Q: I have my PC set to shut itself off after I exit Windows. Should I turn off the surge protector as well?

Leave it on. Your CMOS chip needs a small, constant flow of electricity to keep its settings and to track the time. Your motherboard's battery supplies this power when the computer is off, but many computers made in the past three years also use a tiny bit of AC power--if it's available--to handle this job. When you shut off the surge protector, you cut off the supply of AC power, and your computer must rely on its battery instead. If you keep the surge protector on, your battery will probably last longer.

You may wonder whether you should use the switch on your surge protector to turn the power to your computer, monitor, and peripherals on and off in one fell swoop. With most of today's computers, that's not an option because the on/off power switch has been replaced with a power button that the user must press to start the computer. Your PC probably shuts off when you exit Windows, and there's no way to turn it on again without hitting that button. If you can power up your computer by turning on the surge protector, go ahead. Just be sure the monitor is on before Windows starts to load, or it may not be recognized.

And, of course, you should never turn off a surge protector--or a PC--while Windows is running.

© Lincoln Spector, From the January 2001 issue of PC World magazine