Many home users plug their computers right into their spiffy new cable or DSL modems and hop onto the Internet without realizing that they’re putting themselves at risk from viruses and attackers. An Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) is better than a surge protector it has a battery that keeps power flowing smoothly even when there’s an outage, to give you time to gracefully shut down. You can protect your systems against damage from power surges by always using a surge protector, but it’s important to be aware that most cheap surge protectors will survive only a single surge and need to be replaced afterward. If you have a power outage, you may experience a surge when the electricity comes back on.
Something as simple as someone turning on an appliance that’s plugged into the same circuit (especially a high voltage one such as a hair dryer, electric heater, or air conditioner) can cause a surge, or a surge may be caused by a tree limb touching a power line. You may think your systems are in danger only during an electrical storm, but anything that interrupts the electrical circuit and then starts the current back again can fry your components. Here’s one that actually can physically destroy your computer equipment, as well as the data it holds. SEE: Security awareness and training policy (Tech Pro Research) #1: Plug into the wall without surge protection Here’s a description of common missteps you can share with your users to help them steer clear of preventable problems. Even so, users often do create problems for their computers and for your network. Luckily, short of taking a sledge hammer to the box, the consequences aren’t usually quite that dire. Nervous newbies are often fearful that one wrong move might break the computer forever. Inadvertently pressing the wrong key combination or innocently clicking OK in the wrong dialog box can change important settings that alter a computer’s behavior or even crash the system.
We all do dumb things now and then, and computer users are no exception.
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