To protect and serve

When we first started living in France, I was lucky enough to be able to buy a complete new system, on the basis that this was probably going to be the last computer we would have for a long time to come, I bought the best I could afford. 

We already had a printer and a digital camera so it was just a new tower and monitor that we needed.  This was in January, in February we had the most almighty storm, there was a huge flash of sparks and all the lights went out.

There had not been time to pull the plugs on all the electrical appliances and when we came to turn the computer on nothing happened, not only was the computer fried but so was the printer and the digital camera which had been left attached to the computer.

The new monitor strangely enough had survived.

Clearly the guarantee did not cover us so we made a claim on the home insurance, we also checked out both in supermarkets and on line, the cost of surge protectors.  Apart from the computer and monitor, scanner, printer, camera, speakers, neufbox, I also had an amplifier to plug in and I wanted them all protected.  The surge protector looks like a normal plug extension but has built in the ability to almost instantaneously switch off if it detects a surge in the current, whether it is caused by a storm or whatever.  The manufacturer also guarantees that if it fails it will reimburse you up to 400000 euros to replace your equipment.

I eventually bought one on line and I would strongly recommend either units by Belkin or APC.  Depending how many plugs there are you need to plug in, the prices vary between 20 and 30 euros. 

We have had several storms of late and I know my equipment is safe.

Did you know

If you are running Windows Vista, you can control your computer using your voice only  Go to all programmes, ease of access,  windows speech, this is so cool you just have to try it.