What is the worst tech advice you've ever recieved?

[Zyb3rWolfi]

Casually in my old (not a tech college) talking to a random guy i dont like explaining i get low frames he replies with "Well just get more ram or something thats helps" Then went on how he got a razer pc, keyboard etc (basicly yes). Trusted his tech tip and got more ram guess what didnt help.

Spoiler

Im joking btw with the tech tip as bruh why would you get more ram if your gpu sucks ffs

 

[Kisai]

1 hour ago, emosun said:

worst advice I get is "keep software updated". Windows 10 being the prime example of how incredibly stupid updates are.

That really is relative to the pc build quality.

 

Like the Dell precision 7510 at the office I use, updated to 20h2, and every time I’ve come into the office since, I’ve had to reboot it twice.

 

This is be cause sccm isn’t pushing driver updates. 
 

At some point, usually 5 years, updating windows turns into a liability as some hardware will not get driver updates. Or the battery won’t hold a charge long enough to allow a bios update, which in turn is required to update windows, so you get soft-blocked into replacing parts or buying a new machine.

 

or y’know fix it yourself. 
 

This is why laptops are not replacements for desktops, the battery is always a time bomb.

[Reaper_3955]

2 hours ago, davemc said:

Hahaha... looks at the keyboard I built... ha ha

I mean right now Intel is much better on the budget side

On budget side, yes. but on performance side? AMD wins hands down. Like, intel went up to only 10 cores while amd ryzen went all the way up to 16 cores. Intel xeon at 18 cores and threadripper up to 64 cores.

[dean_5234]

8 minutes ago, Reaper_3955 said:

On budget side, yes. but on performance side? AMD wins hands down. Like, intel went up to only 10 cores while amd ryzen went all the way up to 16 cores. Intel xeon at 18 cores and threadripper up to 64 cores.

Yes, but people saying "AMD is better" or "Intel is better" is dumb. Also, Intel has a 28 core xeon. But cores don't equal performance. However, currently AMD is the way to go for top of the line, but really only over 300 USD. At that price Intel becomes much more competitive since AMD's only viable option under 350 USD is the 5600X, all the others suck at price to performance 

[flibberdipper]

Around the time I was trying to get my (mom's) hands on a low-profile 1050Ti for my OptiPlex, I had people suggesting that I just buy an RX570 used, cut a hole in the side panel, and dangle a PSU off the side of the damn thing. That is a solution to a problem which doesn't need to exist for christ's sake.

[CerealExperimentsLain]

4 minutes ago, flibberdipper said:

Around the time I was trying to get my (mom's) hands on a low-profile 1050Ti for my OptiPlex, I had people suggesting that I just buy an RX570 used, cut a hole in the side panel, and dangle a PSU off the side of the damn thing. That is a solution to a problem which doesn't need to exist for christ's sake.

A classic 'Uselessly Helpful' thing online is totally people saying 'I am very smart, let me, often aggressively, demand you do your thing in a much more stupid and complicated fashion.'

[LloydLynx]

To get a new computer because it's old.

[Amias]

"You don't need a full size tower! Mid tower is fine" - some a-hole on reddit. Thanks d***head, can barely fit in my radiator, gpu and cable management is a nightmare.

 

 

[A_Silly_Shirt]

6 hours ago, Amias said:

"You don't need a full size tower! Mid tower is fine" - some a-hole on reddit. Thanks d***head, can barely fit in my radiator, gpu and cable management is a nightmare.

 

 

This isnt even bad advice. People literally put top of the line gaming PCs in ITX builds.

 

You are just complaining because you blindly followed general advice instead of looking for your specific needs. 

[dean_5234]

Another piece of s**t advice i got was to buy an NZXT case.

[dean_5234]

On 5/6/2021 at 9:31 AM, wat3rmelon_man2 said:

Just do what the scam companies do and flash a RTX 3090 BIOS to your 780! Works perfectly.

780?? Pfft. Na. How about GTS 450?

[Giganthrax]

"You should buy used."

[dean_5234]

1 minute ago, Giganthrax said:

"You should buy used."

But thats not bad advice for a lot of components

[Giganthrax]

4 minutes ago, davemc said:

But thats not bad advice for a lot of components

So I've heard. It appears to only be bad advice for the components I bought.

[Bl4ze_buoy]

On 5/6/2021 at 9:52 PM, CerealExperimentsLain said:

I guess obviously have to go first.  My partner is deployed on a ship with our navy right now, while it has limited satellite internet , 260 people and one internet connection in the middle of the ocean on what is definitely not a Carnival Cruise Line's ship, is not great.  We set up a plan to SneakerNet media files to her to keep her entertained with 'recent' TV shows and movies.  This literally involves mailing USB drives to the ship with a lag time of 2-6 weeks.  Some brilliant person advised me to not label and encrypt the USB flash drives to avoid 'The Copyright Police'.  Despite all attempts to convince him he could not comprehend why side channeling unmarked encrypted storage into a military warship might invite the attention of an entirely different kind of 'police'.  The kind of police that use words such as 'Espionage' and 'Sabotage'.  He instead advised me 'You have your rights to free speech, don't you?' instead.

 

PS: Due to COVID wrecking global logistics, mailing to the the ship has been a general disaster, with it's mail typically arriving at ports after the ship and already left said ports.  It's due to get mail tomorrow that is two months old.  We ditched a SneakerNet for Resilio Sync, which works pretty well on 'Absolutely terrible intermittent internet'.

 MORE RGB MaKeS YoU A BeTtEr GaMeR

[King of Memes]

the worst tech advice ive ever recieved was to buy the razer cynosa chroma

[UltraNerd]

On 5/6/2021 at 12:32 PM, HelpfulTechWizard said:

my dad is cojnvinced that you shouldnt press the power button to turn off a pc, and that i shoudl use the option in windows.

 

 

it triggers the same shutdown process...

That's from the days when a power button was literally a power switch...I think.

[starry]

Being told "you need to install antivirus snake oil and not doing so is dangerous"

[Helpful Tech Witch]

6 minutes ago, UltraNerd said:

That's from the days when a power button was literally a power switch...I think.

Yeah. But he's not had a computer that's done that for like 20 years.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

2 hours ago, Giganthrax said:

"You should buy used."

That's pretty good advice actually.

 

I've seen drives used in data centers/nas/server applications for good deals on Craig's list and fb marketplace, and great deals on memory there.

 

 

And gpus are fine to go used on. Just expect to spend 10ish bucks on a set of pads and tim for them after you buy it.

[CerealExperimentsLain]

2 minutes ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

That's pretty good advice actually.

 

I've seen drives used in data centers/nas/server applications for good deals on Craig's list and fb marketplace, and great deals on memory there.

 

 

And gpus are fine to go used on. Just expect to spend 10ish bucks on a set of pads and tim for them after you buy it.

'Go Used' is good advice if the person knows how to make good on it.  You need to know how to kick the tires, what problems to ask for, to insist the person demonstrate it works on a marketplace without consumer protections, ect.  And of course some parts are less ideal to get used as well, like.... I'd not buy a used AIO on eBay, ever.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

1 minute ago, CerealExperimentsLain said:

'Go Used' is good advice if the person knows how to make good on it.  You need to know how to kick the tires, what problems to ask for, to insist the person demonstrate it works on a marketplace without consumer protections, ect.  And of course some parts are less ideal to get used as well, like.... I'd not buy a used AIO on eBay, ever.

Yeah. Aios don't buy used.

 

But anything solid state (ssd, ram, things like that) and silicon (gpus and CPUs) are great used buys.

[CerealExperimentsLain]

2 minutes ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Yeah. Aios don't buy used.

 

But anything solid state (ssd, ram, things like that) and silicon (gpus and CPUs) are great used buys.

Sure, I just think people also need to know what to ask and what are likely scams to ensure they get working parts that are what they say on the box.  Meanwhile, any dummy can walk into a big box computer store or shop online with a major retailer and at worst they have to say 'It's broke, give me an RMA and send me a new one' and it's pretty safe.

[Vishera]

25 minutes ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Yeah. But he's not had a computer that's done that for like 20 years.

As matter of fact my PC is doing that...

And i built it with brand new parts in 2019.

 

The moment i press the power button or the reset button my PC immoderately shuts down or restarts without the involvement of the OS,

Which prompts the "Your computer was not shutdown properly" message after booting into the OS.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

3 minutes ago, Vishera said:

As matter of fact my PC is doing that...

And i built it with brand new parts in 2019.

 

The moment i press the power button or the reset button my PC immoderately shuts down or restarts without the involvement of the OS,

Which prompts the "Your computer was not shutdown properly" message after booting into the OS.

What motherboard is that? That's not what it should be doing.