PC myths: the truth

Posted on 14 Jul 2008 at 15:02

 

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Removal procedures for more complicated USB peripherals vary, but in some cases using the Safely Remove Hardware tool can actually cause problems. Microsoft had to rush out an update when both the Safely Remove Hardware and Eject function in Windows Vista had the painful side-effect of corrupting iPods.

Banging a hard drive on a desk brings it back to life
Credibility rating 0/10
Origin Cowboy computer repair 'experts'

It might come from the Neanderthal school of computer repair, but the suggestion to "give it a smack" was put forward to Shopper by a professional technician. Lots of clever people sweat blood to squeeze bits into a box and we end up treating it like a dodgy starter motor on a rusty Ford Fiesta.

No matter how fierce the data-loss rage, you shouldn't hit the disk. "That's the worst thing you can do," says Onstream's Rober Winter. "There's a lot of delicate hardware inside a hard disk, calibrated to millionths of a millimetre. Interfere with that, and you'll knock the read/write heads out of alignment." You could increase the cost of recovering data professionally by damaging internal parts.

Changing passwords regularly is essential
Credibility rating 4/10
Origin US Department of Defense research into cracking their own passwords

The burden of passwords is felt by everyone with access to the web. Nowhere is code overload more prevalent than in the workplace, where some administrators demand passwords be changed every week.

According to Professor Eugene Spafford of Purdue University, such onerous memory games are useless in strengthening defences, because the passwords could never be cracked in the short update cycles inflicted on employees.

According to Spafford, regular changes mean more reminders are left lying around on desks and more obvious passwords are chosen. Constant updates don't prevent the usual password gaffes, such as telling a friend. "Forcing periodic password changes given today's resources is unlikely to reduce the overall threat significantly, unless the password is immediately changed after each use," says Spafford. "That's what one-time passwords or tokens are for."

Spafford's ideas are not universally accepted. Critics say that changing passwords keeps all the authentication codes in a central database safer.

Contention ratio matters
Credibility rating 3/10
Origin A former fact now perpetuated by ISP advertising

Before 2005, BT had strict guidelines on contention ratios for its broadband internet services, whereby the service was shared by a number of people. Consumers had a ratio of 50:1, while businesses could access a service with only 20:1 contention. It was an important guide to the level of service you could expect, and was widely quoted in advertising.

It's still widely quoted, but ISPs do use the contention ratio as a smoke-and-mirrors marketing hook to suit their own purposes. "In the current market, there's no regulation of what contention means, so ISPs use it as they choose," says Andrew Ferguson, ThinkBroadband.com's ISP expert. "They might say it's uncontended, but that's only on their infrastructure. It might be contended on the local loop or the backbone, but they don't tell you that."

The biggest factors governing speed delivered by your ISP, apart from physical limitations, are how much traffic management your supplier uses to restrict downloads at busy times and how much bandwidth they have paid for. If they scrimp, your connection slows regardless of advertised contention ratios.