There are two types of computer users—those who have experienced a power blackout, and those that are about to. Today I was hit by a blackout in the afternoon. I was working on my computer when all of a sudden, pffft! The lights went out, and then surprise surprise—my computer was still on, thanks to my APC Back-UPS CS 650. It beeped periodically, telling me that it was running on battery power. The Power Chute program I installed told me exactly how much time I had left until the battery would run out of juice. I had earlier on configured it to shut down the computer as soon as it had only 5 minutes of power left, so I wasn’t worried.
But silly me, I forgot to connect my monitor to the UPS, so as soon as the blackout struck, my monitor went dark. No problem, I just connected the monitor’s power cable to the UPS and turned on its power switch. So there.
The moral of the story is if you’re using a desktop, it’s not a question of whether or not you’re going to get hit by a blackout, it’s a question of when.
I’m so glad I invested in a good UPS. The money is worth it.