night is not necessary for protecting the system. Shutting down may even become an annoyance especially if you need to use your computer right away.

Instead of shutting it down, options like sleep or hibernate are great if you want to have your computer resume right away while saving up on power. All that said, how often you shut down your computer depends on your own decisions. Still, a complete rebooting at least once a week is wise to fix any glitches and errors as well as speed up the system a bit.

Myth #2: You cannot get viruses on your Mac.

Virus-free was one of the key points used by Apple during their marketing of the Mac computers in the early 2000s. But this soon changed when a widespread malware infection affected more than half a million Macs in 2012. After that incident, Apple grudgingly admitted that you can get viruses on your Mac computers, but they are still “built to be safe”.

However, it is true that there is less malware in macOS compared to Windows, but not because MacOS has stronger security. It’s because more malware is targeted towards Windows which 91% of desktop users use, compared to just 6% that use macOS.

But to all Mac users out there, the recent interest in Apple products may inspire malware developers to create viruses targeted towards macOS. So, exercise enough precaution just like a PC user does.

Myth #3: The refresh button speeds up your Windows PC.

We’re all a little bit guilty of aggressively hitting the ‘refresh’ and ‘F5’ buttons multiple times in a row when our computer starts lagging or slowing down. We’re here to tell you that the refresh button does nothing to speed up your PC, and it actually has a particularly different purpose.

What the refresh button does is simply update your desktop and desktop icons to any recent changes you might have done. These are things like renaming a folder, or an icon shortcut that you removed. Some of these changes may not appear automatically because of some glitches in the system. This simple task does not speed up your PC whatsoever.

For those of you that have noticed a slight boost in speed after refreshing, it’s more about the time it took to refresh the PC that speeds it up rather than the refresh button itself. The 1 to 2 seconds that it took to press the button is usually enough for the system to fix some of the glitches that contributed to its slowing down.

Myth #4: You always need to “safely remove” external storage.

Ever got scared of corrupting your flash drive after ejecting it from your PC without “safely removing” it? So have a lot of users out there.

What the “Safely remove hardware” button simply does is check that there is no active data being transferred and that all changes have been applied. So, as long as you weren’t actively writing files on your drive when you removed it from the port, you’re in the clear.

Microsoft even confirms that it is perfectly safe and they have installed protections for your USB flash drives and external hard drives as early as Windows 7. In Windows 10, the “quick removal” feature (which is the default setting) lets you yank your drive out of the PC without worrying about data corruption.

Myth #5: Emptying your Recycle Bin permanently deletes data.

When you empty your Recycle Bin, what your computer does is mark those deleted files as deleted, so it can free up space. Those marked files are still in your system and are just waiting to be overwritten with new data.

This is great news for anyone who has accidentally deleted something important that needs to be recovered. There are many free recovery tools you can download that can retrieve your deleted files, so long as they haven’t been overwritten with new data.

On the other hand, there are also a lot of tools out there that permanently deletes your files by both deleting and overwriting the segments.

Myth #6: More RAM means faster computer speed.

Your computer’s Random Access Memory, or RAM, is like temporary storage where your system stores information coming from the software and applications you are using. This makes sure that you can quickly access this information the next time you use that software.

But rather than affecting computer speed, what more RAM means is better multitasking ability for your computer, so it can use more apps simultaneously without affecting speed or performance.

The amount of RAM you need depends on what kind of user you are and the types of software you run. If you frequently use memory-hungry applications like Adobe Photoshop, at least 8GB of RAM is ideal. Otherwise, the 4GB RAM that most computers come with is already enough for the system to run smoothly.

Upgrading your RAM to an amount that you don’t need (like upwards of 8GB if you’re not a gamer) will not result in a noticeable boost in performance.

Mobile phone myths

Myth #7: It is dangerous to leave your phones charging overnight.

Most of the myths about your phone battery are fragments of the nickel-based batteries that were used during the early 90s. This one may have been true before, but it no longer applies to the lithium-ion batteries now used in new smartphones.

Most standard devices are engineered to be smart and know to stop charging when the battery is at 100%. Doing so will make your phone lose around 2 to 3% of battery and the phone will resume charging back to 100. The phone does not charge beyond its capacity or overheat due to overcharging. As long as you are using your trusty charger (related to Myth #10), everything will be just fine.

Myth #8: Only charge your phone when it’s almost dead.

Your phone’s battery does not and should not go to 0 to 100 every time. The lithium-ion batteries found in your phone have a finite number of charge cycles (around 300 to 500 cycles) before you can notice some wear and tear. Draining them often actually hastens these charge cycles, and doing so every day will shorten the lifespan of your batteries.

It is perfectly safe to charge your phone whenever you have the chance. Instead of charging from 0%, charging when you need to is much better for your phone in the long run. A great guideline to follow is to always keep your device with at least 20% battery.

Myth #9: Do not use your phone when it’s plugged in and charging.

This myth is one of the most popular myths about phone charging, and despite being debunked multiple times, it keeps resurfacing. As the myth goes, you should not use your phone when it’s plugged in because it might overheat and explode. One particular case that catapulted this myth back into popularity was the issue of an ‘exploding’ Samsung Galaxy Note 7 back in 2016.

The explosive and burning Note 7 turned out to be a manufacturing problem, not related to charging the phone at all. In reality, mobile devices only have a very small tendency to short out and explode, and this only occurs if you are using a faulty charger or a manufacturing problem.

It is perfectly safe to use the phone while it’s charging. The worst that could happen is the phone heating up a bit more than normal, but this is usually nothing that the phone couldn’t handle.

Myth #10: You should only use the charger provided by your phone manufacturer.

In relation to Myth #9, some people think that using a third-party charger to charge your device might damage the battery or cause the device to explode. While using the charger that came with your phone is the best way to ensure its safe charging, there is nothing wrong with using third-party cables as long as they come from a well-known and trusted manufacturer.

Most of the time that people encounter problems like shorting their phones or, in rare cases, explosions, the culprit was a knockoff charger made from low-quality materials. But you don’t have to worry about any mishappenings as long as you use a charger from a reputable brand.

Myth #11: Closing background apps saves up battery life. 

It does seem like a very convenient and convincing way of preserving your battery, but swiping your apps to close them does not do anything good for battery life. In fact, it might even be doing the opposite and helping to drain your phone even faster.

People often misunderstand background apps to still be running and using up your resources. Apps that are set in the background are kept in a state in your RAM that can be easily relaunched, kept dormant until needed for future use. Background apps will only use up resources if there is an active process occurring, like playing music or uploading a file.

Closing your apps actually uses up slightly more battery than keeping them in the background. Force quitting an app uses up power for clearing it and removing it from RAM, and more power still for relaunching it. You’re better off just keeping the apps on the down-low when not in use.

Myth #12: More signal bars mean better service.

Ever wondered why your phone might be experiencing bad cell service even if it displays all those little signal bars at the top? That’s because it indicates signal strength — how strongly you are connected to the network — instead of the quality of available service.

As expected, there are different factors that affect cell service quality, most importantly how many people are connected to the same network. Even if you are at the mall or at a concert stadium where there is a strong signal, service may still be slow because there are a lot of people similarly wanting to connect.

Myth #13: More megapixels means a better camera.

Megapixel count seems to be the gold standard now used in marketing smartphone cameras. Newest versions of mobile phones boast 48MP to 64MP cameras, with Samsung bringing this further by developing a 600-megapixel camera. Big megapixel numbers sure do make a headline, but this doesn’t automatically mean a better camera.

29/05/2020 03:11 AM

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