Old IT guy told me to always unplug the power before working on anything, even just opening the case

He swore by it, but my coworker says it's overkill with modern PSUs and just slows us down. Who's right here for standard desktop repairs?

2 comments

2 Comments

henry_moore5524d ago

People act like these things are ticking time bombs... modern PSUs have safety features and discharge resistors built in. I've worked on dozens of desktops over the years and never had a single zap. Unplugging is fine for peace of mind, but acting like it's life or death is a bit dramatic. Holding the power button for a few seconds drains anything left over anyway. If you're that scared of a capacitor, maybe IT work isn't the right field.

gavin_clark25d ago

Ever seen a modern PSU try to bite you with 400 watts of stored capacitor juice while you're poking around? Your coworker is gonna learn that lesson the hard way. Nothing like a little zap to make you appreciate the old guy's paranoia. Sure, it adds 30 seconds to the job. But so does screaming and dropping your screwdriver into the fan.