I worked for Dell for 3 years doing RMA and tech support...75% of all lightening strikes enter through the PHONE line or cable/dsl line..houses and apartments complexes are grounded..they have metal spikes in the ground attached to the main breaker meant to discharge in the event of a lightening strike to the power lines....BROWN OUTS however destroy computers..since they give incorrect voltage WITHOUT overloading the surgeprotector and causing a partial shutoff/startup hiccup....

moral of the story..buy a monster cable surge protector that has phone/cable jacks built in, and get a battery backup unit for your comp

ta-da!

i had even crappier comp than this one now and it got burned... trough the modem, but now i got protection that has rj 45 jacks for dsl cable and it protects the hits from the dsl modem too... but my comp is far away from it (modem) and i gotta buy another *sigh*

well I have normal surge protectors but I use wireless in my house, and for poweroutages I have a natural gas generator. but it doesnt help unless the isp still has power o.O