Q. I was having some Internet issues the other day, so I called tech support. The tech told me to unplug my cable modem for 30 seconds and then plug it back in. It solved the problem, but it got me thinking. Why do you have to wait 30 seconds? What difference does it make? The tech wasn't sure, so I thought if anyone would know, you would. Thanks! -Ben from Boston, MA, listens to my national radio show on WBZ 1030 AM.
A. That's a good question, Ben. Some tech advice is so common that no one really stops to think about where it came from. In this case, there really is a reason to leave your modem unplugged. Your modem - and most of your tech gear - contains capacitors. These hold a charge for at least 10 seconds after the power is off. Most people wait 30 seconds or more to make sure the capacitors discharge completely. While there's a charge, your gadget's RAM is still active. That means whatever problem you're trying to fix isn't wiped out. If you plug the gadget in right away, the problem just comes back. So, while it may seem weird or unnecessary, you should always wait after you unplug. This is just one example of old tech wisdom that no one questions. Though this one's still true, many nuggets of conventional wisdom are false. Let's dust off five other old tech chestnuts to see if they're still true. "Don't shut down your computer at night" Some people will tell you to never shut down your computer. They believe that the more you turn it on and off, the more likely you are to damage it. While this was true in the early PC days, it's not a problem now. Your computer won't get wear-and-tear from frequent shutdowns. In fact, you can actually save power and money on your electric bill. However, that doesn't mean you have to shut down every night. If you want the benefits of shutting down without the hassle of rebooting, learn about your computer's Sleep and Hibernate modes. "Just press the power button to turn off your computer" Turning off modern computers is quite a process. You have to go to Start>>Shutdown. Then you have to wait for it to do who knows what before finally turning off. Some people prefer to just hit the power button (on modern computers you have to hold it for 5 to 10 seconds for a hard shutdown), or flip the Off switch on their power strip. It's much faster. In the old days, hard shutdowns weren't really a problem. In fact, in the days of DOS and Windows 3.1, that's how computers were shut down normally. You don't want to do that with modern operating systems, however. They do a lot of work in RAM, which requires constant power. When a computer shuts down, it's making sure everything important is safely on the hard drive. If you just kill the power, you might lose important data. You could even cause operating system errors down the road. I recommend shutting down the right way. Only kill the power if your computer is already frozen. "You must have a screensaver" Who doesn't love screensavers? They can be a great expression of your hobbies and interests. They're even moving off of computers and onto other gadgets. In fact, I use a great photo screensaver on my HDTV. Originally, however, screensavers were meant to literally save your screen. Old-fashioned CRT monitors would burn in if left on the same image too long. Today's LCD and LED monitors don't have that problem. Unless you have a dinosaur of a monitor, you don't actually need a screensaver. Now they're just for fun. "More is better" The history of technology is a race for "more." Cars need more horsepower, more legroom and more trunk space. Planes need more speed, more carrying capacity and more altitude. Digital technology isn't any different. Back in the '90s and '00s, computers needed more processor speed, more RAM and more hard drive space. For digital cameras, we needed more megapixels. Even now, we want smartphones with bigger screens and faster cellular. "More" makes it easy to decide what to buy. And manufacturers and marketers love "more" because people will always buy the next bigger and better product. Well, in the past, more was usually better. A 100 megahertz computer was light-years better than a 33 megahertz computer. A 5 megapixels camera was much better than 1 megapixel. That's not so true anymore. In many areas, technology has outgrown the needs of the average person. Any inexpensive point-and-shoot camera takes fine pictures. Any budget computer is usable for most tasks. A computer with an 8-core processor, 1 terabyte hard drive and 8 gigs of RAM sounds impressive. However, most people won't even use a quarter of what it can do. There are free smartphones that work just as well as high-end smartphones. The list goes on. In fact, some manufacturers are starting to trade quantity for quality. Take the HTC One, for example. Its 4 megapixel camera takes better images than 8 and 13 megapixel cameras on other smartphones. It smartly trades megapixels for sensor size. The key these days isn't "more," it's balance. If a gadget has one great spec but skimps on everything else, it's not a good deal. Decide your budget and what you need the gadget to do. Then buy based on that. You might be surprised how much money you can save. "When it doesn't work, just hit it." In the olden days, when computers had lots of potentially loose connections, this absolutely worked. Today, it probably won't do much to fix a problem. But it certainly feels good to show that gadget who's the boss! The worst tech myths are the ones that waste your hard-earned dough. Here are three more myths in dire need of debunking. •TV manufacturers will throw tons of marketing tricks at you when you're buying. •Why pay for GPS service when the best GPS apps are totally free? •Apple's warranty program sounds like a great investment, but is it? Source: http://www.komando.com/tips/index.aspx?id=14903&page=1 -- "Life is like a piano. White keys are happy moments & Black keys are sad moments. But remember both keys are played together to give sweet music." "Focus on your abilities, not your disability." Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/starhoze Skype ID: star.hoze Warm Regards, Hozefa... 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