Tech 101: How to Protect My Computer During Storms? - as part of the expert series by GeoBeats. The best way to protect your computer during a storm is to shut it off. Turning off the power will cut the current to the computer and if your home experiences a lightning hit or a surge of power, it will not damage your equipment. Surge protectors are power strips that have a built-in mechanism to impede the impact of a power surge and they are great. They are essential if you live anywhere where there is weather. They look a lot like this and you can buy them with six outlets. You can buy them with eight outlets. You can buy them where they will allow you to plug your phone lines through them, your cables through them. I do not know how important that is. The essential part is the electrical. I recommend a power surge protector that the computer and all the computer components, in other words, the monitor, the printer, etc, are all plugged in to. But turning off your machine is the number one way to protect it during a storm. An upgraded version of a surge protector is known as a U.P.S. or a Universal Power Supply and they are literally a large battery. It is a big square box with a bunch of outlets on top. You plug it into the wall and you plug all of your electrical devices into it. What that does is it has this giant battery which if you lose power will give you anywhere from five to twenty minutes of extended life which gives you time to turn your computers and your other equipment off, which is great, but the reason I like them is if you sustain enough of an electrical jolt, it will blow up the battery and not the devices attached to the U.P.S. So, for businesses especially or if you are in a location where you get extreme lightning or extreme power failures, I totally recommend a universal power supply.
