Due to the recent Ice/snow storm, sudden power outages, dropouts, and most frightning, brownouts, are becoming quite common here. Right now we are in the middle of an extended brownout. how do I know? About 10 minutes ago, my lights dimmed significatly, my desk fan slowed down, and my ceiling fan on low, is almost stopped. Yeah. Not good. A few minutes ago there was a dropout that shut off my computer, but not the monitor. Im afraid one of these is going to kill my computer. I havent tested the line voltage, but its probably somewhere around 100v. (normal is 115 here). Beware! Brownouts and dropouts area deadly for your computer, particularly Power Supplies, harddrive motors, and fans.

I bought myself a couple of UPS's over the last couple of years. They have paid for them selves as well.

I have one of these: UPS power protection, surge protector ? Powerware 3105 UPS

and one of these: UPS Supply, Power Shield Australia - UPS Systems, Power Surge Protection, UPS Battery Backup, Uninterruptible Power Supply, UPS Manufacturer, Line Interactive UPS, Battery Chargers, Gell Cell Batteries, Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, C

Belkin make a good UPS as well: Belkin : UPS

Hope this helps...