Surge Protectors and Uninterruptable Power Supplies (UPSs)
Surge protectors and UPSs (Uninterruptable Power Supplies) are like Seat Belts- you're better off wearing the seat belts, but don't let them give you a false sense of security. Surge Protectors and UPSs protect against most electrical surges, but a direct lightning strike near your house will fry most any protection. A UPS is no guarantee of protection, though UPSs usually offer better protection than Surge Protectors. Even those famous crash dummies don't survive 100 mph crashes into a brick wall, with or without seat belts and air bags.
Another thing- to be effective, the lightning protection device has to be the ONLY device that's connected to anything that's plugged in to your computer. A lot of people think it's OK to just plug the computer box in to their UPS or Surge Protector, but power their modems, routers, speakers, printers or monitors via an unprotected AC outlet. Wrong! Lightning will "find" your computer via the connected wiring, and will likely fry most of what it finds. So, please use your UPS or Surge Protector as a "hub", with all power connectors radiating from the hub. Use extension cables if you have to, but don't just plug the printer into that nearby AC receptacle. Also, consider protecting anything connected to your computer, such as your printer, cable modem, etc.
With everything connected through a hub, you can unplug the hub (and any peripherals like modems) when you're concerned about lightning. My phone cable and the receptacle I use for my UPS are very close together, so when I hear the thunder, I can unplug both the DSL modem and power quickly. This disconnects my computers from everything that could cause damage if there's a nearby lightning strike. The UPS batteries keep me running for a few minutes while I finish and shut down.
A tree in front of my house was hit soon after we moved to Michigan, causing damage exceeding $1000, not including having the tree replaced. So I'm much more careful now!
BestBuy and Walmart sell UPSs and surge protectors in all price ranges. The more expensive ones can absorb more energy before failing, and they notify you if their internals are ruined by lightning. Your device offers no protection if those inside elements are damaged. The cheap ones give you no warning if the elements inside the device inside have been damaged.
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