Believe it or not...

Believe it or not, not everyone on the internet is out to protect your best interests. True, there is a vast array of knowledge that can be found on the internet because of the vast amount of people there, and the little bits of knowledge they have combines into a force greater than even Captain Planet...

But not everyone uses powers and knowledge for good. It's why villains and such exist. Well.. in the comics and games at least.

What inspired me to say what I feel is very obvious is a trend I've noticed. Inevitably, you run across someone who isn't very good with computers, and somehow manages to accumulate all kinds of spyware/malware/etc. In fact, I'm one of those people. But this isn't about me! No, this is about something else I've noticed.

Poor Sap: I have Spyware, how does I remove?
Tech Pro: Time to reformat your hard drive.

Really? I've seen that response given for many computer problems, actually. Problems I sometimes have but end up fixing because most computer problems are usually, well, fixable.

I see formatting a hard drive and losing everything on over a minor problem as kind of like taking the dog out to the back yard and using a shot gun on it to put it out of its misery when it had some fleas. Why would you do that? Really.

But to sum up, my point is when people offer you advice on the internet, take that advice with caution. Especially if you're asking for computer advice on a video gaming or cooking site or what have you... Though if you have a problem with WoW or omelets, those kinds of sites would be great.

And sometimes Google is your friend, unless you know trusted persons to ask for advice. (Just be sure to do your homework properly and research and compare results~)