Protect your Computer from a Power Surge

If I recall correctly, September and October are the most stormy months in Australia (at least Melbourne anyway). With storms come blackouts. When you are a kid, blackouts are fun, when you are the owner of electronic equipment that is worth a considerable amount or holds very important data, they can be quite risky, painful and potentially expensive.

Some years ago, I worked on a laptop salary packaging program with Harvey Norman. I recall their sales guys selling power surge protection with almost every PC or laptop that they sold. It was obviously a pretty easy sell for them and at around $20, customers must of perceived some value in what they were buying.

You don’t hear about power surges that much these days. Hard drives crashing, viruses causing havoc to your files are more common reasons for you losing files. However as we approach the stormy months of the year, it might be worth taking a look at what a Power Surge is, what it can do to your computer and how you can effectively protect yourself.

The three common power problems that can plague a computer system are: Overvoltage, Undervoltage and Power Outages

• Overvoltage is normally associated with a lightning strike, although this isn’t the only way this can occur.
• When under-voltage occurs, parts of your computer may attempt to draw additional current they would normally, this can create greater heat within the computer and the components. Persistent over heating will eventually damage your computer.
• If your home or business suffers an unexpected power outages, the result can be loss of data and damage to software and systems.

So what can you do to protect your equipment?

Surge Protectors
Surge Protectors can provide assistance when overvoltage occurs. As mentioned earlier they are cheap and available at your local PC store. They work, but only for one of the three likely power problems that your computer may suffer. If you choose to invest in a Surge Protector be sure to buy one with an LED light that shows you that the Surge Protector is actually working. What you don’t want is to think that you are protected when in reality the Surge Protector has stopped working or is faulty.

UPS
Never heard of it until this week, when @PacketNetworks mentioned it to me via Twitter. UPS means Uninterrupted Power Supply.

A UPS is a battery backup unit that plugs in between your computer and the wall socket. If the power to your computer is suddenly cut, or drops significantly even for a microsecond, a UPS will cut in instantly and automatically supply power from its built-in battery. You then have time to safely save your documents and shut down properly — usually from 5-15 minutes, depending on the size of the UPS.

By investing in a UPS you will also be protecting your computer from voltage overloads, surges and undervoltage. A UPS will also provide protection for your modem.

So how much does a UPS cost you and can they be used for your simple home computer? Yes there are UPS units build specifically for home use and guess what at under $100 you can protect your most important hardware from all of the key power problems that can occur. There are several brands out there and prices can and do go much higher than $100 for a unit.

Choice Magazine did a review of several units a few years ago and whilst the research might be slightly dated, it might give you a start in finding something for your home or business PCs.