Digital Home Thoughts: Us Computer Nerds are a Superstitious Lot

"For as long as I can remember, whenever I've needed to reboot my computer, I've always shut it down, counted off 15 seconds, and then started it back up. Why? Because at some point in the distant past, someone somewhere told me that to avoid damaging them, computers need a minimum of 15 seconds of downtime whenever they're rebooted."

Computers have long been such sophisticated, magical boxes that it is wonder that various different myths surround them. CNet reviews some of the more common ones that we come across, though I am certain we all have some unique ones of our own. Some are loosely based on fact, while others, well, are a complete mystery as to how they got started. One that I would like to add is that if a hard drive is failing, putting it into the freezer for a few minutes can help give you a few minutes of life left. I have seen this one debunked numerous times, however, from purely personal anecdotal evidence, I can say that it did help me one time. I cannot explain why, but one data drive I had was on its last legs, and would only run while cold. After it reached room temperature, it was about as active as I am on a Sunday morning. Do any of you have superstitions (computer related) of your own? What are some of your favourites?