14 computer MYTHS you probably still believe!

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⚡️ Here are tools that I *highly* recommend and use personally every day...
Hardware ---
◼ 142-piece magnetic electronics precision screwdriver set with 120 bits
◼ Sabrent USB-C docking station for SATA and m.2 with offline cloning
◼ StarTech 4-bay USB 3.0 hard drive docking station 6Gbps
◼ StarTech 2-bay USB 3.0 hard drive docking station SATA 6Gbps
◼ Netgear A6100 wifi adapter
◼ Godshark NVME to USB adapter M.2 SSD to Type-A USB 10Gbps
◼ Cordless, rechargeable air duster 6000mAh 10w fast-charging

💢 Here is some helpful/useful and FREE everyday software that you might enjoy!
◼ Ninite (used to automatically download and install your favorite software):
◼ Defraggler (used to defragment and organize your files on hard drives, not for SSD):
◼ Open Office (Microsoft Office FREE replacement)

💢 Hey, do you want even MORE in-depth techie stuff? Check out my friend Nico's page, Nico Knows Tech. Tell him I sent you and watch the obscenities fly LOL

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Chapters:
00:00 - 14 computer myths you probably STILL believe
00:26 - does a slow computer mean I have a virus?
01:38 - Macs, Linux and viruses
02:48 - computer repair is expensive
04:51 - I don't have anything a hacker would care about
06:22 - protect your online identity with Aura with a FREE 2-week trial!
07:59 - good software isn't free
09:45 - turning your computer off makes it last longer
11:43 - extended warranties are a waste of money
14:46 - laptop battery power is a lie
16:16 - should I leave my laptop plugged in?
18:13 - refurbished or renewed computers are junk
21:41 - do I have to upgrade my Windows operating system?
24:23 - will deleting files off my computer make it run faster?
27:13 - using the power button will destroy your computer
29:50 - you need to buy a new license when you reinstall Windows
31:12 - this might hurt a little bit...
31:25 - the problem is most likely YOU

[solanaceae]

If your computer is a PC running a MS OS and _"everything was working fine Tuesday and Wednesday you wake up and your computer threw up on itself"_ it may have installed new Windows updates.

[PopsSinging]

I worked for a PC manufacturer that rhymes with Hell. A note, the "warranty" you get is generally 30 days to return for money back, after that you get parts & labor for up to a year. Sometimes the extended warranties are only parts and that means you will be required to troubleshoot the issue online with tech support and then they will send a part that you either have to install yourself or take to a shop to install. This can be an arduous process because the tech support are often wrong about the issue and it may take weeks or months to get to the root of the issue. Also, if you buy a 100% brand new computer and you qualify for a system replacement, you will get a refurbished computer in the exchange not a new computer. There are a lot of caveats to warranties and people who are shopping for computers need to research the manufacturer's warranty to know exactly what is covered and what they are expected to do in case their computer has an issue.

[picklerism]

Extended warranties are a scam. Consumer laws - in Australia at least cover this.

[davidanderson]

*Addressing Myth no 6*
Back in the day, I was a computer maintenance person in our Air Force. Not any kind of software engineer, I was simply responsible for such things as replacing power supplies, HDD's CD drives, monitors, graphics cards and peripherals such as keyboards, mice, data tablets, trackballs, scanners and printers etc. We had a "fleet" of about 100 to 150 desktop workstations running Windows NT, and later XP. Among that fleet, we had some computers that were turned on every morning, and turned off every night, some that were turned on on Monday mornings, and would remain on all week, before being turned off on Friday nights, and the rest were left running 24/7. What we found was that generally, the computers which were left on 24/7 were by far the most reliable, and caused us the least maintenance issues, while the computers that were turned on and off every weekday were the least reliable, and caused us the most maintenance issues.

[Thebitbeard]

One of the most frustrating things for me when I was the local "computer guy" is when someone paid money for a piece of useless or even harmful software, they didn't want to hear that it was useless or harmful. Usually this was with anti virus or all manner of "security" software. The machine comes in running very slowly. I identify that it was the four different anti-viruses they were running simultaneously causing the problem. I remove them and demonstrate what was causing the problem. They're happy, but two weeks later they return angry with the same problem, and I discover they reinstalled all those anti-virus programs. They paid good money for those anti-viruses, they convinced themselves that they "need" it, and they don't like to hear they wasted their money.

[MrMarbles]

What are you guys doing with your computers? I've never had a pc that died between 12 to 24 months.

[Caffintor]

As a seasoned computer industry professional, one of the most annoying things is contacting product support for warranty service and inevitably arguing with them about something that I'm more knowledgable than them about.

[VRIceblast]

Been building computers for 30 years, and I've never had a computer fail. Also, the majority of the parts I use in the computer already come with a 3 year warranty or more.

I would say, if your computer failed that fast on avg, you are buy junk to begin with, and instead of buying a warranty, buy a real computer, with good parts, and that computer should last you a life time, till you are forced to buy a new faster computer.

[JellyfishMonkey]

Extended warranties are bad because companies that provide that often try to weasel out of actually fixing your stuff, waste time, make excuses that this particular thing that's actually wrong isn't covered and play semantical game with the language of the warranty so that they can justify not honoring it. All in all, it is often just very difficult to actually use the extended warranty.
What is a better solution is to buy electronics using specific credit cards that automatically extend manufacturer's warranty for free by 1 year.

[kensmith]

A couple of minor points:
1) It is harder to code a virus to get onto Linux than to get onto Windows. This doesn't mean they can't. There just are a few more hoops to jump through
2) OOOPS
3) GIMP works for editing pictures if you want to do it on your own machine

4) None of "my" computers have ever failed in the first 2 years and that is quite a lot of machines counting mine, those of my family and my work machines

[rileychadwell]

Myth number 69: surfing the many available porn sites will kill my computer and put me on the FBI watch list.

😜

[Cyber.Lynx.]

Customer: What kind of fool do you take me for?
Swarmy Tech: First class.

[bellshooter]

Most of the points, absolutely on the button. But I have never had either a personal computer or laptop die in less than about 5 years. Batteries may wear out but that's replaceable. And I build computers for friends and as a hobby, done about 60/70 so far, mostly had only a few software or memory compatibility problems. Maybe one defective motherboard.

Edit> And one bad stick of memory!

[jeffreyphipps]

Going to a PC repair shop is like the stereotypical "airhead blonde" walking into a car repair shop and saying "my car doesn't work".

[MegaLokopo]

The "general disgust" I have with the windows settings menu is not my fault. That settings menu in 10 and 11 is just awful.

[Herby-]

About the power button... Most modern computers have the power button so that it first sends a signal to the operating system to initiate a power off sequence. If you hold it down a long time (usually 4 seconds) it does an immediate power off. The irst instance (momentary power button) works the same way as asking the computer to turn itself off, and is OK to do. Of course the BIOS must be setup to make this function properly, but most of the time it is.

[JamesMcCloskey]

Switching Off your Computer when it is not in use is a Great Idea! Components die quicker when they have electricity flowing through them (Electron Migration). Additionally, anything that is Mechanical, like Hard Drives, Fans, etc, WILL die faster the more they are in use. Heat is also going to be more of a problem if the machine is never powered off.

[Rightly_Divided]

I always buy renewed/refurbished machines. They are just as good, and cheaper. I bought my dad a nice laptop. Had a 2 TB SSD 32 GB RAM, and an i7 processor. 500 bucks. He has had it for 5 years and still uses it no problem.

[nufosmatic]

9:55 - Let's see if I can anticipate this answer. There is this thing called "thermal shock" - the physical effect of turning the computer on or off and having everything inside go from cold to hot and back again. This ages the equipment faster than just letting it come to temperature and operating.

[steve]

I bought a Dell XPS laptop from the Dell Outlet for about $1000.00 less than the IDENTICAL brand new with the same spec's.
When I got it, it had a boot problem = missing boot image, and I kept getting a BIOS boot screen to call home to a PXE server or something like that.
- I went to Dell and downloaded a Dell USB imaging tool for my model to reload the operating system, and booted to the USB device that the tool imaged.
- Windows 11 booted just like new within 10-15 minutes and I was up and running perfectly fine.

I think the average person with no computer skills or doesn't have the resources that I have - would send it back to Dell right away.

I think it was well worth the $1000 savings for about 1-2 hours of my time re-imaging the Dell XPS Laptop.