It’s lightning season! Is your computer protected against sudden power loss?

You probably don’t think about power outages or “blackouts,” as they were known ages ago. They just happen! Then — poof! — the power is out. You may flip a light switch several times to drive home the absence. So you sit, wait, and hope that when the power comes back on everything still works.

To prevent disaster, I highly recommend getting a UPS for your desktop computer.

No, that’s on the United Parcel Service.

When dealing with electronics, a UPS is a Uninterruptible Power Supply, or something like that. (Seeing how I tend to forget acronyms, I think I’m safe.) The UPS does a number of useful and fun things for the electronics you plug into it.

First, it keeps the power going when there’s an outage or a power dip, also known as a brownout. The idea is not to keep working during the outage, although that’s an awesome thought. I mean, I can imagine myself working on my computer while the rest of the neighborhood is dark, with all the neighbors looking into my windows seeing my face illuminated by the sexy blue light of a computer screen. Alas, that’s a fantasy.

The reality is that the UPS is designed to give you enough time to shut down the computer and not lose any information. That’s the point of the thing.

Second, even if the power isn’t out, the UPS conditions the power coming into your computer — or any electronics. I plug my large screen HDTV into a UPS to keep it safe and happy. That’s one reason you might want to consider plugging your HDTV or other high tech gizmos into a UPS. Or at least buy them a line conditioning (or filtering) power strip.

Third, most UPS gizmos offer spike protection. That means the UPS dies if a huge jolt of electricity comes through the line, such as during a lightning strike. The UPS basically gives up its life to save all the devices plugged into it. That’s a good thing.

This past Saturday, at 6:56 AM, my home office survived a brief power outage. The power was out for about five minutes, yet I didn’t lose any data on my computer, thanks to the UPS.

Further, because I connected the UPS to my computer’s USB port, the computer was alerted to the power loss. Following my directions, the computer shut itself down. Nothing was lost, nothing was damaged. I’ll explain how that computer shutdown option works in Wednesday’s blog post.