7 Computing Urban Myths

[@JeffGeerling]

That last one in particular burns people far too often. NAS vendors usually paper over the fact you still need a separate backup if you run a NAS!

[@adrianandrews2254]

Because of this I use StarWind SAN in a 3 machine cluster for my Homelab. I keep one powered off except when synchronising and take the drives offsite when not. Enthusiasts can get a free licence for this which i think is very enlightened of them. It really needs a 10 Gbps LAN but that's really cheap these days at about $50 per machine. Using a SAN with iSCSI means that every PC is automatically backed up at all times and all the drives are in the servers.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

The first rule of cyber-security - "RAID is not a backup strategy".

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@adrianandrews2254 It doesn't matter - the core "3-2-1" rule applies here -" 3 copies of data on 2 different types of media with 1 copy kept off-site."

[@Peter_Enis]

When a raid fails I think red-shirt Jeff would explain this in a more....."hands-on" way ❗👿

[@judsonleach5248]

Yo !! - Hound Dog!! - Jeff's here too !!! - NICE !!! SEE what happens when we forget to Set the alarm and over Sleep??!? lol BTW?! - Do you think we should tell Jeff ?! How impressed we are with his Father ?! Our "Radio Transmission Hero"?!? Do you THINK they will bail us out of JAIL?! If we get caught?! - Using our NEW Home Made FM Radio Transmitter?!? - HAHAHA! 🙂

[@noxx82]

this needs to be a series. i can think of at least 20 more urban myth about computing from the top of my head that need to be debunked by someone like you who explains well

[@johnps1670]

MacOS is easy to use for everybody is an urban legend.

[@Robbie-mw5uu]

A common myth with Linux fanboys is that they think using Linux means they will be free from blue screen of death. Thing is that Blue Screen of Death is just a kernel error, which is something Linux can also experience. I think many people dont realize how similar Windows is to Linux.

[@ricsip]

linux has no viruses (fact: it has many), the internet has many redundant paths to survive nuclear war (fact: it has many SPOFs), the 640KB memory will be enough forever (fact: billg didnt say this), and the list goes on and on. Anybody can record and publish such video with this lowhanging-fruit topics, to generate traffic and easy Ad-revenue.

[@5argetech56]

@@Robbie-mw5uu As a Linux fanboy, I'm not mad at ya! I only have windows 11 around for Adobe products! Other than that, Linux is my everyday OS of choice.

[@montecorbit8280]

Have to say, I don't think you're wrong that this needs to be a series....

[@brendandax]

This is my kinda computing channel. To the point, easy to take in, no distractions. Thank you

[@joharakiri]

Plus you get ample time to gather your thoughts until the next topic starts like in 6:57

[@L.Scott_Music]

Re: Google Docs. Isn't there a difference between "Reading" and "Not using"? I didn't see where Google says it does not "Read" your files, only that it does not "use" them for any reason. Google could read you docs and hand info to someone else or allow someone else to read them and they would technically still be "Not using" your information. I think it is still pertinent to this keep in mind what docs you allow on such sites.

[@RoyalFlushFan]

The real litmus test would not be storing plans about vacation to the Bahamas. It would be content that raises concern for government to investigate. E.g. anything that can pass of as a credible security threat against the United States of America or the United Kingdom, plans for large-scale bio- or nuclear terrorist attack, depicting abuse of children, etc. Not saying anyone should - but it would likely settle the question whether Google can (and does) read content on those online services.

[@L.Scott_Music]

@@RoyalFlushFan It isn't a matter of security threats and such, but how other things might be used or manipulated to be used against you. For instance, a picture of you making silly faces and gestures over a passed out friend.

[@michaelwright2986]

Well, if you're formulating plans for, saying, storming your legislature and "executing" legislators if the election result turns out wrong, you'd be well advised not to do it on line. But your communications would be a risk, anyway. And I think there's something called encryption if you really want to keep things private.

[@Kamawan0]

@@RoyalFlushFan Hey if you're willing to take the hit and do that test for us, I'm sure everyone would be grateful lol Please don't, I'm joking ffs

[@alexfekken7599]

It is even worse: the information provided does not say that Google will "not use" your information, but only that it will not use it for (personalized) advertising. You need to be very uncreative if you can't come up with other ways to use that information and make money out of it. Of course I am not saying that they are actually doing that, but it is concerning that they only make a statement about not doing the things that would have a a relatively easily detectable impact on you.

[@fredwupkensoppel8949]

Oh my, USB-C. As I was approaching my "mid-term" test of my apprenticeship in Germany (let's translate "Fachinformatiker für Systemintegration" simply with "IT Technician"), I was studying using tests from prior years. One included the following question (depicted were a USB Type-A port and a Type-C port): "What are the advantages of USB-C over USB 3?" The answer that would have resulted in full points was "USB-C is reversible, transmits data quicker and delivers more power". These are the people who are supposed to judge whether or not I may call myself an expert or not. It was infuriating. The trade school not only wastes resources (time, mainly) that could be invested into actually teaching upcoming techs, no, it also actively harms the industry by teaching outdated, incomplete and sometimes straight-up false information.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Wow!

[@mjc0961]

"What are the advantages of USB-C over USB 3?" Yikes, I hate it. I'm not sure if the person writing this question had a stroke or if I just had one from reading it. USB C is a connector, USB 3 is a protocol, this question is beyond stupid.

[@fredwupkensoppel8949]

@@mjc0961 Exactly. There were multiple similarly dumb questions (though this one takes the cake for me). In one question, they were showing a DIMM that said "DDR4-3200" on it. They specifically asked for the effective frequency in MHz the stick was rated for. "Oh", I thought, "they want to test whether or not I know the difference between MHz and MT/s". I answered 1600 MHz. The "MHz" was already written on the paper. They wanted to know the MHz value. Correct answer, according to the answer sheet? 3200 MHz. I could go on. And this was only the "mid term" test (part one of the final exam); the teachers were even more incompetent at times.

[@robertcartier5088]

Last time I encountered false information was in a high-school Physics test. I brought it up to the prof the next period, when he was handing out the grades... He not only gave me the points, he gave points to every student in the school who had failed to answer that question... It was an important test, so I had strangers thanking me in the halls for saving their grade! lol

[@Brahvim]

As a [government-owned college] "high-school diploma" student in north India, I see this kind of stuff _almost_ DAILY. ...Like how the syllabus attempted to teach us JSP before Java. JSP is a framework based on Java. You have to use build systems like Maven to get code to compile - and while I was able to understand what I was doing because of who I am, literally nobody else in my class did anything other than learning how to write JSP-style HTML. PS JSP was part of two "practicals" at the end of the list of practical assignments for the "Internet And Web Technologies" subject. We essentially studied it along with "studying" JavaScript - which, well, didn't go beyond from literally _just_ variables, operators, and functions. Really dystopian stuff. _Insanely_ dystopian. And it's all government-funded (we pay lower fees compared to other colleges, every year) as well as _government-planned._

[@chrisg6597]

One thing that infuriates me is when people think that Wi-Fi is the Internet. Even some telecoms companies adverts imply this.

[@OC35]

Also some people think the internet and the web are the same.

[@trews1]

Yeah, I was horrified when I realized that people (young people like from my own generation aka digital natives too) genuinely thought that having Wi-Fi and having Internet are the same thing. I only realized that when someone said that they couldn't access the internet but weirdly had Wi-Fi. As if Wi-Fi is the internet coming out of the router just like water from the pipes coming out of the tap

[@TuttleScott]

even worse, people who think facebook, twitter, etc is 'the internet'

[@jeffrydemeyer5433]

Words start meaning different things when they enter vernacular, It's unavoidable and you better learn to live with it. You are probably doing it too for topics you haven't specialized in without realizing.

[@Poorgeniu5]

Heard that first hand from my younger brother.... had to teach him the difference between Wifi & the Internet (aka LAN vs WAN).

[@boydpukalo8980]

USB is an utter mess these days. When you need a spreadsheet to explain the differences between the multitude of versions you have a problem as an consortium.

[@jonm4206]

I've heard a few people just refer to USB 3.0 "Five gig, ten gig, twenty gig" when explaining what ports are available, and I find that worlds better. I really dont need to know if the usb 3.0 ten gig port is 3.2 gen 2x1 or 3.2 gen 1x2.

[@peepiepo]

@@jonm4206 That's how the USB consortium markets it now. The "3.2 gen 2x1" stuff was never meant to be a consumer label anyway. Before using "5Gbps" and "10Gbps" they used the labels "Superspeed" and "Superspeed+"

[@MrDiarukia]

Yes, but at the same time, without the copious versions able to operate between each other, we'd be back to connector hell or simply unnecessary functions. For most use-cases it simply doesn't matter. I don't care if my keyboard is connected via USB 2.0, 3.2 Gen 2x2 or Thunderbolt 5, nor should keyboard manufacturers have to include an expensive Thunderbolt 5 cable with the keyboard. The only thing I'd like to see is proper declaration. Don't write USB 3.2 next to motherboard USB port, nobody knows if it is 5, 10 or 20Gig. Don't do a Nintendo with a non-standard PD-implementation were some Switch consoles were bricked due to USB-PD chargers. And don't let manufacturers get away with "only use the original USB charger", that's defeating the point ffs.

[@slyfondle1885]

Buying USB 3 cables is a nightmare, especially those from Chinese sellers, as the claimed wattage is almost always a blatant lie and it's a lottery whether they carry data or only power.

[@davidioanhedges]

It's a connector, not an interface, like he said ...

[@Gorf1234]

For the 3-2-1 method, make sure "offsite" is actually "far enough offsite". After the Bishopsgate bombing in 1993, two banks were unable to access their offsite backups because they were across the road from each other, and had a reciprocal arrangement using each others' vaults. Their data was safe, it just wasn't accessible because neither had access to the sites.

[@ExplainingComputers]

A sad but very useful example.

[@chaos.corner]

I've heard a small meteor strike as being what you should be considering. Meteor Crater in Arizona has a diameter of approximately 3/4 of a mile for reference.

[@gluttonousmaximus9048]

How do I, a random lay person that doesn't really have a home and any server, go at it?

[@paulstubbs7678]

My off-site backup failed, the blighter's fired me!

[@Raiver-of-Eridu]

I think if a 3/4 mile meteor hits my house, my data is the least of my problems.

[@VarriskKhanaar]

Also Google: We may share aggregated, non-personally identifiable information publicly and with our partners - like publishers, advertisers or connected sites. For example, we may share information publicly to show trends about the general use of our services.

[@davidgoodnow269]

Key word: "like". Also, as long as the information is somewhat disaggregated, de-personalized, it _can be_ and _is_ "shared", i.e., sold.

[@shawnvines2514]

Excellent video. The main takeaway is if you watch every episode of Explaining Computers, you will become armored with knowledge against computer urban myths :)

[@phoenixvance6642]

This man is the only person I know rocking my grandmas haircut (besides my grandma) and im here for it!

[@HappyLittleBoozer]

I clicked on this video for entertainment while resting after a run and it unexpectedly answered a question about SSDs I had on the backburner, waiting until I decide to upgrade my hard drive space. Love your channel.

[@treshanremolano159]

One myth for both Linux and Macs: they don't get viruses.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Very true!

[@arch1107]

on linux is very uncommon to see viruses, is more common to get a virus via a repository that was compriomised that or install wine or something like that and install a windows virus, do it, it is fun!

[@tonysheerness2427]

They do but I have been using linux for 20 odd years and never had a problem unlike when i was using windows.

[@JamaicaWhiteMan]

With Linux, if you fall for a phishing attack, maybe.

[@abeytoby1900]

Idk about Macs but I laugh my ass off when some Windows viruses try to run on my Linux machine😂 I've never got a virus on Linux. For Windows, I use Kaspersky antivirus so I'm good there too.

[@Lampe2020]

6:06 For the tablet the exact data transmission speed isn't too important, but the longevity of the port is. MicroUSB is notorious for wearing out quickly, USB-C ports are much more robust (in most cases).

[@michaelwright2986]

Micro USB is the worst connector in the world of USB. It is almost, but not quite, symmetrical, so you have to look very hard indeed to see which way it should go. And it's so small that I keep on worrying that I could mash the connector, because it's often hard to insert because of slight inaccuracies in alignment. The good USB connectors are Type B, mini, and Type C.

[@gdutfulkbhh7537]

I think that what Microsoft *MEANT* was that Windows 10 would be the last version that anybody would want to use.

[@Jacko_486]

What's windows 10, I only know about BASIC

[@fredneedle123]

Bring back Windows 98 SE. My favourite. Well is was until I discovered Ubuntu!!

[@David8n]

​@@fredneedle123 98se was good, but I think that they peaked with 7. After that I switched to mint.

[@micahwelf]

Microsoft promised no further version purchases would be necessary and that updates would be ongoing when I purchased Windows 10. They, of course broke their word and thoroughly purged all published records of these statements (some folks did get screenshots). Unfortunately EC is simply wrong about this detail, probably due to not having the original published information accessible. The company is lying if they deny it, but that fits the current trend. The last basic operating system they released without deception or dishonor was Windows 7. Only their server versions are worth anything since then. Although, It's not like they accomplished nothing - they just lie about what they are releasing and expect ongoing payment for incomplete Beta versions branded as proper operating systems and no longer support any genuine products besides server versions.

[@fredneedle123]

@@David8n mint is nice too.

[@DariusOutdoors]

AI destroyed all my trust in online platforms to store data. I went full back to local storages. I don't want anyone to train AI on my data and that's the only way to be sure.

[@gluttonousmaximus9048]

Ultimately, I thin eventually some of us will just have to live completely without any computer.

[@Robbie-mw5uu]

Backblaze doubling their online backup subscription price is why I use local storage now...

[@horusfalcon]

There is no cloud. There is only someone else's computer. Any data you truly value should be stored locally OFFLINE (i.e., on a removable device that doesn't remain connected.) Like nuking alien xenomorphs from orbit, it's the only way to be sure... Don't forget to back it up, too.

[@SaHaRaSquad]

I just run my own Nextcloud instance on a cloud server. The Nextcloud desktop app is janky as hell but I know it won't spy on me.

[@chaoticsystem2211]

the only way to be sure is to not use their services

[@MrMoonpie001]

Chris, good video! It helps to be one of the old tymers who understand the nuts and bolts of how we got here. Too many folks want a shortcut of a need it now mentality and that always ends in trouble. Thank you for weeding out the mind and putting to rest some just plain ole "Facts from Fiction"! It sure makes live much easier and dealing with data should not be as complicated as people want to make it out to be! Been a fan for over a decade and you are my go to guy on the reality of current things and trends. You are appreciated very much!!! Hope you are well!! Rich Tennessee, USA

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks Rich. :)

[@bilditup1]

Informative vid. Did not know that the ‘last Windows’ thing was the result of one engineer misspeaking and then that being blown out of proportion. On that note, RIP Win8.1, the last version with a consistent and fully-functional UI. More than ten years later and they still have not reimplemented everything in their Settings panel, which itself is a moving target. Otherwise was vaguely surprised by most of the other myths-good going through them

[@loganmedia1142]

That engineer used standard English. It is one of the meanings of the word last.

[@Jimwill01]

I feel he could have used "latest" instead of "last". Would have eliminated a lot of confusion. Of course, I have used Linux almost exclusively since about 2000 so it really does not matter much to me.

[@AndrewAHayes]

It reminds me of how I have to check my online posts for any ambiguity, if there is a way of misreading something you can guarantee someone definitely will, I have the pro version of Grammarly which helps with writing, it isn't fool proof though!

[@EdwardRLyons]

@@AndrewAHayes A work colleague of mine one said that if we make something fool-proof, nature just creates worse fools.

[@Jimwill01]

@@AndrewAHayes I just have my fallable brain. So I often make mistakes!! 😄

[@barrycheesemore2928]

The amount of times I've had to tell people about keeping a good data backup schedule, but sadly it nearly always falls on deaf ears. Excellent video, very simple and explanatory!

[@KameraShy]

I have had to tell that to too many people in IT departments in Fortune 100/500 corporations. They just don't get it.

[@peterwstacey]

Even for things like internet banking or records of invoices where you can download them again from the client server, they are usually only available going back X years. Always always always keep backups. Christopher is a great advocate for proper data security 👍

[@RoboNuggie]

Can't fault these Chris, especially the RAID misconception...oh, and here''s one I keep debunking, FreeBSD isn't just for servers :-) Thanks Chris, see you next week....

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for your support. And I like your FreeBSD one! :)

[@y00t00b3r]

@@ExplainingComputers I think he misspelled "OpenBSD"

[@sbc_soc_tinkerer]

The Windows statement of Windows 10 being the "last" version of Windows was a poor choice of words and not people taking things out of context. The word should have been "latest" and not "last." IMO.

[@FlyboyHelosim]

Not to mention when they said about ongoing updates or however they worded it, making it sound like Windows 10 would be the last version, just updated and expanded upon indefinitely.

[@ParadoxalDream]

I think MS knew exactly what they were saying, but then slowly backpedaled when they realized the idea wasn't popular and went into damage control PR with word salads.

[@alanmon2690]

Back in the 80s (I think) someone released software called "The Last Program you'll need" (or words to that effect). Then someone released "The Next Program".

[@DariusOutdoors]

I remember back in the day there was also a connotation where Microsoft's Nadella, the mobile first guy, was very much pushing for Windows as a Service and Windows 10 was seen as the last version of Windows in the sense that you buy that one product and that's it. It won't change over time and only get security updates. Windows 11 on the other hand is constantly evolving with features that change core systems like the file explorer not working anymore should you delete Recall. That one statement of that guy just put fuel in a fire that already existed. So journalists where already super biased looking for evidence. And it's not so wrong seeing Windows 10 as the last traditional Windows. Windows 11 should've been renamed to something else in my opinion to reflect its evolving nature but the brand is probably too strong to not use it.

[@totallyuselessvideoz]

​@@ParadoxalDream I think you are plain stupid and nothing will change that. Watch the video before you make a fool of yourself. MS never said that, Christopher debunks the myth 100%

[@maxg4958]

Lots of channels talk about the latest whizzbang tech, and couldn't care less to clear up misconceptions. Thank you for making this difference.

[@CMDR_Analdo_Blackvoid]

I just use Disk Management to delete the partitions from the USB/SD-Card. I have never had the need to use other tools.

[@malelonewolf80]

Mee too, so I was a bit confused when he went into terminal to do that in the video.

[@Peter_Enis]

One of the advantages of growing up with ms-dos and windows 3.1 / xp 😁

[@MarkWhich]

If you install a bootable USB Linux OS on a Flash Drive, Disk Mangement won't recognize the partitions so you can't re-format it from there.

[@CMDR_Analdo_Blackvoid]

@@MarkWhich Not true! According to you, I should then have an uncountable number of unusable SD cards and USB memory sticks laying around, which is not the case. I just took one of my Raspberry Pi bootable microSD cards (16GB), put it into my card reader attached to a Windows 11 PC and fully reformatted it, just to prove you wrong. When inserting the card Windows complain about an unreadable device and wants to correct it. After allowing it (it is completely safe to let Windows do that) I can see a on 512MB partition on that card. In the Windows “Disk Management” program the card can be seen having 2 primary partitions: A 512MB FAT32 and a 13.95GB partition where the format type is not mentioned. Right clicking on that partition result in a warning reading: “The selected partition was not created by Windows and may contain data recognized by other operation systems. Do you want to delete this partition?” Answering yes deletes the partition and results in a 13.95GB unallocated area. Then deleting the left over 512MB FAT32 volume I end up with a card with one 14.46GB unallocated area that represent the full available space on that drive. Running any other disk formatting/cleaning tool won’t magically give me more space. That is the native available space on that drive. After Creating a new simple volume NTFS volume, the card provides 14.46GB of free space, mounted with, in my actual case, an ‘I’ drive letter ready to use.

[@paulstubbs7678]

Often it works, however there are partition types that Disk Management just won't touch.

[@4.0.4]

"Someone open the bathroom door while I was using it, but my privacy was not invaded since they did not advertise me any product."

[@jimmyzhao2673]

I can turn off my internet for the rest of the day because I won't read a better comment.

[@mariemccann5895]

Quite!

[@alvallac2171]

*opened

[@davidgambin2551]

“Did not advertise me any *targeted* product”

[@goodlookinouthomie1757]

There's a lesson to always poop offline.

[@Britec09]

No matter how much you explain and debunk computing myths, people will still believe them

[@ExplainingComputers]

So true.

[@Kintah]

Google not using Docs for advertisements is not the same as Google not reading it.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Fair point, but elsewhere on that page it is made clear that content in you codes are private.

[@christopher480]

@@ExplainingComputers So Google doesnt lie?

[@Rob2]

@@ExplainingComputers It depends on where you are what services will do with your content. E.g. in the UK, which has left the EU, you are reasonably safe. But in the EU the politicians are discussing how to force such providers as Google, Meta, X etc to read user's data and flag it (or even remove it) for containing things that are against the law, even when such data is not "published" but only appears in private documents, messages, etc.

[@pitchforkrebel5594]

@@christopher480 Did they drop the slogan "don't be evil".

[@nicoleking772]

Well, IF G00gles says something, IT MUST BE TRUE Because G00gles is know for it's honesty and forthrightness

[@JackFrost--5]

appreciate the step by step walk through how to fix the USB flash drive. I had run into that issue myself with no idea how to re-use it again in a windows environment.

[@NiddNetworks]

You can still avoid diskpart for fully cleaning a usb disk. Use Disk Management, right click the DRIVE (NOT the partition(s)) and choose Initialise. Exactly the same as "clean" in DiskPart :)

[@ExplainingComputers]

Fair point! :)

[@Taurwathwylth]

I have honestly thought that Diskpart has a wider range of utility or more powerful use cases than the visual disk management tool. Hmm. Maybe you speak the truth.

[@NiddNetworks]

@@Taurwathwylth Yes, you can force set different options that I don't think you can do in diskmgnt - especially around partition type ID and such...

[@Taurwathwylth]

@NiddNetworks Ah, yeah, OK. But it seems to be the case that none of that stuff is needed for the (technically, or 'on the tree') low-level full cleaning operation. So in this case the difference is redundant. Learning is happening!

[@JollyFuchsia]

This is awesome! I'm often the debunker of tech misconceptions, but as is common with your videos: I've learnt something. Thank you!

[@weswheel4834]

I didn't know that there was an easy way to get a USB drive back to default again on Windows, I normally use Linux for it. Good tip, thanks :)

[@dashannsche8460]

What command do you use on linux to restore an usb-drive, if I may ask?

[@weswheel4834]

@@dashannsche8460 I normally have to look it up. Probably start with fdisk and then when it doesn't play well with gpt, change to using gdisk instead. As with Windows, there's probably a bunch of ways of doing it, but this way from the video seems simple as it is built into Windows and is relatively simple. Only downside is that it would be easy to run 'clean' on the wrong disk :D

[@Ben-hg3bz]

​@@dashannsche8460 you Can use Gparted, and create a New partition table on the USB drive

[@dashannsche8460]

@@weswheel4834 Thanks for the response. I do only have Linux right now. If you ever come across your used command, sharing it here would be highly aprecciated. Regards!

[@weswheel4834]

@@dashannsche8460 I think if you look at the GPT_fdisk page in the archlinux wiki that gives some basic commands. (Ubunu, Gentoo and Arch tend to all have good online documentation I find, much of which is relevant regardless of your chosen distro). Which distro are you running?

[@asknight]

I finally piped my web browsing PC into my TV entertainment center with big speakers and big power and WOW the intro music hits a totally different way.

[@y00t00b3r]

it's quite jarring and unpleasant. Too much reliance on harsh sawtooth square waves.

[@farhanrejwan]

1:45 - there's still a difference between saying win10 is the last version vs win10 is the latest version. i think jerry should've cleared the situation, and i don't really find any fault in what the journalists did or what people thought here.

[@Darkstar2342]

technically they're probably even correct, in that Windows 11 is just an incremental "reskin" of Windows 10 (it even retains the 10.x version number internally). Maybe that's what they meant...

[@writerpatrick]

Microsoft didn't make much effort to clear up the confusion until Windows 11 was announced.

[@JasinNatael]

Windows 10 should have been the last Windows because it was actually good. I iked the workflow you could get from it by setting up your own categories in the tiles section of the start menu. Win 11 threw that out, what a stupid devolution! I don't care much about the optics with rounded edges or having the start menu centered. How does that my work life more efficient?

[@chaos.corner]

I'm pretty sure there was actually some deeper stuff about the moving to continuous updates rather than releasing new versions. Unless that was based off this statement which is completely possible.

[@dizwell]

The last thing I do at night is check the door locks. It doesn't mean I won't wake up tomorrow and eat breakfast. We use "last" all the time to mean "latest" not "ultimate". It's standard English usage.

[@gearfriedtheswmas]

Google does read docs they just don't use it for advertising... yet.

[@arch1107]

they use everything we use, mails, search terms, everything

[@Shocker99]

11:25 clearly states that they don't use it for advertising purposes. They don't state that the information is never read by Google, so i completely agree. If they didn't add the 'for advertising purposes' qualifier at the end, then it would be different.

[@BigDrahma]

Yeah I'm not super happy with how readily EC accepts press statements from giant corporations as "facts" to counter a healthy suspicion of a company who removed "Don't Be Evil" from their corporate culture after making it their personality for a decade.

[@jeffrydemeyer5433]

likely it was added to their LLM training data.

[@jimmyzhao2673]

@@jeffrydemeyer5433 No wonder AI has so many hallucinations.

[@sbc_soc_tinkerer]

Diskpart has been my go to for cleaning drives for many years. Nice job sir!

[@arch1107]

it is almost hte only tool that works for some tasks, like create a usb bootable installer, some pcs are really problematic, specially servers

[@Sphinx-19]

All this time I thought windows 10 was supposed to be the last windows, thank you.

[@MichaelMossmanNZ]

Thank you Christopher for another enlightening video. Wow! Over 300 comments already, and the video has only been live for an hour. Anyway, keep up the great work =)

[@GreeneThumbs]

Excellent video. Explaining Computers is part of my Sunday morning routine.

[@Praxibetel-Ix]

Mine too! :)

[@Sunlight91]

But Windows 10 is my last version of Windows so the prophecy has become true.

[@kensmith5694]

What Linux did you install

[@Sunlight91]

@@kensmith5694 Linux Mint, because I miss Win7 😄

[@kensmith5694]

@@Sunlight91 Yes, a lot of Win7 users find it easy to pick up.

[@Sunlight91]

@@kensmith5694 It's not about being easy to pick up. It's about being nice to use every day. Before using Linux Mint I had already Ubuntu and Debian on a home server.

[@FlakeyPM]

Nah, Windows XP was the last version.

[@Jeff_Seely]

Nicely delivered and I learned a thing or two from this video. So message received, loud and clear. The goal of this announcement was well met, by me and others. Thank you for your knowledge and time producing this content.

[@matthewtrow5698]

Interesting video, thanks! Like this channel. What I love the most is seeing a desk covered in cables and gadgets, in other words, a real working environment. So many popular tech channels feature pristine environments with backdrops of led lighting illuminating shelf loads of boxes which I imagine are part of sponsorship. (fair play) That certainly doesn't represent my world - my desk gets a clean-up every two weeks, which lasts until I get busy on a project.

[@hambone130]

Google probably doesn't read your docs. But when they get hacked the first thing the hackers will go for is docs then mail.

[@hambone130]

Also if law enforcement want's to see your docs I'm sure all they need is a subpoena and you would never know they were accessed. This also includes all the data google has stored for your account. There is an option in "Data & Privacy" settings to download all the data google has stored for you account. Try exporting your google data to see what they store.

[@Reziac]

@@hambone130 Are you sure the export is complete??

[@hambone130]

@@Reziac Can't be sure, I just initiated a data dump we'll see what they provide this time. Last time I got my data the most surprising thing I found was all of my voice searches as audio files.

[@Kamawan0]

@@hambone130 If you don't do any crimes, there's nothing to worry about!

[@Reziac]

@@hambone130 I find that rather alarming all by itself.

[@Praxibetel-Ix]

Oh, I LOVE that thumbnail!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Greetings!

[@Praxibetel-Ix]

@@ExplainingComputers Hi, Chris! You accidentally deleted someone's comment when you were taking care of the spam bots.

[@kjakobsen]

While RAID 1,5 and 6 is not a backup, RAID 0 certainly never was. RAID 0 takes the risk of failure on one drive, and multiplies it with the number of disks in the array.

[@ExplainingComputers]

So true!

[@Reziac]

Having spent a summer recovering a friend's files from a RAID failure (the files were all striped with one another, 14,000 of them!) I approve this message. It's redundancy and performance, it is not backup or long-term storage.

[@RebrandSoon0000]

So, which RAID should be used more? 5? I haven't touched RAID since 2000 when I was in college, plus I don't own enough drives to do it, sadly.

[@kjakobsen]

@@RebrandSoon0000 RAID5 with small arrays. Once the disks get bigger, RAD6 with double parity is more suitable.

[@RandomBitzzz]

@@RebrandSoon0000 Depends on the use case. I deal with large arrays of 50+ drives, and I use RAID 6 at a minimum. You can also do stuff like RAID 60, which splits your volume up into two sets of RAID 6 striped across each other at RAID 0. There's also SAN systems that will balance and manage themselves out between flash and spinning disks, moving unaccessed data onto slower drives and heavily used data into flash - along with a myriad of other magical things.

[@Geenimetsuri]

Excellent stuff! I especially liked the Windows 10 clarification, which was really a case of bad communication. And the USB. I didn't even realize the USB-A speed limit.

[@mausmalone]

I think a good way to think of RAID's place in your backup strategy is that for the on-site storage it can make it more convenient to restore after certain types of failures without having to go rebuild completely from your other backups. I do currently have a 3-2-1 set-up and honestly I'm not worried about a single drive failure. I'm 99% of the time worried about user error - that I'm going to delete or destroy something by mistake and then have that mistake propagated through my regular backup routines.

[@Barnacules]

Didn’t expect to see my name pop up in this video 😂 Thank you 🙏 Liked!

[@zeberto1986]

That last myth is the reason tape backups are still used in dcs. Maybe not the fastest medium but its a life saver if your a server fails!

Too bad tape backup is not a viable option at home. The medium is dirt cheap, but the drives are crazy expensive.

[@writerpatrick]

There's not much need since you can just use CDs or DVDs, although they are becoming harder to get hold of. Make a couple copies to be sure. While you can get failure, most will last decades. Home computers use to use cassette tapes although I don't know if they still support them.

[@ryanr8364]

@@writerpatrick In an age when even cheap consumer devices contain SSDs of a terabyte and up, DVDs no longer are a viable backup medium and really haven't been for the past ten to fifteen years. Affordable-ish "pro-sumer" grade tape solutions would be a welcome thing, as far as I'm concerned.

[@chaos.corner]

@@ryanr8364 I ran tapes for a bit but 4GB soon became too limiting. The solution I landed on was USB spinning disks. 4-8TB or more is pretty cheap. It lacks the elegance of tape but for home backup, it's decently adequate. I'd definitely watch the DVDs in any case. I recently went on a purge of my physical media and was backing up anything I wanted to keep. I hit a *lot* of bitrot. Fortunately I didn't lose anything precious but I encourage anyone I can to revisit and re-archive their homemade media as soon as possible. (Commercial media is usually more secure though in some cases, that may be at risk too)

​@@ryanr8364 it all depends on the content you want to backup. If it's documents and photos, DVD-R still offer plenty of space, and it's very cheap. Also you can easily augment it with additional error correction, eg. using dvdisaser. If you want to archieve master video files, then there's no storage medium on Earth large enough you cannot fill fast :)

[@-iIIiiiiiIiiiiIIIiiIi-]

Regarding 'Google reads your documents': just because you believe or trust that they don't, they still have the power to do so at their leisure. Keep your Google Drive encrypted, y'all!

[@kunka592]

Better yet, don't use it.

[@jscollett]

100% Spot on. Your comment about opinion and fact needed to be said. Great video keep up the awesome work!

[@LellePrinter82]

I think that Christopher is the perfect computer/tech mythbuster. Thanks for this video and great content as always.

[@dang48]

This is a great help. Thank you for this video as it does help those who are not sure about the myths. 0:39 concerning Fact and opinion being intermingled, you're right about not being able to fix that in one video. Come to think of it, I don't think anyone would be able to fix that in a million videos. 🤔😏

[@paulace0674]

Hi Chris, Loved this video. Thanks for the part about USB drivers and DiskPart usage. I am an ex IT engineer and forgot about this (opps lol), thanks again. Until the next video and member video, take care. (PS note the RAID section made me laugh)

[@snappycattimesten]

Myth 8: EC is the 5th Beatle.

[@d.barnette2687]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you meant to write Beatle (the band) and not Beetle (the bug). Good comment, we just don't want any misunderstanding here, especially from the younger crowd 😊

[@Uniblab8]

HE IS? COOL!

[@rupand1853]

Didn’t know that ExplainingComputers was related to the Beatles….!

[@nicoleking772]

Shhhhhhh! No One is supposed to know

[@LarixusSnydes]

Clap Clap ;-).

[@Jamesaepp]

Your RAID item reminded me of another myth I see on occasion among IT professionals where it's said that snapshots are backups. They most certainly are not.

[@ExplainingComputers]

:)

[@sipe34]

Thanks so much for the tip on restoring the thumb drives after using them for ISOs. I had been throwing them away after use, but using your tip, I was able to restore four of them.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Well this is a great result! :) Good to hear.

[@Taurwathwylth]

Just remember that they are not eternal things. But probably won't matter in regular use.

[@imikla]

I agree that one RAID is not a backup, but a second RAID certainly can be. For my simple home setup, my main ZFS RAIDZ2 is in my home. My backup MDADM RAID6 is in another home 2,000 km away, and my tape backups are in two alternating physical locations.

[@chaos.corner]

I'd be wary of relying on an online backup but you have that covered with the tape, it seems.

[@rika-chan]

5:57 people care because the micro usb connector is much flimsier and usb c was sold as a "port to end all ports", so people can mix and match cables as they wish (though with the caveat of specific version support). I don't think people really cared if their tablet supported 10gbps or 20gbps since it's obviously not going to push that kind of data

[@majorskies7091]

Great vid for a Sunday. I have no idea about the Windows 10 thing and just went and believed as it became the general consensus it was 'last version'. I was surprised about the Linux Installation Media one, didn't realise people thought that! You opened my eyes to the online office suites and cloud privacy, you're right, the amount of money these companies make from cloud they surly wouldn't want to jeopardise the end user's trust.

[@FlyboyHelosim]

Even if a company did 'look' at user data, it's not going to be someone actually sitting there looking through it. It'll be an algorithm at best, looking for keywords, etc. Do people really think that Google employs thousands of people to sit there and actually browse people's files?

[@paulreader1777]

A little irony that MS gave up on combating an urban myth. Great video Chris!

[@rambo9199]

Which indicates they used it as deniable propaganda.

[@benchaak_vam_demer]

In 2018 I have worked at Microsoft, and I was working in a Support role for Win10 and Several Windows Server Versions. At that point in time, the internal Information was that "there are no plans on releasing another Windows version after 10, rather, Windows 10 should be continuously developed, and given Features as needed." This was the Idea of Microsoft, what Windows 10 was supposed to be. Obviously in retrospect, no employee of Microsoft will admit, that at that Point they didn't had any Plans to ever make a Windows 11. If this wasn't the case, they would have released a Windows 11 around 2018 or 2019, as the Release Cycle, the had followed till 2015, was a 3 Year Cycle.

[@JamaicaWhiteMan]

I just use Gparted in Mint to restore a USB thumbdrive after it's had an iso. Piece of cake.

[@arch1107]

most users saying the usb is damaged will never understand what you just wrote and will be on windows, so that solution is the most adequate for them

[@JamaicaWhiteMan]

@@arch1107 True.

[@ExplainingComputers]

@arch1107 -- exactly.

[@FatNorthernBigot]

I love me a list! More lists, please. Best Raspberry Pi alternatives, best OS, etc... top stuff. Come on, half your viewers are on "the spectrum", and there's nothing we enjoy more than a list. 😂

[@ExplainingComputers]

I will work on some more lists! :)

[@Praxibetel-Ix]

Can confirm, I'm autistic and I love me a list. 😅

[@y00t00b3r]

@@Praxibetel-Ix I'm not autistic, but I'm working hard to become autistic! More lists, please!

[@alanthornton3530]

@@Praxibetel-Ix I'm not on the spectrum or so I believe, I do love making lists you can never have enough!! I'm a bit late to the party so better late than never, how's it going Ford are you keeping OK? 📋🤣

[@Praxibetel-Ix]

@@alanthornton3530 Hi, Alan! I'm doing just fine. :)

[@Dave01Rhodes]

6:12 The reason I dislike peripherals that use Micro USB isn't because of an imagined difference in communication speed. I dislike Micro USB because it's a very flimsy and fragile connector. And though USB-C inherits some of its problems, they did at least address the weakest points.

[@TuttleScott]

what I hate about micro usb is you never get the cable in the right way. I call it the 50/100 rule. you got a 50% chance of getting it right and a 100% chance of getting it wrong.

[@jeffrydemeyer5433]

Yes, a decent connector is very welcome. something like a Scart head

[@mjc0961]

Agreed, I don't want to use Micro USB ever again. Terrible plug, terrible connector, I hate it. If for some reason a company really doesn't want to use USB C, I'd honestly rather they use Mini USB instead of Micro USB. But seriously, it's almost 2025, use USB C already. I'm at the point where Micro USB is a deal breaker, I will not buy a product if it uses Micro USB for charging an internal battery. I'll only accept if it the device doesn't have a battery and is just something that sits wherever it belongs powered by Micro USB instead of a barrel jack. Like an HDMI switch permanently behind my TV or something. I only have to plug it in once and it stays that way forever. But for charging, plugging and unplugging on a regular basis? Nope, won't accept that anymore.

[@michaelwright2986]

This. USB A is bad, as on average it takes about 2.5 attempts to plug it in right, but micro USB is vile. It is very small, and looks symmetrical, but isn't; I still have pretty good eyesight, and I have to look really closely, especially on the female ports. The two decent connectors USB had before Type C were Type B and mini USB (I don't know what it's official name is--? mini-B??), which is fairly small but clearly asymmetrical. Those, of course, are the least commonly encountered connectors in the whole ecosystem.

[@chaos.corner]

The biggest reason I dislike micro USB is simply that USB-C is the current standard and it's time to switch so we can keep the cables simple. Also, manufacturers please make sure to add the resistors so that you will trigger the charger to 5V if you're a dumb device.

[@AB-ey5dm]

I completely bought into the myth about Windows 10 being the last version they would ever make... Now that I really think about it, that wouldn't make any sense. Imagine still using Windows 10 in 30 years, as if we were still using Windows 95 today. Thank you for clarifying this!

[@aytviewer2421]

Great video, especially liked the discussion about RAID. One thing I would have added, was how RAID 5 can help minimize "storage" downtime at a business. Though it certainly does not change the importance of your 123 rule of back-ups! It's funny how back in the '90s and early '00s RAID 5 was all the rage in corporate IT shops. It still is to some extent today, but not nearly what it used to be. I personally think there is still a place for it if you do not fully embrace cloud storage services. Thanks again!

[@adrianandrews2254]

As RAID arrays got larger the problem of the MTBF of the drives reared its head as the benefit of the parity was offset by the fall in reliability of larger arrays. So the use of clustering of individual servers with (unbelievably) fast interfaces up to 256 Gbps has become the norm. Note that rotating rust MTBFs can be much higher than semiconductor drives if you pay enough.

[@alanthornton3530]

Thanks Chris for another interesting video, 'Urban Myths debunking'. It's amazing the things you can read on the internet, the journalist who's been too lazy to fact check information before posting, or copied & pasted selected items to put their own spin on it. And so misinformation goes on!!

[@gluttonousmaximus9048]

13:59 Now this is basically the issue with user support and the general landscape of system maintanence really. You TECHNICALLY don't need to use the terminal, if you do the bare minimum, but once you start to do something that's supposed to be automated, or needs poking the way the system works under the hood, which you'll be doing more down the road I GUARANTEE, terminal will eventually need to be used.

[@devinpike1324]

I for some reason thought you uploaded an hour earlier in my time zone so I was worried that there wasn't a video today.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Today the clocks changed in the UK, so the video was "late".

[@fernanddubois1792]

@@ExplainingComputersThere goes another urban myth. I thought the change to Daylight time occurred the same day worldwide.

[@Okurkaarrgghh]

@@fernanddubois1792 That's not an urban myth; that's just ignorance.

[@FriedOrange]

@@fernanddubois1792 Even though the northern and southern hemispheres have opposite seasons?

[@KalahiMd]

I did not know what U.2 SSDs were. I noticed extra pins in the SATA connector of my Synology NAS but did not think much of it, assuming it was for extra monitoring of proprietary drives. Now I know. Thanks Chris!

[@GameDesignerJDG]

One thing Google Docs and drive *does* do (and I have had this happen to me repeatedly to the point where I no longer can rely on Google Docs) is they put your files in the trash if they think you won't use those files any more. Why would I pay them to delete the things I need them to back up for me? It's maddening every time it happens.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Interesting to hear, and very strange. All I can say is that I've never had this occur. I've just checked, and have files that have not been accessed since 2010 sitting happily in Google Drive folders.

[@VeryUsMumblings]

I'm sure that new myths are being created as soon as this video ended! 😄 Excellent video! 👍

[@zahidshabir4038]

That USB-C one is a BIG DEAL. Many people assume USB-C is automatically a faster connector and that it can handle more power which is further from the truth. The cable is what determines how fast your device will charge or transfer data and maybe you own a device that uses USB-C that charges or transfers data real slow. Ad s result of all these things I have mentioned it is easy to get scammed when purchasing cables for example if you had a new smartphone with fast charging and when shopping for a cable on Amazon the seller or manufacturer has listed a bunch of compatible devices that the cable can charge without specifying that although it can charge your device it will be charging at a slow speed. For example a cable may claim to be compatible with the latest iPhone 16 Pro Max (I don't own or use iPhones and don't like them but I use this example because Apple customers are the most likely to get scammed by this unless they're the type to only buy Apple's own brand cables)

[@laurencefraser]

Here's a fun thing: doesn't matter what cable you're using when your device is using that USB C connector to output USB 2.0.... stick a USB4 cable in that socket if you want, you'll still only get USB 2.0 speed. Well, for data, but charging is a similar situation. There's an awful lot of USB C to A adaptors floating around where the A side connector is white, indicating that it's USB 1.0 (though it might actually be 2.0, which Should be black... definitely not 3.0 though, not enough pins). And then there's cables that are 'good for charging' ... by which they mean that the data wires are missing from them.

[@RobertBoerner]

I was worried when the new video didn't go up at 9:00 AM EDT, and then realized that the UK ends DST a week earlier than the U.S. when the video went up at 10:00 AM EDT. Phew... :-)

[@ExplainingComputers]

Yes, the UK messing with time caused issues today!

[@andrina118]

"Spring forward, Fall back" :)

[@RobertBoerner]

@@ExplainingComputers I think I just need to move to Greenwich (I have visited, and its lovely, especially the observatory :-)

[@sebastienarnaud5133]

Loved this new format! I hope there will be more in the future. Even if I knew about most of these urban myths, the technical clarifications you bring are most useful. I must admit that I am also partial to your style: no flashing extravagant post production effects, no fuss, just plain and precise information. On top of that, your British accent and phrasing and overall attitude are music to my ears! Have a nice cuppa! (Try not to mind the undocumented conspiracy theories too much: as you mentioned in your introduction, facts and opinions (or what we think is a fact without knowing or wondering where it's comming from) are indeed deeply intermingled... I hope you'll keep trying though!)

[@neilbradley]

I was all set to get in a geek back and forth, but this is well done! I'm really puzzled why people think RAID is a "backup".

[@anasevi9456]

6:10 the problem with micro-usb is it is very fragile and prone to failure. Drawing tablets absolutely NEED an extremely robust connection to work, so Wacom absolutely deserve to be shamed for using micro-usb!

[@paulstubbs7678]

I'm surprised USB-C is surviving so far, it has way to many super find fingers, and the cable has way to many wires, so how come it's not getting heaps of hate mail.

[@thebaldconvict]

This definately varies by the person. I personally have never broken a micro-usb, my kids have broken many.

[@quarteratom]

The problem with USB-C is it is very fragile and prone to failure.

[@thebaldconvict]

​@@quarteratomnot in my experience, even the kids haven't managed to break their usb-c things.

[@JohnHPixelMD]

Just a heads up, while Google doesn't "read" your files in Google Docs, they do scan for malicious code snippets and such. But this is also 2024 and Google has a HUGE AI R&D lab that 100% IS being fed EVERYTHING being used in Google Docs to build up and improve upon Gemini, their LLM, and other AI/LLM related projects. They've stated it multiple times but you know KZbin and their policy on links in comments.

[@Kamawan0]

Then don't write anything in a google doc that is worth sharing with the people within a corporation, you'll be good to go.

[@joesmith6643]

10:00 Google may not be going through your documents for advertisements however they are still required by law to give your personal data to law enforcement and given how Google is part of the PRISM project they probably give your data out unknowingly. We don't know what happens behind the scenes. I use cryptpad instead as they uses end-to-end encryption. For emails I use proton as that is also end-to-end encrypted unlike gmail.

[@tumultuouscornucopia]

If you believe what they say. If I were an evil organization wanting to harvest everyone's data I would create an email service that I promised was end-to-end encrypted.

[@sneekylinux]

One of your best vids Chris...Kudos

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks! I had no idea how it would go. :)

[@edwardharding5677]

I just realised that this video sort of reminds me of the 'Annoying Computing Things' series you did a while back. It's nice to hear someone rant on about what big tech have decided to do and some of the lies that are spread in the computing media!

[@zephyfoxy]

The bit about writing ISOs to a USB "destroying it" is one I've never heard before, but I guess I can see how less tech savvy people could come to that conclusion.

We can't know everything. Eg. it took me quiet some years to figure out, an unitialized disk is not bootable in DOS without issuing fdisk /mbr. I was fighting with some Compact Flash cards not being bootable, and on HDDs I never had to do this manually for some reason.

[@adrianandrews2254]

An ISO is just a data file. If it is small enough to not exceed the maximum size of the filing system there are no problems. BUT most USB keys are delivered in FAT32, which both Windows and Linux can read, and most ISO are far too big to fit on FAT32. However, if you reformat it with NTFS (or ext2) you can definitely write a Linux (or Windows) ISO to it without damage if the key has adaquate capacity.

[@dallesamllhals9161]

So Jerry should've said "Latest" instead of "Last"?

[@ExplainingComputers]

Indeed!

[@TrapShooter68]

Or "Next"

[@Peter_Enis]

But then nobody would have upgraded but waited for the next one.....like with windows ME.... People read what they want to read.

[@dallesamllhals9161]

@@Peter_Enis ME😲 W2K, Airhead!

[@_winston_smith_]

I wish you had tackled the big one: You should leave your home computer on all the time because it will last longer. Very strong opinions on both sides. Heat cycling, old fashioned spinning drives vs SSDs, bursting electrolytic capacitors and MTBF calculations. Lots of good material for an entire video!

[@chuckadams842]

I am a fan of surge protection and have had systems up more than 3 years without rebooting and without any hardware failure. UPS supply if really wanting to keep a system up and running for extended periods without interruption. Surge currents on startup are a cause of lots of system failures. IMHO. Using Linux systems by choice.

[@drewnewby]

Over 30 years in PC repair, do not leave them on unless you have to, or want to support guys like me. 3 years uptime isn't even to the middle of the bathtub curve for failure. I have systems going back over 40 years.

[@dashannsche8460]

That topic would interest me, too.

[@mjc0961]

I turn off my computer all the time and have never had any problems with it. I'll only leave it on if it's doing some work. There's pretty much nothing anyone could say to convince me to leave my computer on for no reason, sucking down power while I'm asleep or away at work or doing errands.

[@writerpatrick]

I often leave the computer running because I don't like to wait for it to start up. But you're more likely to replace a computer for obsolescence before it wears out from being run all the time.

[@SunshineArt]

I think when people say micro USB is rubbish which means the device is rubbish. It's more of a judgement on the company themselves choosing the cheaper older connector instead of using the more Universal USBC. Although both of them are quite capable of transmitting the exact same data it's the fact that the company themselves decided to go with the cheaper option means that they probably went with the cheaper option with many components inside the device.

[@rcdiekin]

Thanks for sharing. Best way to backup. Make copies on a backup drive and store it in a vault

[@ssl3546]

Google absolutely reads your documents to look for data they don't think you should have, such as lists of passwords. There have also been cases where parents have e-mailed their pediatrician with photos of their kid to ask for medical advice and Google shut down their entire account for "kid e pn" with no appeal possible with all data lost. Advertising is the least of my concerns who cares that I would get ads for bahama trips.

[@RichardEricCollins]

That was Apple not Google.

[@OscarSommerbo]

Got any source for your claims?

[@nutsnproud6932]

I was going to post the same comment. I only have a gmail account for youtube and android. I've never given that email to anyone. I never send emails from gmail any irecieved get deleted without reading them.

[@One.Zero.One101]

Yeah I think it's reasonable to be suspicious because there have been many cases where a company doesn't abide by their own terms of service. For example being busted that a 3rd-party company has access to private data even though they shouldn't, or private data being identifiable even though the company claims it's not. Basically you're trusting that a company won't do something shady if it risks their business, but history tells us companies actually do that, whether in the tech sector, finance sector, pharma sector, food sector, etc.

[@Bob-of-Zoid]

@@One.Zero.One101 They do abide by their own terms of service! Just read them very carefully and be weary of the things it does say, and what all it leaves out, or anything vague that cannot be pinned down to what exactly it means. For example, many online services claim to keep your data safe from "Bad actors", without ever saying they as the service provider won't look at and do whatever with your data as they see fit, or your cloud service is protected under the jurisdiction you live in (the US for me) but they have a server in Afghanistan or somewhere they can transfer your Data to where it is no longer protected, and then do with it as they see fit... Understanding legalese, your rights and the laws... and just basic contract trickery is important, because there's a whole lot of it going on, and taking the "They can't do that", or They wouldn't do that" attitude, as millions upon millions did when Windows 10's EULA was released and the web was abuzz of people pointing out what all it meant for users. I ditched Windows and forcing myself through full blown Linux boot camp with no other OS to fall back on while still On Win7, and the first attempt trying to get me to install it popped up, and then another, and another, getting ever more forceful. That was when I finally had enough, and been happy on Linux ever since, which as it turned out is much better than word on the street was, given most of "Linux deficiencies" have nothing to do with Linux itself, but rather the industries complacency to it, and not accepting it as a Viable OS (for their income).

[@MagikGimp]

I learnt some stuff today. Cheers!

[@Colin_Ames]

Thanks for reminding me about DiskPart. I always forget about this when trying to restore a USB drive.

[@jaimecosta2966]

I also had forgoton.. i will trying on the USB drives that i put aside because of the size problem

[@kensmith5694]

I remember "fdisk"

[@kjakobsen]

Just be carefull with diskpart. It actually assumes, you know what you are doing. There is no: "Are you sure?" ;)

[@Peter_Enis]

You dont have to use diskpart. You can do all of it in diskmanagement. Just rightclick on a partion and see what comes up. And I love using diskmanagement because under the hood of windows11 you can still see the good old xp menus coming up....

[@Okurkaarrgghh]

When using DiskPart be ready to use TestDisk to recover the partitions you accidentally deleted.

[@bobdinitto]

Thank you, Chris, for attempting to dispel these urban computing myths. And although I've known most of these were myths for some time I did learn something new about the difference between interfaces and physical connections!

[@DrorF]

Thank you for clarifying the versioning thing about Windows OS. I was really wondering about it.

[@MrMattberry1]

Google do hand over documents and data from people's personal accounts to the police and other authorities though

[@guruware8612]

If you are a criminal or terrorist and store you docs unencrypted using a cloud-service, you are also an idiot. Not you in person Matt :)

[@Kamawan0]

That's fulfilling a legal obligation, and thank god they do.

[@joshontech]

I will add one thing about the Linux destroys USB drives myth. The way Linux writes to a USB is in my opinion problematic. I will also preface this with the fact that I have run Ubuntu Since 2010, Linux Mint since 2015, And Finally Fedora since 2021, Also did a lot of distrohopping in that time. All of that to say that every one of those distros had and still has the same issue. When copying a large file (anything over a few hundred megs) Linux will send that file quickly to a cache and than tell you your file is done transferring. This is not the case, the file will still be transferring and, if you pull the usb at this point, you will most likely corrupt the usb filesystem. Your only recourse on the GUI for this is pressing the unmount for that usb and waiting for it to unmount. This can sometimes take hours depending on the size of the file with no feedback to the user. This literally happened to me today on my desktop. I wrote some files to my usb and than clicked the unmount. It actually did say it was unmounted and I pulled it. When I plugged it into my other PC the file I was trying to move was not there so I decided to try again. When trying to write to my usb now it is telling me there is an error with no other explanation. So I fired up Gnome Disks and did a filesystem check and wouldn't you know the filesystem (EXT4) was corrupt. Luckally, I just had to do a filesystem repair and all was well, but to someone without years of Linux knowledge that would be goodbye USB drive! I will say as a testament to the other Linux myth of having to use the command line for everything, with this whole process I never touched the command line. Not even Windows can top that 😎 Anyways, I hope this helps someone I would post some links to helpful sites about this but KZbin no liky the link lol. Thanks for the amazing and helpful content! Not everyone is a great teacher like you! 💯💯💯

[@dmiracle74]

Funny meeting you here.😅 When I use dd to write my USB sticks. I would type sync after to make sure it was written.

[@martinandroid2538]

I've found SD Memory Card Formatter (SD Association) very useful for formatting SD cards 'lost' partitions.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Yes, SD Card Formatter can usually get you out of the same problem.

[@arch1107]

diskpart is meant to create the partition, what oyu mention is handle partitions, you can use diskpart to eliminate or create partitions and more, but information recovery is quite different, an in my personal exprience, recover a partitio always leaves it with some problem, so is safer to recover information on that partition and start from clean

[@waynestewart1919]

That was quite informative. To bad I can't site you on my college research papers. I really enjoy your no-nonsense, no gimmick, and calm demeanor-ed take on all things IT/IS. You make learning more enjoyable and less about click-bait and politics (or even 'PC enthusiast politics'). Please keep up the good work. Explaining Computers is refreshing to those who want to learn about these fascinating devices we commonly call computers.

[@joschafinger126]

As for needing the terminal in Linux, I've found the following, having used a bunch of distros since 2009 or 2010: - If you use a major desktop environment (DE), you usually don't. - If you run into a problem (while using a major DE), it's often _way_ easier though not necessary to use the terminal. - Using the terminal for stuff that's not more easily achieved by less than four clicks, or for routine stuff, is actually _less_ complicated than using the mouse, especially things like updating or shutting down: most terminals remember your last commands, and [Ctrl] + [t], then hitting the Arrow Up key a few times saves a _lot_ of time. - Following instructions for troubleshooting is _way_ easier if they boil down to, "copy-paste the follow into the terminal, put in your password as prompted, hit [Enter]".

[@armedready1]

Downloading Ram was one I heard years ago.

[@TuttleScott]

sounds like they're referring to those memory compression programs from long ago.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

Using Linux without a terminal is like cooking without using any herbs and spices - it's doable, but you won't get the best out of it.

[@malelonewolf80]

Doable perhaps until you run into a problem that needs fixing. Then it is copy&paste command lines from forumpage 354 from 4 years ago.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@malelonewolf80 So you have never learned to fix anything then? Or learned to drive a car? Or bang a nail into a piece of wood. "Lone wolf"? "Yappy puppy" more like!

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@malelonewolf80 So you have never learned to fix any kind of problem then? How do you operate a Windows PC (or Mac) if you never gone through some kind of learning process?

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@malelonewolf80 I have also fixed the Windows PCs of friends and family for decades now, and many of them don't do the same kind of basic research that you won't do before bringing their "broken" PCs to me. This is not specifically a Linux issue that you highlight. You finding Linux (or any other OS) difficult is a you problem, not one of the OS. And if you find Linux difficult, then I am the last person to recommend that you use it. The worst kind of Linux user is the "social media poseur" (usually with a Steam Deck in their hands) that brags to their peers how "l33t" they are in using it, but won't put in the hard work into learning to use it properly.

[@malelonewolf80]

@@terrydaktyllus1320 Please. I have set up multiple config.sys and autoexec.bat files on various boot disk to run various dos games back in the day. My point was, that many problems that arise in linux need the use of the command line to fix, as most guides are made with command line use in mind. And, for comparison, in Windows you used to have Windows help, which you often were able to solve to problem by using. In Linux however you generally have to look online, and the fix for the problem is often found in some forumpage, which may be years old, and while it may fix your one problem, it also often creates a great host of new and different problems. Linux is great when it is working, but it still has a far way to go in regards to being user friendly when having to fix some problem. This of course was true with MS-Dos back in the day also, but MS-DOS was far simpler and thus easier to troubleshoot, and also, MS-DOS did not change every 6 months making trouble shooting guides obsolete.

[@jkid8984]

6:39 USB micro is rubbish simply because of the connector regardless of speed. I am more likely to buy something with USB C or heck even full sized B than micro.

[@RebrandSoon0000]

Thank you Christopher! These talking points were great and it does help to make things less confusing for people. Plus, I never knew USB 4 was even a thing until now.

[@Nihilimus]

Great video. Personally I'd judge any device still using Micro-USB not because of its performance, but simply because I prefer getting rid of that connector and its associated cables. It's great to reduce connectors to only USB-A and USB-C at least.