Power surges can be one of the most destructive forces to ever hit your computer. Be it lightning, a power outage, or a simple fluctuation in power, you have to watch out. One simple surge can cause you to loose all your day's work, have to start over in a game, or worse, loose expensive equipment
The best way to protect your computer is with simple surge protectors. While you can buy those cheap models, with not so good protection. I recommend getting one of the more expensive models. The more costly protectors usually carry a warranty, in case they fail due to lighting. This will save you alot of money if your worse fears ever come true. Also, make sure to get a protector that has phone jacks if you have a modem. Recently, I lost two modems to a thunderstorm, which most likely would have been fine if protected from the surge.
Also, for those of you who don't like to save your work, or are in an area that has frequent power outages, than you may want to invest in a UPS. These devices provide a few minutes of battery backup, so you can safely save your work, and shut down the computer. These UPS boxes also provide top notch surge protection, and huge lightning insurance, upwards of $25,000 or more.
With these great products, we can usually protect from most power surges through the electrical and phone lines, but what about one of the most common computer part destroyers, simple static electricity. You know how painful it can be if someone give you a "shock" of static electricity, but it can be even worse for your computer. Whenever installing internal components, or cleaning your computer innards, make sure you are properly grounded via static strip, or by touching the power supply. One small zap and your new RAM, new PCI card, or even the motherboard can be fried.
There is one more type of power surge that has ruined many Macs. Before the advent of USB, our joysticks, mice, keyboards, etc, were all connected via ADB or Apple Desktop Bus. Unlike with USB chains, you had to completely shut down your computer before swapping ADB devices. Failure to do so caused countless Macs to go up in smoke. If you have an older Mac, make sure to keep this in mind.
While we can do our best to stop power surges, we will never be able to stop them. Lightning bolts carry millions upon millions of volts are very unpredictable, and can hit anywhere, anytime. One strike near your home can fry your computer no matter how well protected it may be. It's impossible to stop these kind of hits, and it happens every day.
No matter where you live, who you are, or how protected your computer may be, never say "It can't happen to me." Even I have been hit with surges, and now I must replace two modems. I'm just thankful it was only my modems, and nothing else. So, with that in mind, I leave you with these famous sayings: "Back-up. Back-up. Back-up your data.", "An once of prevention is worth a pound of recovery.", "You can never be too careful.", and "Better safe than sorry."
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Arbitrary Quote - I finally came up with a punishment for the boy. First, no leaving the house, not even for school. Second, no egg nog. In fact, no nog period! And third, absolutely no stealing for three months!