If you’re a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant who is a laptop computer user, you probably don’t have to read this Tech Tip, although I would recommend you do anyway. If you’re a CLNC® consultant who uses only a desktop computer – read on!
It’s hard to believe, but even in the year of 2015, in the Great State of Texas, we suffer from intermittent electrical power issues. Luckily, Vickie and I are both laptop users so when the power fails, just like that Energizer® Bunny, our computers keep running so none of our work is lost. Our peripherals, like our dual monitors and even our Internet service quit working when the power drops off – but at least our data is safe. We can then pop our laptops out of our docking stations, crank up our hot-spot and continue working until our batteries die or the power returns – whichever happens first.
But if Vickie and I were on desktop systems, a power blink would cause a crash, a loss of whatever we were working on at the time and we’d be out of work for the duration of the power outage. Luckily, there is a remedy that Vickie and I employ at home and in the Institute’s office. That remedy is placing a Back-UPS from APC at every computer station.
The Back-UPS not only protects from power blinks and surges, but more importantly, guarantees that when the power in the office fails, our computers and monitors do not. The run time depends on how many devices you have plugged into the Back-UPS, but for desktop users it will certainly give you enough time to safely save your work and take appropriate steps to safely shut down your computer. If it’s simply a power blip or surge, you’ll never know it, as the Back-UPS will just carry you straight through it. I’ve even added one to our Internet Gateway, WAP, phone base unit and switch so that we’ll never (almost) go down.
Keep on Techin’ (while the power’s gone)!
Tom
P.S. Comment and share what power back-up solution you use and/or the worst computer-related power failure catastrophe you’ve ever suffered.
