Wind storm (1 Viewer)

[Rekrab]

You know how they say that you should unplug your computer during a big storm in case there's a power surge because it may fry your computer? Well, it's true. As you probably heard, we had a huge wind storm last night in the northwest U.S. I was on-line and had just posted a message here. There was a power interruption, just a fraction of a second when it went off and then the backup generators at the power station kicked in. That's all it took to trash my machine. It's in the geek shop now and I'm writing this on an ancient Windows 95 machine with slow slow dial up connection. Guess next time I'l unplug like they say. And yes, I have a surge protector. I think it was the operating system losing power and some files didn't close properly and were damaged. Or something like that.

 

[Ninjerk]

That's where a UPS comes in handy. If the geeks at the computer store recommend you get one don't think they're trying to scam you into purchasing an "oversized Energizer." It's worth the money I'd say.

 

[Rekrab]

Ninjerk: thanks for the tip. I'll look into getting a UPS. I'm guessing that stands for Uninterrupted Power Supply.

 

[mjp]

Yes. We lost computers when we moved in here 7 years ago because the power is not consistent (not outages, just lulls and surges), and the UPS' even out the power, so no problems since.

 

[Ninjerk]

That is in fact what it stands for. Although, I believe it's a misnomer. Leave it running long enough with no power and BOOM interrupted.