MYTH BUSTERS

KATHMANDU, March 30 -- Today we look at some computing myths; some of them true, some of them false, some of them -utterly insane. We have heard them, we have disseminated them and to a large extent, we have taken them with a grain of salt. But what exactly is the truth? We here at TechTonic set out to make a list of myths that have been floating around for ages. And we're going to tell you if they really are, or are not worth heeding.

1. You need to discharge your laptop battery once a week to prevent it from getting ruined.

This process, also known as "deep cycling", was true, but it most certainly isn't anymore. Here's the deal: before lithium-ion batteries became the standard, nickel-cadmium ones were the ones used in laptops. And for nickel-cadmium (or NiCad), this was absolutely true. But we've moved on to lithium-ion batteries for years now so you don't have to "completely discharge your batteries once a week". However, it would be a wise thing to use your laptops without plugging them in once in a while (which wouldn't be that difficult, given the hours of load-shedding) because that will recalibrate the battery meter in your taskbar to the correct level.

2. You need to "Safely remove the drive" before you eject your pen drive

While it is true that removing a pen-drive while a file is being transferred may cause loss of data and also ruin your thumb-drive, it is perfectly safe to eject it while the pen-drive is not being used. Windows asks you to use the "safely remove the drive" option just to make sure that no data is being transferred. So if you're sure that no files or programmes are on the drive and no files are being copied from or to it, it's perfectly safe to skip the safety measure.

3. Screen savers save power

Not all the time. Screen savers with heavy graphics (the waterfalls, the sceneries, pictures from your 'My Pictures' folder) use almost as much energy as normal usage. If you really want to conserve energy, simply turn off the monitor. If it's a laptop, simply turn off the backlight (there should be an option to do that, it's different for each brand).

4. Speakers will damage your monitor.

Yes and no. If you still have one of those old bulky monitors (CRT monitors), this is absolutely true because the magnets in the speakers create a field which affects CRTs. In this case, don't keep the speakers near the monitor for an extended period of time (it's okay to do so once in a while). However, LCD monitors are not affected by magnetic fields and thus, it's totally okay for you to place speakers next to them. Same goes for laptop screens, which too are LCDs.

5. Playing games on your

computer = Viruses

Sorry to disappoint you parents, but this one is simply not true. Nor does playing games damage your computer. However, if you use pirated discs (which you really shouldn't be doing), yes, there might be a chance for an infection; other than that, it's absolutely safe. But for our younger reader, please don't use this as an excuse. We don't want your parents flooding our inbox with their rants.

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Question of the week

I am getting an error message "brhook.dll not found" every time I open my laptop. This happened after my antivirus (Kaspersky Internet Security 2011) deleted a trojan. Can you suggest me how to get rid of this problem?

-Sujeeb RajbhandariDiwas,

It seems that Kaspersky detected trojan in your "brhook.dll" file and has kept it inside it's vault or has deleted the file all together. So, to fix it download CCleaner (freeware) and scan your computer to delete registry entry files that "brhook.dll" is linked to. If this doesn't work then, I am afraid you will have to do it manually from Registry.

For it, go to run, type regedit and hit enter. Now a window pops up, check under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>SOFTWARE and see if you can find something associated with Brother. That is the author of the programme and the name is Brother Hooker. Now remove the file. But, please remember to backup your registry before you make any changes.

Published by HT Syndication with permission from EKantipur.com.

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