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Should you leave your computer on
24 HOURS A DAY?
Great Design & Solid Performance Give this UPS
By Joe Isaac
By Jasmine Blue D’Katz
Member, Central Kentucky Computer Society
March 2018 issue, CKCS newsletter I’ve recently installed a new
www.ckcs.org home security system and I
newsletter (at) ckcs.org wanted to insure it continued
to work during power outage.
Therefore, I searched the two
NO! I shut my computer down
every night. If I'm going to be viable options between APC
gone several days I not only shut and CyberPower. I know APC
it down, I unplug the computer has been around for years and
from the wall and unplug the
phone line from the wall. in fact I have a couple of small-
er units on my router/modem.
You are wearing your fan motor out and pulling dust
thru your computer. Your hard drive may be running But after reading a couple of
more. If you get a big surge of electricity that jumps reviews, APC was being out
your surge protector, it may save your computer by shined by CyberPower with
having it turned off.
desirable features and especially price. I also realize the
Your surge protector is passive and works whether
it is turned off or on. When it is off, the surge must CyberPower was not new to the block and has been in
jump the switch and the surge protector to get to business for over a decade.
your computer.
The Automatic Voltage Regulation and GreenPower UPS
The only good thing about leaving your computer
on is that you can get rid of the dust bunnies, the feature were the first to catch my eye and give me a rea-
fan will pull them into your computer and your utility son to make it my UPS of choice. The unit was ready to
company will love you. go right out of the box with no need to connect the
With the increased use of always on – DSL and Ca- battery. The unit contains two batteries which I can re-
ble Internet and with the growing threat of hackers place in hopefully more than 6 years.
and worms, it makes even more sense to shut your
computer down when not in use. The GreenPower feature significantly reduces energy
A computer not running and not connected cannot requirements which I didn’t see in other units. Battery
be hacked. life is supposed to last up to 6 years because of the AVR
OTHER GREAT REASON TO CUT YOUR COM- technology. At 25 lbs. it much lighter than other units
PUTER OFF AT NIGHT.
I’ve previously purchased.
It's not unusual to get low on system re-
sources after you use Windows for a long The unit provides six battery backup plus surge protec-
stretch, especially if you open and close pro- tion and an additional four outlet with just surge protec-
grams frequently. Adding a bunch of RAM
doesn't help. System resources are stored tion.
in fixed memory blocks that reside in your I like the front panel LED screen which display about any-
System RAM.
thing I want to know about the UPS status on battery
Programs store certain routines inside your
system resources. Some programs don't and power condition, including estimated runtime,
reallocate or release the memory, so after a battery capacity, load capacity. Besides the LED readout,
while your machine gets full. You must re- I can use the Power Panel Management software that
start Windows to free up memory again.
connect to my computer via UBS cable
That's why Windows feels more reliable if you start
it up fresh every day. (Continued on page 9)
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