When I was an kid, I used to believe in everything that people say.
Like CPU is the computer’s cabinet
cellphones cause brain cancer
Mac don’t get virus and what not.

But as I grow up and connected more to tech world, I realised how many of them were myth.

When people believe anything, without questioning it back.
It often leads to Myth.

While doing my research I came across some popular myth and some not so popular one.

So what are these myths, lets find out.

1. WWW and internet are same
This is a common misconceptions that has been around decades.
Internet is more than 50-year-old while www or web for short came into existence in early 90’s.
When we use the word ‘internet’ we talk about everything on ‘network of networks’.
For instance when you sends email, make video calls with Skype or watch a YouTube video, you are using internet.
Where as you use web, when you browse website on your browser.
Without internet there is no web but without web there will be still internet.

Truth: www is subset of Internet.

Source:Wikipedia-Internet

2. Expensive HDMI cable are better
If you have ever shop for HDMI cables, you would know they come is all prices.
You can buy them for 2$ to up to 50$.

Amazon, sellsa 5 foot HDMI cable for 1000$.
But the truth is all HDMI cable are same.
In the world of HDMI cable there is no shades of grey, you either get everything or you get nothing.
Paying extra for gold-plated HDMI cable won’t have any special effect on your picture quality.

Truth: All HDMI cables are same

Source:Cnet

3. Deleted files can’t be recovered
Many ‘not so tech savvy’ people believes that ‘if they delete a file from ‘recycle bin , it’s gone for ever.
But again this is not true.
When we empty our trash or delete files from recycle bin, they are not delete immediately.
The pointer to these files are delete.
This make our OS believe that file is delete.
But your data is still there in your hard drive, waiting for other file to take it place.

Truth: If you act immediately you can still recover deleted files, using data recovery software.

Source:Wikipedia- Data recovery

4. 1 Mb/s and 1 MB/s are same
MB/s stands for Megabyte/sec
Mb/s stands for Megabits/sec.
But since, both in their short form sounds similar i.e. ‘mbps’.
People often get confuse.
When you copy a movie file from pendrive to your computer, you see speed in MB/s.
But when your ISP talk about 4 Mb/s internet connection, they mean bits and not bytes.
However average user don’t know the difference.
1 MB/s = 8 Mb/s
1Mb/s = 125KB/s
This means if you copy a 700 MB movie from pendrive to your computer, it will take you 700 sec assuming 1MB/s speed.
But when you download the same movie from the internet then it will take 8x more time.

Truth:MB/s units for file transfer while Mb/s is for download speed.

Source:Google

5. Refresh speed up PC
Growing up as child in India, I have often seen people, refreshing their computer.
And this made me wonder if this would make the computer run smoother.
And in reality, it don’t.
So what is the use of refresh ?
Let say you, you rename an icon on your desktop but the effect is not showing up, In such cases, refresh is useful.

Truth: Refresh doesn’t improve your computer performance or make it run smoother.

Source:Stack overflow

6. Open Source means FREE software
Most Open source software are – available for free, and you may even modify and redistribute them.
However this doesn’t necessary mean all open source software are Free.
Usually open source are free, but it’s doesn’t have to be like that.
There are few software and games that are open source but not a free.

Truth: Open source don’t necessary mean they have to free.

Source:OpenSource

7. Magnet can erase hard drive
A bar magnet can erase data from Hard drive is a myth.
Most magnet lying around found in household can not harm our storage.
SSD are immune from any magnetic field, big or small.
Smart covers also use small magnet.
But this doesn’t necessary mean our computers and smartphones are totally safe from magnets ?
If you place your computer inside a giant magnet like in MRI scan then it may corrupt your device.
But for little ones you don’t have to worry about anything.

Truth:Only extremely strong magnet can corrupt hard drives.

Source: PCMag

8. Overcharging destroys battery
When it comes to battery life, people often come up with their own explanations.
So if you heard the rumours like ‘ Leaving your phone, plugged in for a night, may kill the battery, then don’t believe it.
Modern smartphones, run on lithium-ion batteries, that are smart enough to stop charging when they’ve reached their full capacity
So overcharging won’t damage your battery, but heat can.
If you have a habit to overcharge you phone then make sure you remove it’s cover.
The Best practice for lithium-ion battery, is to charged them between 40 to 80%.

Truth: Overcharging do not destroys the battery

Source:Mashable

9. Cell Phones cause brain cancer
Everyone knows “Cell phone emits radiation.
But can it cause brain cancer?
Well, As of now there have been many research and scientific studies, to find out the impact of cell phone radiation on human brain.
And the result are conflicting.
It’s still not clear whether cell phones can cause brain cancer or not.
The only thing we know is, even tough cell phone use ,has increased dramatically over past 2 decades, rates of brain cancer patient did not rise.

Truth: It is extremely less likely that cell phone can cause brain cancer but if they do, then it might take decades to show its effect.

Source: veritasium

10. Computer don’t Multi-task
Computer don’t really multi-task like the way we think they do.
In simple words, Computer can switch task very fast, which create an illusion that they are multitasking.
And the technical word for that is context switch.
wiki says ‘’In the case of a computer with a single CPU, only one task is running at any point’

Truth:Computers switch task very quickly.

Source:Wikipedia-Computer multitasking

[Myth that are still not clear]

1. Laptop can make your sterile
Some people think it’s a myth and some don’t.
Well the truth is, no one knows for sure.
Some scientific studies have shown, that the heat generated from your laptop can decrease sperm count or even alter the DNA.
But there are many who disagree with the experiment.
On the other hand nobody uses laptop on their lap for long time.
But if you do, then stop doing it.
It is always better to be safe then sorry.

Truth: Unclear

Source:Time

2. Cell phone don’t cause plane crash
Many airlines do not allow phone calls while you are airborne.
In fact every phone, has a dedicated profile for it called Flight mode.
On the other hand, there is no incident reported, when a single cell phone has taken down the entire plane.
Some airlines even allow phone usage during the flight but pilots have often reported, cellphone causing interference with plane navigation system.

So a cell phone might not really cause a plane down but it can definitely cause some serious trouble.

Truth: Cell phone don’t cause place crash but may cause some other problem.

Source:Cnn

3. Rooting is legal
There is no clear law that says whether rooting your Android or jailbreak your iPhone are legal or not.
There is no universal law that works for everyone.
Countries decided whether you should root your phone or not.
To make it more complicated, I have seen these rules change as new laws are passed.
A while back it was legal to root your android but you can’t root your android tablet.

Truth: It depends on your country’s law

Source:Wikipedia- Rooting

[Some Other Myths]

1.WiFi Radiations are harmful
No they are not.
People use WiFi everywhere, in their office, in their home and even in hospitals.
WiFi radiations are non-ionizing i.e. it cause no harms to human cells and unlike microwave it create little heat energy.
So don’t worry and use WiFi all day long.

Truth:Radiation of WiFi are safe

2. More Megapixels means better camera
This is biggest myth in tech, but fortunately people now know that it’s not true.
More megapixel means moreno.
of pixel in the photo.
Just like fast processor doesn’t necessary means faster computer.
Megapixels is not the only factor responsible.
Things like sensor size, zoom, aperture, shutter, processor areequally important.

Truth: Megapixel is not the only criteria to determine better camera.

3. Streaming YouTube video
Streaming is when you watch something on the server directly.
Files are not downloaded to local computer.
A good example would be watching movies on Netflix.
But unlike a popular belief, you don’t stream YouTube videos.

You download them on your computer first and then watch them.
Depending on your OS, you can even find the video in your system cache.

Truth: You download YouTube video and then watch it.

4. When program is free, you are the product
This is true for few online service like Google, Facebook etc, when they collect data from you and sell it to the advertiser.
But now it has become a trend to apply this everywhere.
There are still many programs and service that free and don’t sell you.
A good example is Wikipedia and Linux OS.

Truth: Not every freeware, is stealing your data

5. 100% security
There is no 100% security in the world of computers.
When we talk about security, we are actually talking about time and resources need to cracked the system.
For instance to crack a standard AES 256 bit encryption, you will need thousands of giant supercomputers operating 24/7 for thousands of years.
Now this a lot of time.
But in future if we can come up with better technology, than you crack the system.

Truth: With enough time and resources any security system can be compromised.


Note:The biggest myth in the world is everything You Read on the Internet is True.
Anyone having access to internet can publish their thoughts.
But that doesn’t mean it’s always true.
So rule of thumb, use your head.
Don’t believe what you read.
Always do your research from multiple sources.