Can a $5 surge suppressor really protect your equipment?

Look around your office. Are all your computers plugged into a $5 surge protector strip you bought three years ago?

If so, your idea of surge protection may be akin to bolting the door against burglars while leaving all the windows open. In other words, you're not doing enough to protect your equipment from power surges.

High voltages can travel over your phone lines, TV and Internet cables as easily as they can over power lines. Not only could your modem and fax machine still get fried, but even your computers are vulnerable with a cheap surge suppressor past its one-year life span.

What does it take to protect all your equipment from lightning strikes or other power surges?

Give your wiring a once-over.

Have an electrician check your building's wiring system for faulty or frayed wires. These are more common than you'd think, and can blow your equipment with time.

Ground thyself.

Ensure that your office building follows a federal code that requires all your power, phone and Internet wires to be "grounded" together outside the building. No surge suppressor offers any protection to your equipment if your wires don't have a ground connection that lets high voltages travel safely to earth.

Get a good surge suppressor.

The danger of high voltages can nest close to home, not just lie in a hypothetical lightning bolt to the office. Most people are surprised to hear that power surges can originate almost daily from the office refrigerator or from the air conditioner. These surges can gradually degrade your other machines if a suppressor doesn't absorb the shocks to your office's electrical system.

So choose a surge suppressor that offers robust protection for your electrical system while protecting phone and Internet cables as well.

Don't skimp on price.

You get what you pay for, after all, and spending $100 on a commercial grade surge suppressor is far worth the thousands of dollars of equipment -- and priceless data -- you're trying to protect. Remember, half of all data loss is caused by power failure or surges.

As an added reassurance, many manufacturers will offer to replace your equipment -- some for up to $25,000 worth -- if their suppressor fails to do its job.

Buy a UPS system.

Get an Uninterrupted Power Supply system for your network or for individual computers. Many UPS systems protect against surges too.