The 30 biggest technology myths exposed

We've rounded up the 30 most common technology myths and misconceptions and explained why they are, in fact, fiction.

The size of the page file must be set to twice the amount of RAM

Back in the days of Windows 95/98, when hard disk capacity was very limited (as little as 2GB), this was a guideline to manually set the size of the swap file in order to eke out some performance, reduce defragmentation and save some hard disk space as well.

Come larger and faster hard disks, no one really bothered much about swap file sizes. The little rationale that the above swap file rule had, is no longer valid. Today, you can let Windows manage swap files on its own or manually assign the first partition of your hard disk (fastest) for page file usage.

Magnets can destroy data on storage devices

This is true only for the sensitive floppy drives. Place a powerful magnet on them for some time and bid good bye to your data. But then, who uses floppy drives these days?

Flash drives are not made up of magnetic media and hence are immune to magnets. Hard drives can be affected by magnets, although only really strong magnets. The kind that are used in laboratories, the kind that might suck the iron out of your blood. Magnets found in homes, including those in speakers are simply not powerful enough to penetrate the magnetic shield of the hard disks and harm them. In short, no magnet in your home will cause you any data loss.

LCD monitors are not suitable for games and movies

This is not a myth per se as this was largely true till about two years back.

Most LCD monitors lacked contrast, had poor response time and colour reproduction was not spot-on either. A lot has changed over the last two years and today an LCD monitor can produce better quality images (read: higher contrast and colour reproduction for movies) and has response times that are suitable for gaming. Going the LCD way is a wise choice for more than one reason.

For one, it causes significantly lesser eye strain which makes it ideal for gamers who spend long hours staring hard at the monitor. Widescreen LCDs are suitable for movies, which are increasingly coming in a widescreen format too. But watch out, there are quite a few LCD monitors out there that we can classify as sub-par in quality. Do read LCD monitor reviews before you get one!

NEXT PAGE We find out whether CDs and DVDs really will last forever

1. We investigate if the most common 'Old Wives Tales' really are true
2. 64-bit operating systems, unplugging a USB device and damaging your PC by not shutting down properly
3. Can repeated on-off cycles and formatting hard drives damage your PC
4. Even more technology tall tales
5. Will CDs and DVDs really last forever?
6. Gaming technology myths
7. More gaming myths explored
8. Does a 5:1 sound system really enhance the listening experience?
9. We bust some of the most common digital photo myths
10. Even more digital photography myths