Nowadays it is possible to use a device every day and still not be totally sure how it really works or how to take the best care of it. There are just too many factors and devices keep evolving and adding new features. To help you out, we prepared this list of 5 facts that used to be true but are technology myths today.

1. You should always fully drain and fully charge your smartphone battery

via GIPHY

This used to be true, but nowadays, phones have lithium-ion batteries which you can safely charge any time. Now experts recommend keeping your battery between 50% and 90% to increase its lifespan. That means, even though leaving your phone plugged in overnight doesn’t hurt the battery by overloading, it is better to pull the charger at 90%. However, fully draining your battery can be used to recalibrate the sensor that shows your phone’s battery level. If you feel like your phone suddenly shuts down when still showing 10% battery, fully draining the battery once might help.

2. Shutting down your computer every night is good for it

via GIPHY

If you use your computer several times a day it is better to leave it on, since every start causes stress to the hard drive. Instead of shutting it down every time or even at night, it is better to put in on sleep mode (by simply shutting the lid of your laptop for example). In this state a desktop computer will use only a minimal amount of energy and most laptops will automatically switch to “hibernate” after a while, which means no electricity usage at all. Every once in a while, however, you should fully shut down or restart your computer so it can install necessary updates.

3. You have to “safely remove” a USB flash drive

via GIPHY

There are probably only a few people left who actually click on “remove safely”, most of us just yank out the USB flash drive when we’re done. And this is totally fine. Before it was better to “eject” the flash drive before actually pulling it out to make sure no data is lost, but this is not an issue anymore with modern computers. Whenever you are done with copying files on or from the flash drive, you can remove it.

4. If you empty the recycle bin on your computer, all files in there are gone forever

via GIPHY

When you delete a file it first goes into the recycle bin / trash can of your computer and then once you empty that it won’t appear in your list of files anymore. It is not completely gone, though. Its space on your drive is just marked as reusable, which means that this file can be overwritten. You might be glad to know that there are data recovery tools which can help you get those files back if you deleted them by accident.

5. Consumers want smaller cell phones

via GIPHY

Remember when everybody laughed at the first brick-sized cell phones while slipping their tiny Nokias in their jeans pocket? Back then, people preferred smaller phones which were more convenient. This is not true anymore. With everything a smartphone can do now people want bigger screens to watch videos and look at photos. Now it is up to fashion brands to make bigger pockets. This is a good example of how important it is for companies to be up to date on what matters to consumers.

Did you know these commonly believed facts are actually myths? Tell us in the comments if this article was helpful to you and what else you would like to learn about the devices you use every day!