Re: Back to the Dark Ages.

[Sandy Harris <pashley -at- storm -dot- ca>]

Nancy Kaminski wrote:

> ... a 16-page newsletter in PageMaker. I finished the last
> page, leaned back, stretched out my legs, and kicked the plug out of the
> wall.
> 
> My mother tells me the scream ...
> 
> (Thank heaven PageMaker features mini-saves---I actually only lost two
> pages---but at the time I thought I had lost about 5 hours of work.)
> 
> I'm a compulsive file saver now, and that plug is duct-taped into the
> socket. (Another great use for duct tape!)

Consider getting a UPS (uninterruptible power supply), and put it where
you cannot kick out the UPS-to-computer cable. A decent UPS will protect
a computer against power failures, line voltage drops (brownouts) and
the various surges on the line that turn up when big appliances switch
on or off, or when lightning hits, or ...

It wouldn't even occur to me to run any server without a UPS. For many
servers, you need a big UPS so that even if power goes out for a long
time, things stay up.

For workstations, it does depend on budget and local power conditions,
but it is usually a good idea. You don't need a big expensive UPS;
the vast majority of power glitches last only a few seconds -- lights
dim and come right back. A small UPS prevents your machine crashing
when that happens. For longer outages, it beeps to warn you and keeps
the machine up long enough that you can save files and do a proper
shutdown.


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