The best way to protect your computer from a power surge is to plug it into a quality surge protector or, better, a battery backup (UPS). A surge is a sudden spike in electricity that can burn out a power supply, motherboard or drive, and the parts that fail take time and money to replace. A few simple steps protect your computer and your other electronics.
What causes a power surge?
Surges come from lightning, power outages that end with a jolt when the electricity returns, problems on the power lines, and even large appliances switching on and off in your home. Some are big and obvious. Many are small and repeated, and they slowly wear out electronics over time.
Use a surge protector
A surge protector is a power strip with built-in protection. It diverts excess voltage away from your equipment so only normal power gets through.
- Use a real surge protector, not a plain power strip. Look for one that clearly lists surge protection and a joule rating. A higher rating generally means more protection.
- Plug it directly into the wall, not into another power strip.
- Put your computer and monitor on it, along with other equipment you care about, such as a router, external drives and a TV.
- Replace it from time to time. Protection wears out, especially after a large surge, and many units have an indicator light that shows when protection is gone.
Get a battery backup (UPS)
A battery backup, also called a UPS (uninterruptible power supply), gives you surge protection plus battery power that keeps the computer running for a few minutes when the power cuts out. That is enough time to save your work and shut down properly instead of losing the document or project you’ve been working on for hours.
Plug your computer and monitor into the outlets marked for battery backup. Things that don’t need to stay on, such as speakers, printers or chargers, can go into the surge-only outlets.
Other ways to reduce the risk
- Unplug during severe storms if you can, including the network and phone cables on equipment that has them, since surges can arrive over those lines too.
- Turn off and unplug equipment you won’t be using for a long time.
- Save often and back up your files, so a failure doesn’t mean lost data. See our guide to backup options.
Already had a surge?
After surge damage, a computer may not turn on at all, or it may show error messages, restart on its own or act strangely. Don’t keep trying to power it on. Bring it in and we’ll look at a PC that won’t start and help get you back up and running at our Dayton shop. Our computer repair team can handle whatever the surge took out, and a free inspection at the counter is the quickest way to find out what failed.