I'm a tech expert, but I still commit these 8 Windows PC mistakes

I’ve 38,000 unread emails

This is a kind of ones that I can get away with fairly simply, principally as a result of I’m not about to let simply anybody take a peek at my electronic mail account. But once I’ve often had associates or colleagues look at my display screen whereas I’m working, they’ve been horrified.

“What occurs if somebody sends you one thing necessary?” they ask. “How do you know when you get a new email?” The tech-savvy ones even inform me, “You really should set up some filters.”

And they’re all appropriate. Having tens of hundreds of unread emails isn’t simply messy. It’s distracting. Impractical. The unread counter is totally arbitrary at this level—I don’t even give it some thought anymore.

Why don’t I take care of it? I suppose I simply don’t have to. I get so many emails that if I’d spent all day opening or “reading” them merely in order that they don’t present up as “unread,” then I’d by no means get something completed. (I should probably just delete them all!) A fast parse to see if I received something necessary, then I’m on to no matter precise job I have to do.

My drivers and BIOS aren’t up-to-date

I’ve been having some bother with bizarre system locks not too long ago. I feel it has to do with a misconfigured webcam driver, but it surely is also my second monitor, or a defective HDMI cable.

To make sure that it wasn’t software-related, I up to date my graphics drivers—and apparently I hadn’t up to date them since early 2024. Oops. I later went to replace my BIOS as one other potential repair for my system glitching woes—and apparently I hadn’t flashed that since late 2023.

I’ve given myself a well-deserved slap on the wrist for each of those. It’s one thing I ought to do extra typically, but it surely simply retains slipping my thoughts and I by no means discover the time to get round to them. I imply, certain, it’s not one thing you have to do… but it surely’s a good suggestion as a result of an outdated BIOS and/or drivers can cause issues.

I plug my telephone in to switch recordsdata

I do know there are a bunch of ways to get files off my phone onto my PC. There are apps, community sharing, and cloud storage choices which might be all fairly easy. But for probably the most half, once I wish to again up my pictures or switch paperwork between telephone and PC, I nonetheless plug in.

I’ve a USB-C-to-A cable with a USB 3.0 port at finest—it isn’t quick, so massive information transfers can take time. It’s cable-tied to my desk, although, so it’s at all times inside simple attain. And it does a ok job for transferring information round that I’ve by no means bothered to research a greater resolution.

Lazy? Perhaps. But the effort and time wanted to discover higher alternate options has at all times felt higher spent elsewhere for me.

When I reinstall Windows, I simply purchase new storage drives

Jon Martindale / Foundry

This sin is extra within the vein of a privileged humblebrag than it’s a mistake or unhealthy behavior, but it surely’s an excellent instance of the sort of paranoia I’ve when transferring to a recent, new Windows set up.

I’m so involved that Windows will by chance delete one thing I want (or that I’ll neglect to again one thing up) that as an alternative of reinstalling Windows on the identical drive (or manually backing up necessary recordsdata and performing an old-school format), I simply favor to purchase a brand new drive altogether and preserve the previous drive as further storage.

The plus aspect of that is that I at all times have a fresh new drive to put in new video games and apps on, and I’ve every thing else on my older drives. The draw back is that my system has grown right into a Frankenstein’s monster of drive letters. I nonetheless have the 500GB Samsung 850 EVO from three installs in the past. It’s additionally left me with plenty of drives referred to as “Local Disk” and it typically takes a number of tries for me to seek out the precise drive I’m in search of.

I exploit a excessive mouse DPI on a regular basis

I’m effectively conscious that many pro PC gamers play at 800 to 1,200 DPI on their gaming mice, with huge mouse pads over which they sweep their arms for pinpoint accuracy. But I’m not about that life.

I run my mice at round 2,400 DPI on a regular basis, it doesn’t matter what I’m doing, and that works effectively sufficient for me. I exploit a fingertip grip fashion, so my mouse is usually managed by my index and ring fingers resting on both aspect of the mouse, and meaning I want a sensitivity stage that traverses actual distance with minimal motion. At 2,400 DPI, I can carry out most of my required mousing in a small area.

I don’t play a lot in the best way of high-speed FPS video games—the place the added accuracy from a decrease DPI can be actually price it—however even once I do, I don’t change it up. I like my mouse sensitivity and I’m not going to child myself into considering I may be aggressive anyway. I’m simply right here to attain aims and take a look at to not die greater than anybody else on my group.

I solely reboot my PC when it crawls

I very often end my work days with duties nonetheless open, tasks midway completed, and emails I haven’t gotten to but, so I often simply reduce these home windows, switch to a new desktop view, and are available again to them later. And once I’m completed for the day, I don’t trouble saving every thing or bookmarking tabs—I simply put the PC to sleep.

That means I not often shut down my pc. Which isn’t an enormous deal for probably the most half, however once I’m a number of weeks in with no correct reboot, I can often inform. Network efficiency drops off a cliff for some cause, movies start to stutter, browser tabs begin lagging… and that’s once I understand it’s time to restart. I ought to do it extra typically, although.

I’ve let my PC pile up with points

I spend most of my days working with and writing about PCs, {hardware} elements, and software program, so in the case of my major work and gaming machine, I simply wish to use it. Don’t get me flawed: I like twiddling with computer systems and seeing what I can do with them. But I hate troubleshooting once I have to focus or once I wish to calm down.

That’s resulted in me having a PC with a surprising amount of nagging issues for somebody who writes guides on the right way to repair stated points. For instance, I’ve one odd boot situation the place generally apps received’t load correctly and are solely half-responsive. It has one thing to do with my webcam I’m fairly certain, however I haven’t nailed it down but.

I even have a second monitor that often sparkles with bizarre white bands, however unplugging and replugging it will get it going once more. And for a PC operating on a 7950X3D and a PCIe 4 SSD, the startup time is terribly sluggish. I actually ought to do one thing about all of that… however I can’t be bothered. Don’t be like me. Don’t let your issues pile up.

I’ve too many desktop icons

Jon Martindale / Foundry

This is one which my less-tech-savvy associates rag on me for. It’s not as unhealthy as my 70-year-old mom’s desktop—which is extra icon than background at this level—however I’ll admit it’s a bit chaotic. I don’t have any shortcuts there, however I do have far too many folders. They’re typically for previous tasks I haven’t gotten again to shortly, however I swear I’ll… sooner or later…

Honestly, I feel that is extra aesthetic desire than something, as functionally there’s little distinction between having a folder the place I save all my Photoshopped information thumbnails on the desktop or nestled deeper right into a drive. Regardless, it doesn’t look tremendous skilled.

Do as I say, not as I do

Writing this text has been an eye fixed opener for me. Not solely did I not understand what number of tech sins I used to be committing, however I by no means knew I used to be counting on so many stop-gap options. Quite a lot of these points might be solved by simply spending a little bit extra time doing issues the fitting manner, which I typically evangelize in my how-to guides.

The fact is, we could share every kind of recommendation with you—whether or not it’s about good digital security habits, extending your SSD’s lifespan, buying a refurbished laptop, or being more productive with Windows 11—even when we aren’t good about heeding these exact same suggestions.

So, let me make this pledge to you, oh reader who holds your self to a better normal than this pontificating tech skilled: I’ll do higher. Perhaps I’ll write up one other version of this in a yr and we will see what number of of my sins I’ve absolved myself of.