Percussive maintenance, planned obsolescence, and 3 other...

What’s Happening

Let’s talk about We laughed at the warnings—but these 5 old PC myths turned out to be completely true Percussive maintenance, planned obsolescence, and 3 other PC myths that science proved right Credit: Ismar Hrnjicevic / How-To Geek By Timothy Jacob Hudson Published Apr 13, 2026, 9:00 AM EDT My name is Jacob Hudson, and I’ve been a professional writer for eight years.

In that time, I’ve written hundreds of articles, proofed and edited college dissertations, and even revised government agency contracts worth millions of dollars. Writing has been my passion since I was a child, and I’ve fully embraced the power of the written word to my other major interest with the world: technology! (we’re not making this up)

From the earliest days I can remember, I’ve loved gaming, computers, and other fascinating advances in technology that took the past few decades by storm.

The Details

I love to talk shop about all of the neat things those little supercomputers we call phones can do, and the niche features of the technology we use every day without a second thought. As much as you know about your devices, I promise you they can do even more than you think!

I’m a gamer at heart, so you can expect to hear a lot about that topic while I’m around. Although, with all of the tech troubleshooting I do for my technologically indisposed family, you can bet there will be a lot of how-to guides in the future as well!

Why This Matters

Sign in to your How-To Geek account Add Us On follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap Hearsay and anecdotes are rampant among casual users of technology. Hitting your computer fixes it! Your phone is listening to everything you say!

Tech companies have been making moves like this as competition heats up.

Key Takeaways

• At one time, stuff like this sounded absurd, and everyone shook their heads.
• But a lot of those silly myths wrapped up up being true.

The Bottom Line

But a lot of those silly myths wrapped up up being true. Whacking the PC might fix it At one time, this was actually a decent idea We’ve all been there: a software freeze or a stuttering fan leads to a frustrated palm-strike against the chassis.

What do you think about all this?