In standard plasterboard, no - the point is designed to penetrate the face paper and the thread cuts from there.

A driver and moderate pressure is all that is needed, and the anchor pulls itself in as the thread engages.

In harder or double-layer board a small pilot helps the point start without wandering, and does no harm provided it is well under the thread diameter.

Skimmed or heavily painted surfaces can deflect the point, so starting slowly is worth doing.

The anchor should never be hammered - impact cracks the board face around it.

If it will not start without excessive force, the substrate is probably not plasterboard and a different anchor is needed.

Less than any other anchor in this branch - they are light-duty fixings and should be treated as such.

All the load is carried by the board immediately around the thread, which is a small volume of a weak material.

Failure is the core crumbling, so the anchor spins and withdraws with a cone of gypsum attached.

Shear along the wall is the favourable direction; loads pulling straight out are much more limiting.

Spreading a load across several anchors helps far more than choosing a larger single one.

Published capacities assume sound board at a stated thickness, which older or damp board will not match.

The thread strips the board it has just cut, and that position is finished.

The anchor is designed to stop when its flange meets the face. Beyond that, it keeps cutting and destroys its own engagement.

The symptom is an anchor that suddenly spins freely without advancing.

There is no recovery in the same hole, because the surrounding gypsum has been reduced to powder.

A clutch setting on the driver, or finishing by hand, prevents nearly all of it.

The remedy is a new anchor at a fresh position, or a toggle if the hole must be reused.

No - the thread needs a consistent material to cut, and lath and plaster provides neither.

Old plaster is brittle and cracks around an aggressive thread rather than being cut by it.

The laths behind are timber with gaps between them, so the anchor may hit wood, void or nothing at all.

Where a lath is struck, a plain screw into it is stronger than any anchor.

For general fixing into lath and plaster, toggles or fixings into the structure behind are more dependable.

The same reasoning applies to fibre-cement, tile-backer and other boards with different cores, each of which has its own recommended fixing.

Metal cuts harder and holds better in dense board; polymer is more forgiving in soft or older board and does not corrode.

Metal anchors have a sharper, deeper thread and drive with less pressure, so they suit dense or double-layer board.

They can also cut too aggressively in soft board, tearing the core rather than threading it.

Polymer anchors are blunter and rely more on displacement, which is gentler on weak board.

In damp areas polymer avoids the rust staining that a plated steel anchor can produce through the board face.

For general use either is adequate; for a specific board it is worth matching.

They unscrew cleanly, but the hole left behind is too large and too damaged to take the same anchor again.

Backing the anchor out with a driver is straightforward and leaves a threaded hole in the board.

That hole has no intact core around it, so a replacement of the same type spins immediately.

A toggle or a hollow-wall anchor of larger diameter can often use the enlarged hole.

Otherwise the hole is filled and the fixing moved, which is quick since no cavity work is involved.

For fixings that are expected to come and go, a hollow-wall anchor that stays in the board is a better starting choice.

Light fixings where speed matters and where the cavity is shallow, obstructed or absent.

Board bonded directly to masonry has no void at all, which rules out toggles and hollow-wall anchors entirely.

Partitions packed with insulation, or with services close behind the board, present the same obstruction.

High-volume light work - trunking clips, small brackets, notices - benefits from a fixing that takes seconds and needs no drilling.

They are also the least intrusive, since nothing enters the cavity.

Wherever the load is meaningful or the fixing is overhead, one of the other types - or the structure behind - is the correct answer.