Have you ever been at your computer and then poof! The lights go out.  You go and flip the breakers and everything seems to be fine, that is until you try to boot your PC. What could possibly be wrong with my machine? It is fairly new. There is no reason for it not to work, right? It seems you have been the victim of a power surge that most likely took out your power supply. Power surges can be very damaging creating havoc on the voltage-sensitive  filled components inside your machine. This damage will shorten the life of your computer, and it could very easily wipe out all of your saved data or destroy your system. No more Christmas pictures with the kids or there goes all my finances for last year. (It is always a good idea to back up your important data.) Power surges occur when something boosts the electrical charge at some point in the power lines. A number of different things can cause this to happen.

When lightning strikes near a power line, whether it's underground, in a building or running along poles, the electrical energy can boost electrical pressure by millions of volts. This causes an extremely large power surge that will overpower almost any surge protector. In a lightning storm, you should never rely on your surge protector to save your computer. The best protection is to unplug your computer.

A more common cause of power surges is the operation of high-power electrical devices, such as elevators, air conditioners and refrigerators. These high-powered pieces of equipment require a lot of energy to switch on and turn off components like compressors and motors. This switching creates sudden, brief demands for power, which upset the steady voltage flow in the electrical system. While these surges are nowhere near the intensity of a lightning surge, they can be severe enough to damage components, immediately or gradually, and they occur regularly in most building's electrical systems.

Even if you connect surge protectors to all of your outlets, your equipment might be exposed to damaging surges from other sources. Telephone and cable lines can also conduct high voltage -- for full protection, you should also guard against surges from your telephone or cable lines. Any lines carrying signals into your home can also carry a power surge, due to lightning or a number of other factors. If your computer is connected to the phone lines via a modem, you should get a surge protector that has a phone-line input jack. If you have a coaxial cable line hooked up to expensive equipment, consider a cable surge protector. Surges on these lines can do just as much damage as surges over power lines.

To protect your equipment from surges, you need individual surge protectors for each outlet. These power strips range a great deal in quality and capacity. There are three basic levels of power strip surge protectors:

• Basic power strip - These are basic extension cord units with five or six outlets. Generally, these models provide only basic protection.
• Better power strip - For $15 to $25 you can get a power strip surge protector with better ratings and extra features.
• Surge station - These large surge protectors fit under your computer or on the floor. They offer superior voltage protection and advanced line conditioning. Most models also have an input for a phone line, to protect your modem from power surges, and may feature built-in circuit breakers. You can get one of these units for as little $30, or you can spend upward of $100 for a more advanced model.
• Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) - Some units combine surge protection with a continuous UPS. The basic design of a continuous UPS is to convert AC power to DC power and store it on a battery. The UPS then converts the battery's DC power back to AC power and runs it to the AC outlets for your electronics. If the power goes out, your computer will continue to run, feeding off the stored battery power. This will give you a few minutes to save your work and shut down your computer. These units tend to cost $150 or more.