Terry Olgin   01/20/2011

Many of us carry around myths and mistaken assumptions about computers and technology. This is the last of a two-part series debunking some of those myths. If you want to see part one, visit the Tech Beat archives on either the Times-Standard (www.times-standard.com) or Redwood Technology Consortium (www.redwoodtech.org) websites.

In Part one, we covered five myths ... here are five more:

* Turning a computer on and off regularly is bad for it

Another myth is that a computer can be damaged over time by being regularly turned on and off. In fact, it's specifically recommended that you do power your machine off on a daily basis, for example at the end of each work day. Every computer needs rest, in part to be sure that if you're away from it and there are power fluctuations or surges, it isn't damaged by them.

We agree but recommend that if you're going to be away from your computer for small periods of time, you simply let it go to sleep while you're gone. But in any case, a regular on/off pattern is definitely good for the computer, not bad.

* Macs are immune to viruses

This myth is one that is pushed both overtly and subtly by Mac fans and, of course, by Apple. Everyone knows that Windows machines are constantly being bombarded by malware and that keeping them secure is a never-ending task. But you rarely hear about such things from Mac users, and the common theory is that it's because Apple's computers are simply safe from being attacked.

Not so fast. It does seem, as has been well-reported, that that are far fewer exploits hitting Macs compared to their Windows-based cousins. But it's hardly because Macs are immune from attack. Indeed, it has much more to do with market share -- there simply aren't anywhere near as many Macs out there as there are Windows machines. If Macs were to dominate the market share, security experts agree that we would see a lot more exploitation.

Even though Vista/Win7 has more extensive countermeasures against attacks and a code base with presumably fewer security issues, attackers will spend lots of time bypassing the countermeasures. Mac OS has fewer countermeasures and lots of easily exploitable bugs, but the market share is low, making it a less likely target.

Browser security is one of the more important items to consider today from a risk perspective. I know Internet Explorer has had a considerable share of vulnerabilities, but the Apple-focused Safari Web browser also has a lousy reputation in the security community -- it almost seems a child's play to locate an exploitable condition in Safari. Apple really needs to get its act together with Safari since OS X is enjoying a healthy market share climb at the moment.

* Your Internet provider is tracking everything you do

This may not be something most people are thinking about, but for those constantly worried about digital privacy, it is a signature concern. If it were true, everyone would be subject to tracking because nearly all of us have to get online through an Internet service provider (ISP). Your ISP is your local link to the Internet. Every page request you make and every e-mail you send must travel through your ISP's routers first. It would seem, therefore, that your ISP has the power to scan and save every piece of data that flows through its system.

But before you get alarmed, the truth is that it does have the power. Fortunately for us, it doesn't have the money or the desire to archive every bit of information that comes its way. ISPs in the United States don't routinely save the Web surfing histories and e-mail conversations of their users. It would simply be too expensive to save all of that data, and the public outcry from privacy rights and civil liberties organizations would be deafening.

* Girls don't play video games

The stereotype of gamers is clearly a teenage boy sitting in front of his Xbox, pounding away at one game or another for hours and hours on end. And while the industry certainly brings in many, many millions of dollars because of that pimply-faced teen, he's by no means the only face of the gaming community.

Indeed, women and girls make up a very large bloc of gamers -- they just are a little quieter about it. Reuters reported in an IBISWorld study that “girls and young women are a 'pot of gold' for the video game industry.” Indeed, the gaming industry has market characteristics that many would die for. “Thirty-eight percent of U.S. gamers are female, up from 33 percent in just five years. From January through August of 2008, females ages 18 to 45 made up 28 percent of the total industry revenue, ranking second to males ages 18 to 45, who made up 37 percent.”

So while they may not be the largest group of gamers, it's clear that women and girls are spending their fair share of time playing.

* Anything you delete from your hard drive is gone forever

Given that we lay our lives bare on our computers -- what with doing personal banking, storing family photos, researching our medical conditions, and so forth -- it would be comforting to be able to believe that if we erase something on our computers, we don't have to worry about that data being available to anyone who might want to access it later. That is a naive assumption. The truth is it's very difficult to permanently get rid of your data. And if you want to do so, you probably need to go get a drill.

When you delete data, yes, its icon may be gone, but that information is still intact on the hard drive. The only thing the computer does is mark that section to be overwritten. It just gives the operating system the OK to write over that area. So if the operating system isn't actually removing the data from your hard drive, how can you get rid of it? It's not so easy, and you may not ever want to just hand an old computer off to someone else if you're worried about them accessing your private data.

The only way to absolutely ensure that no one can ever access it is to bring tools to bear. Let's say you're getting rid of an old computer, you're going to want to take the old hard drive, take a drill, and drill 10 to 12 holes through the drive -- and not in a straight line. Scatter the holes and make sure they go straight through.

Terry Olgin owns 3rd Eye Computer Service, a managed service provider business, and is a member of the Redwood Technology Consortium. Check out his blog at terryolgin.wordpress.com . He can be reached at 3rdeyecomputers [at] gmail [dot] com.