Lightning Can Fry Your Computer..So Protect It!

During thunderstorms, many people are leaving their computer unprotected. Simply turning a computer off during a thunderstorm does nothing whatsoever to protect the computer. Nearby lightning strikes can cause surges through the power lines into your house or office, and these often damage your computer. Sometimes just the power supply gets fried, sometimes the whole computer has to be replaced. Power surges also do incremental damage to electronics, so the computer works okay most of the time, but occasionally plays up. This type of fault is hard to diagnose or fix, so when storms approach, the best idea is to turn off the computer and unplug it.

Don't forget to unplug your phone line or cable from the computer, too. Phone lines and cables are probably the number one way for surges to get to and fry your computer. Many people end up with fried modems from surges carried through the telephone lines or cable lines.