Thunderstorm

NUTS!



there were some wild storms here this morning. be careful.

It was a quick one and it blew right past, so I'm in the clear. I haven't been on my computer much lately and it figures that the one time that I throw the thing on, we get a thunderstorm.

THUNDERSTORM
when i purchased my computer 2 1/2 years ago (actually mrs. hamburger just about forced me to get one!) i also got a BELKIN SUGEMASTER II; they state that it gives full protection against lightning and power surges (cost was almost canadian $ 100); anyone have any experience with surge protectors - do they really work? hbg

My brother is a computer technician and he says that you'd have to pay big bucks to get one that actually worked. He told me to unplug my computer whenever we get a thunderstorm and he laughed at me when I told him I had a surge protector. He says that most of them are useless.

A good quality surge protector does exactly what it says.
Protects your gear.
There are lots of them about and most of them are just line noise removers with a high reactivity fuse in them. These don't do the business when it comes to the terrifyingly large spikes you get when your house gets hit by a bolt of lightning travelling at half the speed of light and blasting 20 million amps through your gear as it goes.

The ones with the free insurance policies are the best.
A good one should cost you about $60 to $100 US dollars.

Out here we get frequent lightning storms coming up the escarpment at this time of year so they're essential for sound systems, TV, computer, phone line etc...

A good one does do the job. I have personal experience of their efficacy.

heliotrope : thanks for your comments. we do get some terrific thunderstorms coming along the eastern shore of lake ontario and so far the surge-protctor seems to have worked. hbg ... montana : hope your brother doesn't prove me wrong one of these days! hbg

Ummmm. I suppose if my house got blasted by lightning, I should worry about my computer, but hey, it's a Compaq.

Thanks for the info Helio. $100 is a lot of money for me, so my brother probably had that in mind when he gave me that information.

As far as I know, a surge protector will protect the computer if the power goes off and on. If the lightning scores a direct hit, I don't think that there is anything that will help, unless the computer had been previously disconnected.

Phoenix
That's what my brother was saying, but I assumed that if you spend enough money on a good surge protector that it would work. He's coming up here on vacation next week, so I'm going to talk with him about it again to see what he has to say.

I looked around, and it seems that you COULD put a lightning arrester on your house. That would be in addition to the surge supressor. In the meantime, I will continue to unplug my computer!

Same here Phoenix. I just pull the plug. Better safe than sorry.