Pick the Right Size UPS for Your PC, Avoid Catastrophe When the Power Fails

Some years ago, I was sitting at my PC when a power failure struck, and my PC went down, along with a half dozen unsaved documents. Which was weird, because my foot was literally resting on a functioning UPS, which should have kept the computer running. I found out the hard way that it simply wasn't beefy enough. But today I've got what you need to keep from making the same mistake as me.

If you are in the market to replace the your aging UPS and you're not sure what size you need to handle your computer, monitor, and peripherals, then try APC's UPS Selector, which recommends a UPS based on your power requirements.

Just pick your computer's specs from the menus -- monitor size, CPU type, hard drives, and so on -- and how much runtime you'd like to have when disaster strikes. APC will take that data and recommend one or more of its models. Don't want to buy APC? That's cool; you can use their recommendation to shop elsewhere as well.

And remember: If your UPS's battery is getting old or is a little under-powered for your rig, you can take non-essentials (like a second monitor or your printer) off the UPS circuit to reduce the load it has to support when the power does go out.