Do you use your computer/ other electrical appliances during electrical storms?

I have a surge protector on my entertainment system... TV, stereo, DVD player etc. because I almost lost a tv to a storm once. For about 3 days my tv was half normal...and a quarter of it was green and a quarter of it bluish purple. it sucked. Eventually it fixed itself but I never wanted to chance it again I went out and bought a really expensive good one. I have one for my computer too. I do use my computer during storms until they get real bad. But i still usually leave my computer on. Our power goes out a lot here but my apartment is set up so electrically stupid that if the power goes out it'll only be like half of it. I'm sure most people would that's good but it's totally not. seriously it's stupid.

yup i am guilty as charged and i get yelled at it for doing so, my hubby is a computer guru and says yup, you could get zapped very easily...when will they learn???

Yep that is me, I unplug the puter, the microwave, the phones and the stereo. I had lightening strike the antenna that is outside the house to the TV, and it blew our TV. We just heard the deafening BANG, then the TV shot sparks, went off and let out a puff of smoke. Since then I don't play I unplug and set on the cough and wait for it to pass. When hubby was a kid, lightening hit their chimney and sent black ash all over their house, so he don't play with it either. We are both some big old chickens.

I guess that I am literally playing with fire on this one, I do nothing. As for people that use surge protectors, I was told that they become less effective with use, small spikes will reduce their effectiveness so many people have a false sense of security.

I love thunderstorms but yes, i do turn off the computer and tv if it is close. I know those strips are supposed to protect you but I've heard too many horror stories...more that relate to the computer getting damaged in the event of power going off and then coming back on. I can't afford to replace it so i don't take chances.

i will make my computer off or maybe it will be ruined

We unplug our computers during a lightning storm. A few years ago my mom called and wanted to know if the kids were in the house. It was a nice sunny day. She said a big storm was coming. I told my son to unplug his computer, no sooner did I tell him that and here came the storm. Seconds later we got hit by lightning. It fried our wires coming into the house, my tv was also fried. Later after the wires were replaced outside, I had another tv that I plugged in, it fried that one too. There must have been still a surge of electricity in the lines. I really don't now, it was strange to have a tv that wasn't plugged in, get fried when we plugged it in. That night we had to make a trip to our local Walmart, we needed a tv. I always thought it would happen to someone else too, then I became that someone else. I will still watch tv during a storm, but my computer will be unplugged. The tv is lots cheaper to replace.

well you should really unplug everything during a storm, especially if you are in the country...it could cause a power surge or totally wreck your appliances...

While I was still young, my parents always told us to unplug all electrical gadgets at home during thunderstorms to avoid electrical shocks or fire. That advice is the same advice I'm telling to my kids and grand kids. All these years I learned that it is important to remember that our computer is connected to electricity. If we have an Internet connection, that also means that our computer is connected to a telephone line or cable connection. These are also conductive connections. That means that lightning could be conducted to our computer through any of these connections. For safety reasons, we should never use our computer during a storm. Many computer users purchase surge protectors to safeguard their system. The user plugs computer components into the surge protector, then plugs the surge protector into the wall. Just like the name implies, surge protectors are designed to protect computers against electrical surges or lightning. However, these devices can fail; so, it's best to stay clear of the computer during storms.

yup I do! perhaps it's the fact that I live in singapore and all the buildings have lightning conductors built into them, so it never worries me. I sit next to a window in a high rise office block, so I see lightning pretty close to me sometimes, but it doesn't bother me. :) The only thing that has happened in my home is that the main switch in the switchbox trips and the electricity goes off for a while. but we just have to flick the switch back up again and everything goes back to normal. of course if this happened when i was not at home, then the fridge might be out of power for a few hours which is not good! :)

I don't mess with electricity or lightening! When we are having a storm I do ot wor on my computer or use the phone. I unplug my tv as lightening will travel through the electrical wires. I don't worry about getting zapped but I do worry that my electrical appliances will get zapped and ever work again, lol.

when a lightning had a terrifying sound i unplug every socket at home including the computer..right now its almost the season had started in here and but we i seldom hear the lightning..most of the time i use all electrical appliances even if its raining so hard and had a lightning..i don't get that much into it.

yes,i was watching TV when a storm coming.my mother shouted at me at once to turn it off.but i was so immersed in the TV that i didn't do as what i did usually when this situation happend.just with a bright lighting before my eyes and the TV was smoking and gave off a burnt smell.i was so scared that i rolled into my bed and covered myself with quilt.my mother heard the shap sound ,rushing into my room ,she knew what happened when she saw the crashed TV and the trembling me. Of course i was pubnished severely. Ever since i never used electrical appliance as long as the rain is coming!

No I do not.I have learn when the lightening start I unplug all those things from the network.And I think it's really necessary.My mom just had broke phone for 5 days, after the storm.And it was really complicated to fix it and plus she have to wait so long.Also I hear some our friends paid huge amount of money for reparing his laptop, when he went on vocation and do not unplug it.

when we lived in Ohio we would not use them when there was thunder storms, but we live in San Diego County now and I have yet to see any thunderstorms since we have been here,

I don't go out of my way to protect any appliances, and I use my computer because I have to for work purposes. My family TV one time went out in a storm, and it was really scary. We just heard this loud boom and saw sparks.

If there's a bad electrical storm I will shut my computer down...I'm not too concerned about other things...like I won't get paranoid about talking on the phone during a storm, or taking a bath...I actually knew a person who was so paranoid about storms, that she, like your daughter won't go anywhere near anything with water...like the sink...nope, the only thing I'll shut down will be my computer....I take no chances...power stripe or not

Nope!!I will switch off all eletrical appliances at that time.I unplug all devices from the board and keep them down.I dont fear ti use telephone or mobile at that time.Just take care of my electronic devices.I dont let them something worse happening to them becoz i love them and they are part of my family..LOL!!!

Hi, Yes, I am one of those people that go around and unplug everything during a thunderstorm. It has to be a storm that has a lot of lightning for me to do that however. About ten years ago I was watching TV during a storm and there was a lightning strike very close to us. It ended up frying my TV (which was a good tv) and I had to replace it. Now I take those precautions. :) cheers,

Actually,I don't.The place I live rainning a lot.Always come with storms and thunders. In order to protect my pc,I will plug when the storm come.