Win 7 networking

Can't help much with gluing the wreckage back into working computers, but I do have a suggestion for future prevention: Get some LARGE surge arrestors, the kind that one installs at the AC power panel:

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I have a pair of type 300 cans, bought from the local electric supply house, installed. Far better than the little surge-arrestor strips, but still won't survive a direct hit.

Joe Gwinn

If you know someone who could easily solve the problem you can use Team Viewer to allow remote fixing by them. My son has fixed problems on my computer several times. He lives several states away from me and takes over my computer from his home.

==================== Your best bet may be an UPS [uninterruptable power supply] This not only filters the surges [may blow UPS so still need HD surge protector] but this also protects against power line "stutter" which can be even more damaging, as it won't trip the surge protector, but will kill your drives.

I have good service from this unit [three years so far] for a single desk top with peripherals such as router and UBS splitter. Has phone/fax line surge protection and has outlets with both UPS and only surge protection, e.g. printer. Software included for automatic shutdown that saves any open files if computer is unattended and battery gets low.

I paid $40 for my CyberPower 450va, but I don't think either one of these would prevent damage from a direct lightning strike.

UPSes are absolutely mandatory for safe file writing and continued running with the lousy electrical service we get nowadays. Before I got my first one, the computer shut itself off several times a day on bad days. If it weren't for the blink of the lights at the same time, I'd have taken the damned thing apart and/or troubleshot it.

That's a good reason to use a laptop with its built-in battery. Mine has an external keyboard and mouse on the pull-out shelf and a larger second display above it, which cure its limitations.

It consumes less than 1/4 of the power my desktop needs and can run much longer on the UPS or a 12V jump-start pack.

The VGA output isn't noticeably less sharp on an HDTV than on the built-in screen. I can expand the I/O with CardBus COM and USB2 ports or an ExpressCard USB3 and plug a second hard drive into the CD bay.

-jsw