Ever been told that you should fully discharge your battery to prolong its life? Or that jailbreaking your phone is illegal? Or that you should wait for the newest Intel processor because it's going to be "so much faster"? These are tech myths we hear all the time, and likely spread to our friends—but most are just a waste of your time (and in some cases, they can actually harm your gadgets). Here are some of the worst offenders.

10. Better Hardware Specs = Better Gadgets

If you're waiting to upgrade your gear until the next big processor comes out, or until the latest Android phone with even more RAM appears, you're probably wasting your time. These days, most hardware specs don't even matter that much. Processors have more power than most users will ever need, and phones come out so often that by the time your dream phone comes out, another one will have already been announced. There are exceptions to these rules, of course—both for computers and smartphones—but in general, stop crying over your current device and just upgrade. You'll be a lot happier once you do.

9. Lossless Music Sounds Better than MP3

While bitrate can make a difference in your music, there's a pretty big misconception that as long as you have a good ear, you can hear the difference between lossless files and MP3. It takes a lot more than just careful listening—you'd need a very fine-tuned ear, some really high-end speakers, and a specific type of music, like classical or jazz. Don't believe me? Take an ABX test with your own music files and find out for yourself. You may be surprised at the results. Of course, that doesn't mean you should junk all those FLAC files—they're still ideal if you want to convert that music to a new format later on. Photo by Tess Watson.

8. Android Task Killers Are Necessary for Good Performance

Not only have we Android users perpetuated this myth, but lots of hardware manufacturers and cellphone carriers will recommend you use a task killer to lengthen your battery life and speed up your phone. Not only will they do nothing for your battery life, but most are designed to solve problems that don't actually exist (like running out of RAM). If you experience performance boosts with a task killer, it's because you're killing a task that's either gone awry (in which case you're better off just rebooting your phone) or because you've downloaded a poorly written app (in which case you should uninstall it). Task killers can cause other problems with your phones, and you shouldn't use them unless you're using a very, very old phone with very, very outdated software. Check out our explainer on task killers to learn more, and if you want to speed up your phone, check out these other tried and true methods instead.

7. Jailbreaking Your Phone Is Illegal

While jailbreaking your phone will definitely void your warranty, people have been going around saying it's actually illegal to do—which is 100% false. The Copyright office has officially said that jailbreaking is completely legal to do with a device you own, as long as you aren't using it to pirate apps, of course. That said, there are a lot of ways you're probably breaking the law without knowing it, so read up on those if you're curious. But if you were holding back on jailbreaking your phone, now would be a great time to check out all its awesome, legal benefits.

6. Mac Users Don't Need to Worry About Malware

Mac users have often touted their computers as "more secure" than Windows PCs, which is a very hotly-contested issue—some say OS X's UNIX underpinnings make it inherently more secure, while others claim it's only because the Mac isn't a big target for viruses. Either way, it's important to note that while viruses aren't as widespread as they are on Windows, Macs are far from immune—in fact, we've already seen a few instances of real Mac malware. Don't let your choice of OS obscure the fact that safe browsing and common sense are the best protection against viruses and other malware. After all, just because that email virus didn't infect you doesn't mean you didn't pass it on to your other Windows-using friends.

5. You Should Buy an Extended Warranty for New Gadgets

No matter how careful you are, we've all broken at least one gadget in our lives—and it may have tempted you to buy an extended warranty the next time. However, extended warranties aren't all they're cracked up to be. Sometimes they only cover half the things that could go wrong, or sometimes the chances of your device failing are just plain slim. Instead, you're better off setting up an extended warranty fund for yourself—as long as you aren't really clumsy, you'll probably come out ahead in the end.

4. You Should Fully Discharge Your Laptop Battery Every Time

Battery life is always at a premium these days, and you've probably heard a whole host of tricks for keeping your battery in tip top shape. This particular myth—that you should fully discharge your battery every time you use it—is left over from old nickel cadmium batteries that suffer from a memory effect no longer present in modern lithium batteries. Today's batteries take less maintenance, but there are still some good ways you can prolong its lifespan, so check out our guide to battery care for more info.

3. Password-Protected Wi-Fi Networks Are Safe from Hackers

So you've heard about how important security is on public Wi-Fi networks, but a lot of people are still misinformed about what really constitutes a public network. Just because your network's protected with a password doesn't mean it's secure. In the case of home networks, it means it's secure from outside hackers, but if you head to a coffee shop or hotel, that network is still public. Anyone with a password can still connect to the network (like other coffee shop patrons) and potentially sniff your traffic. So, unless you're at home, always protect yourself when connected to Wi-Fi—you never know who else is connected. Photo by °Florian.

2. PeerBlock will Keep You Safe and Anonymous on BitTorrent

A lot of BitTorrent users are looking to cover their tracks these days, and most are doing so by enabling encryption and using something like PeerBlock to keep unwanted eyes from watching their downloads. However, this does not make you anonymous in any way—encryption only keeps your ISP from throttling you, and PeerBlock is not even close to being foolproof. If you really want to stay anonymous, you have to use a VPN or a proxy service like BTGuard. You can also use a private tracker, which offers other benefits as well, but still isn't quite as secure as other methods.

1. [Insert Tweak Here] Will Speed Up Your Computer

These are some of the worst myths out there. Everyone's always looking for a quick, free way to drastically increase their computer's speed, and a lot of them are loads of baloney. At best, they'll do nothing, and at worst, they can actually degrade performance. We've talked about a ton of them before, so brush up on your myths before you go trying to speed up your PC. If you really want some speed boosts, upgrade your hardware, or at least make sure you're performing regular maintenance. With proper care, you should never need to do a clean install of Windows again.

Whether you're getting ready for a big move or your just stuffing away your season clothes, packing up clothes is never a fun process. To make the process a little smoother, Reddit user LutzExpertTera simply throws the clothes on a makeshift hanger attached to a box.

The picture above shows a custom piece of wood, but any old pole will do provided it fits outside the box. Throw your clothes on the makeshift hanger, turn the hanger diagonally and drop it in the box. This way you'll be able to keep the clothes on hangers and skip the expensive wardrobe boxes. If that seems like too much work, you can always try the dead body bundle technique.

LPT: An easy way to pack a bunch of clothes on hangers | Reddit

Few things are more rewarding than learning a new skill, but most new skills take a lot of time and effort. Instead, we often find ourselves looking for instant gratification in the form of a cookie or a television program because the amount of time it takes to earn true gratification by learning a new skill is daunting. While you're not going to master the guitar or Mandarin Chinese over the weekend, there are a few awesome skills you can learn in a few minutes and will save you time in the long run. Here are some of our favorites.

On the Computer

Shortcuts, shortcuts, shortcuts. Your keyboard was made for them, so why not add a few more to your arsenal. They can save you a lot of time on common takes and they're easy to set up regardless of your operating system. Here are instructions for Windows, OS X, and Ubuntu.

In addition to adding your own, you'll want to know the ones that already exist. For starters, brush up on Gmail, Google Docs, Facebook, all the stuff you can do from your browser's address bar, and plenty of others for Windows, OS X, and Android. You can find even more shortcuts here.

If you aren't using text expansion, you're missing out on one of the best time-saving tricks in the book. We've highlighted the best text expansion apps for all platforms, and now iOS has text expansion shortcuts built-in. It's easy to set up and you can save yourself hours of typing time every day.

Around the House

Everyday household chores are usually pretty boring, but there are ways you can speed them up. A tennis ball, this Japanese shirt folding method, binder clips, and a pinch of salt can not only speed up your laundry but make the process more effective as well. (More tips here.) If you want to build this DIY ironing board you'll be able to iron your shirts much faster. If you want to learn more great clothing tricks, here are 10 you can learn in 60 seconds.

Laundry aside, you can eliminate a large amount of dust in your home with a setting on your heating/cooling unit. If any of that dust ends up on a ceiling fan, you can get it off quick with a pillowcase. Need to weigh something quickly? Use a hanger and some water. The contents of your wallet can also take the place of a ruler. When it comes to undoing a knot, twisting and pushing is one of the most effective methods. For more general household life hacks, here are 10 you can learn in 60 seconds.

In the Kitchen

The two biggest deterrents to cooking are probably the amount of time and effort it takes to do it well, meaning that the two biggest solutions involve learning to cook faster and speeding up your general kitchen skills.

If you want to cook faster and healthier, use a pressure cooker. There's hardly any learning involved and it'll significantly cut the time and effort you put into a meal. On top of that, your food will retain more nutritional value. If you want your pasta faster, cook it in cold water and use less of it. You can even use a frying pan. So long as you stir the pot a little more often, it'll be ready to eat sooner than later. You can make oatmeal super fast without even measuring, make eggs or chocolate cake in a mug in about a minute, and much more.

You can also save time cooking and baking with a few simple tricks you can learn in a few seconds. Peeling a clove of garlic is incredibly tedious when you're doing it by hand, but shaking it up in two bowls will do the job for you in 10 seconds. You can also save a few seconds and impress your friends by learning to crack an egg with one hand. You can even defrost frozen meat in half the time by using a hot water bath. For quick and easy measurements, just mark your jars in advance. If you make a mess in the microwave, you can clean it fast by steaming it with vinegar.

On the Go

When you're out and about, there are a few tricks that can save you time when you're in a rush (or not). If you need to get ahead in a line, using the word because is often all that's necessary. If you master the Ian Knot, you won't have to worry about your shoes coming untied too often because you'll be able to re-tie them in about two seconds flat. If you only have one hand, however, this one-handed shoe-tying method will be especially useful for you. When you need to open a bottle but neglected to bring the proper equipment with you, just use your forearm. You only need one hand to eat a chicken wing, too.

Customer service calls can be incredibly tedious and boring. You'll often waste a lot of time on the phone to reach a simple conclusion, and sometimes no conclusion at all. Here are some customer service shortcuts you can employ to save you time and the headache often associated with those annoying support calls.

Skip the Queue and Talk to a Human

These days there are plenty of ways to avoid waiting on the phone and get to a human without a bunch of waiting around. LucyPhone is one of our favorite options for completely skipping the queue altogether. Basically, you dial a customer service line, go through the message tree (which can sometimes be skipped for you as well), and hang up. When a human is available LucyPhone will call you right back. Skipping that service tree is also pretty simple with services like GetHuman and ContactHelp. Both will provide you with numbers and the fastest route to the person you want to talk to. You may also want to do a quick web search for special customer hotlines. For example, Sprint has set up a customer call number with the Consumerist to get you to a human—and a resolution—faster.

Get Your Issue Escalated Faster

Some issues are more complex and need to be escalated for anything to get done, so there's no sense in wasting your time explaining the issue to a lower-level agent when you're just going to have to explain it again to one or more people up the chain. The easiest way to hop up the customer service ranks is to know who to ask for. Generally those people are the ones you end up with when the company is worried you're going to cancel your service. They may be called Executive Care, Retention Specialists, or something else, but a quick web search for the company you're calling and bad customer experiences is likely to turn up department you want to reach.

If it comes down to it, remember that threatening to cancel your service can net you some serious discounts. It's not a trick you necessarily want to employ often, but if you're getting screwed over then it may be the quickest way to get what you want.

Get Online

UPS, Charter Communications, Comcast, Southwest Airlines, Verizon Wireless, Delta Airlines, and many other companies have Twitter accounts created specifically to respond to customer complaints. Sometimes they'll track you down when they find a public message targeted at their company, but you can also contact them directly for help. Charter is my internet service provider and, although their phone support is always very kind and helpful, using Twitter is a lot faster and more convenient. Contacting support via Twitter makes getting a problem solved an afterthought. All you need is a short message, and any required responses are not only also brief but you can respond on your own time. Also, because Twitter is public, it's a good reason for everyone to be kind and not turn a simple complaint into a shouting match.

Another option is to use ComplainApp, which provides you with a forum to voice a specific complaint and rally support around it. Chances are that you are not the only person having a certain type of problem. ComplainApp helps common complaints rise up and get seen more easily so you don't have to waste time trying to be heard.

For more tips on getting better customer support, read our step-by-step guide.

Photo by Sideways Design (Shutterstock).