Storage drives need to be defragmented. USB sticks have to be ejected. Antivirus software slows down your PC. Who isn’t familiar with these common ‘wisdoms’ about Windows? But are any of these Windows myths actually true, and where do they come from? Our editorial team gets to the bottom of it all and separates fact from fiction.
MYTH 1: USB STICKS MUST BE EJECTED
Many people claim that USB storage media, such as flash drives and external USB drives, must be ejected via ‘Safely remove hardware’. But is this still necessary in this day and age?
Ejecting USB storage media ensures that the transferred and stored data remains intact. Nevertheless, many people ignore this step and remove the stick without thinking. The additional step of properly ejecting it can be a nuisance, so it’s often forgotten, which has caused error messages in past iterations of Windows.
Microsoft recognized this problem and introduced a solution that has been available in Windows 10 and 11 since October 2018. The new ‘Quick Remove’ function allows external hardware to be removed
