***LIGHTNING*** & Other Hardware HORRORS!!

Ooooh .. scary ...

Ahh .. not so much .. if you're equipped and prepared.

Many computin' folks are under the impression .. that .. if you have a surge protector hooked up between the wall and your computer .. you are protected as well as need be.

EHHH!! I'm sorry, that would be a wrong assumption.

Because .. the common garden variety surge protector only protects from *electrical* oddities that are made by humans. Not .. the much more hazardous type .. that comes from the sky.

Surge protectors are basically designed to guard against the small electrical surges and any additional phenomena such as spurious line noise that comes from your electric company.

And, due to the natural aging of the earth-element components in a surge protector, it has been documented that if your surge protector has been in use for about 2 years, it has become much less effective and therefore should be replaced by a new one.

So .. why not replace it with its larger brother .. the UPS (not the store) .. uninterruptible power supply with battery backup..? It may cost a bit more .. but it *protects* your computer *from* a LOT more .. namely, lightning. And, if the power goes out, either due to a storm or some other sort of electrical grid malfunction .. your computer will still remain up and *uninterrupted* for a small amount of time, so you can save what you're doing and shut down in the normal way.

In fact, the protection from *lightning* is done so well, manufacturers of the UPS units guarantee them in the 10's of *thousands* of dollar-range. Such that, if your computer is hooked up to the battery backed connection, and lightning gets through and destroys it, you get the money to replace it .. and then some!

The UPS units start around $30, depending on where you buy them. Quite a comparitively small sum to pay to support a much more *valuable* investment .. your computer. If you elect to pay more, you get more 'up time' when the power goes out.

I have one. I've had it on during *furious* lightning and thunder occurring right outside my window. And even when the strongest bolts of lightning struck .. even if the power blinked or went out .. all I heard was a *beep* from my UPS unit. But the computer .. rock solid. The monitor didn't even blink; the computer kept happily humming right along. Like nothing in the least was wrong with it's supply of power or the weather.

And what a feeling of confidence and calm for the human as well.

One thing to remember when you buy one .. when you get the UPS home .. check to make sure that its internal battery terminals have the proper negative and positive wires attached. They are usually shipped unattached for safety reasons. Then .. plug it into the a/c outlet by itself to let it charge overnight so it will get a full charge before you plug the computer into it.

Some of the UPS units come with additional battery backed plug-ins, and additional non-battery backed plug-ins; make sure what you want to plug in at each location. The plug-in locations are typically labeled as to whether they are battery backed or not. As well, some of the UPS units also come with additional phone jack plug-ins, so you can route a phone connection thru it for surge protection too.

***STATIC ELECTRICITY***

Another computer component killer.

One of the best things you can do to protect against static electricity damage to your computer .. make sure it is not sitting on a carpeted floor. This is especially bad in the winter months when the air is dryer. Simply raise it slightly off the carpet by using a piece of plywood, thick cardboard, or an anti-static floormat.

Also .. when you come in after driving in your car, and you walk across that carpet to your computer desk .. before you touch the keyboard .. you might think about touching some metal on the chair, or a pipe, or anything to discharge that static electricity that is on you. That way, you won't transfer it to your computer through the keyboard or similar path. Logically .. this would not apply to a wireless keyboard and mouse.

Another small bit of maintenance you might consider doing about every 3 months .. get a can of air, open up your computer, and blow it out thoroughly. Cleaning the processor and power supply fans will help the computer run cooler. But the removal of *dust bunnies* and blowing the dust off the motherboard and out of the computer will also aid in defense against damage from static electricity. Because .. lurking among the dust molecules, there can be some *conducting* particles of dust that could possibly cause a short across the very small space between the legs of the computer chips.

So .. now you know how to prevent **HARDWARE HORRORS** .. see..? Not so bad huh..?

NEXT POST >>> To Defrag or Not to Defrag..? That is the question .. the answer is coming ...

So until next time .. here's wishing you *HAPPY COMPUTIN'*!!

Ol' Doc CPU

''o))

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Here's the website for the restaurant >>>http://www.sparrowsnest.com/sparrowmain.html Not only is the food made yummy fresh the same day, the dining rooms are an absolutely *beautiful* setting and wonderful environment to have a peaceful refreshing meal. Off the beaten path in a quiet country setting. And you just cannot beat the price for all you can eat. Check it out! It's where I get my vittles from .. and they don't pay me 1 cent to say this .. it's just that good!!