Read more: Local, State, Weather, Protect, Computer, Storm, Lightning, Damage
COLUMBIA (WACH) - Recent storms have Midlands computer stores seeing an increase in lightning damaged computers.
Steve Miano owns That Computer Store on Lake Murray Boulevard in Columbia and says his business is booming.
"This time of year we go through more modems, motherboards, network cards and power supplies than probably any of time of year combined. We call it storm season," said Miano.
However Miano says this week’s stormy weather has his store fixing more computers than ever before.
"We’ve had to completely rebuild some systems. A gentleman came in a couple of days ago and he lost pretty much every component in his computer except for the case," said Miano.
But Miano says - most of the damage is preventable.
"It kills me. I feel like if they had only had an opportunity to put a good surge protector or battery back up unit on their network line. It could have saved them a lot of heartache," said Miano.
When it comes to protecting your electronics Miano says it's best to invest in a quality surge protector, pointing out that the best ones will cost you more than $20.
But if you have a choice, Miano says a back-up battery is the best choice.
He says it protects the computer from both surges and brown-outs and points out that most brands carry an insurance policy if it fails to protect your electronics in a storm.
More tips from Miano:
- Remember to disconnect your DSL or Internet cable chord from the computer in a storm. Keeping the cable chord plugged into the computer still leaves it vulnerable to a surge.
- When in doubt un-plug your electronics from the wall outlet to give yourself the ultimate protection.
- Back up your data with an external device, such as an USB.
