YUP, IT'S HOT. As in really hot. As in heat warnings, and humidity warnings, and air quality warnings. In other words, summer in Baltimore.
Along with that heat and humidity and the discomfort they pose comes another irritant - those little lightning flash icons that show up in the daily weather forecast.
They mean thunderstorms - and danger to your computer and other delicate electronic gadgets. If you haven't thought about it lately, it's time to make sure you're protected.
The first step is to learn a bit about your electronic equipment and why it needs your protection in the first place.
Computers are designed to run at very low internal voltages. The voltage is the "pressure" that a flow of electricity exerts on wiring and circuits, much like the pressure of water through a hose or the pipes of a house. A sudden increase in pressure in a hose can burst it; in your house, turning the pressure up too high can damage your dishwasher and other appliances.
PCs and other electronic equipment are even more sensitive to voltage. Typically, it only takes three to five volts to power a PC's internal chips. House wiring in the United States supplies 120 volts, so plugging a computer into a wall outlet is a bit like filling an espresso machine with a fire hose.
A transformer inside your computer reduces the voltage to the proper level, just as a reduction valve in your home can turn high-pressure flow from water mains into a flow safe for your pipes.
The voltage that emerges from your wall outlets does vary slightly, depending on your electric company, the time of day and other factors, including the normal cycling of refrigerators, washing machines and so forth.
Your computer is designed to handle these customary fluctuations. Unfortunately, it isn't designed to handle sudden, large spikes and surges in current. These can fry the innards of your computer if it doesn't have a device to protect it. Modems are particularly sensitive - not just to spikes in house current, but also to much smaller and almost undetectable surges over the phone line.
In the summer, these spikes generally have two causes. The first is a lightning strike at or near your house. Forget about protecting against a direct strike - when you're talking millions of volts, the only way to keep equipment safe is to unplug it.
