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From the "Blue Chip News" a publication of the Saginaw Valley Computer Association Saginaw, MI

PROTECTING YOUR PC
From Being Shocked To Death

By Ronald Picardi

Why is it necessary to protect a PC from the ravages of the utility company and Mother Nature?

PCs are designed to run on 110v AC current and are often plugged into phone line as well. Both are sources of voltage spikes, power surges, and other interruptions that can be caused by solar flares, lightning, or line failures. A computer and monitor could be damaged by either of them

The cheapest insurance is use of a power strip with surge/spike protection. These devices short out voltage spikes and power surges. In a worst case scenario, the device will sacrifice itself in order to protect the equipment that is plugged into it. (Mine went up in smoke as I was using my computer.)

Don't forget to place protection on your phone line as well. Some surge boxes are available with individual line switches and phone line jacks. I lost a modem and answering machine when its circuits were damaged by lightning.

While more expensive, the best protection is to use an Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) battery backup power supply. Windows doesn't like to be interrupted by a power failure.

Worst yet, should this interruption occur while you are installing software, or saving a datafile, your hard drive could become so scrambled that you may be forced to reformat it.

The UPS will protect your computer from interruptions giving you time to exit from the application and shut down Windows properly. UPSs with Local Area Network (LAN) systems are available for file servers and personal computers allowing the user to shut down Windows if the power is interrupted for an extended length of time.

Saginaw Valley Computer Association

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User Groups should feel free to reproduce this article in their publications. All we ask is that proper credit be given to the Author of the article, the Blue Chip News and/or the Saginaw Valley Computer Association. We would appreciate receipt of a copy of the newsletter that carries an article from the SVCA and participation in a newsletter exchange program.
Saginaw Valley Computer Association
PO Box 5827 Saginaw, MI 48603-0827
(517)496-2440 day (517)792-6874 nite (517)496-2465 fax

Lynn L Kauer, President/Editor - 73450.3007@Compuserve.com
LLKAUER@AOL.com

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