Protecting Your Home Office
Insurance Tip # 1


 

At home, a power bar use to be a place where you served drinks, and a dedicated line was the phone the teenagers used. With the rise in use of home offices, these terms have taken on a whole new meaning and importance.

To safeguard your computer, a power bar (also known as a power strip or a multi-outlet strip) is a good idea. It protects you against power line surges that can damage your equipment and scramble your files.

Make sure you get a power bar with a circuit breaker (which shuts off the power in the event of a surge) and a "re-set" button (which you press afterwards). Without those two features, the power bar is nothing more than a fancy extension cord. 

 
If you're storing data that's particularly sensitive, you may want to investigate the option of a line conditioner, which prevents "ripples" in the current and filters out "noise" that can make your computer malfunction. Newer computers, however, are made to withstand such electrical problems.

With all the equipment in your home office - a computer, printer, fax, photocopier, maybe even a paper shredder - you may want to ask an electrician or computer technician if your circuits can handle the capacity (especially in an older home). You might consider a dedicated line for your equipment, which would go directly to the main electrical panel. 

 
If your copier, computer or printer is broken, it's best to let a professional handle it. If you remove the covers and start tinkering, you could be in for a nasty shock.

While electrical problems can play havoc with your computer, the system can sometimes act up all on its own. A temperamental machine can obliterate your files in a split second. Back up your computer files on disks or tapes.

How often you back up files, or which files you should back up, depends largely on how long it will take you to reconstruct the file. A letter that took five minutes to write is not a problem, but do you really want to spend another week re-doing that report or your financial records? Losing your files is another kind of shock you definitely want to avoid.