A safe Internet search for real estate may be one of the most important subjects you will read about on this blog in your search for a home.  Why is this so important?  Because 99% of home computers are at high risk of being damaged or losing critical data, but what I will share here is something very few people know.  These two items could save you from having a major nightmare.   Since I am a real estate buyer’s agent, I am always trying to help my buyers find their perfect home, and a safe Internet search for real estate should be one of the first items on your checklist.  When I use the words “safe Internet search for real estate,” I’m referring to the need to protect your computer, your hard drive, and all the data and information you have been collecting for years from physical destruction from power surges and power outages.  As with so many things in life, it’s not what we think we don’t know that creates risk as much as the things we don’t know that we don’t know.

Safe Internet Search for Real Estate Tools

Safe Internet Search for Real Estate Nightmare

In the Sequim and Port Angeles area we don’t have very many power outages, but we do have a couple during the calendar year (mostly during storms), and just one could damage your computer hardware permanently.  Power surges can deteriorate and permanently destroy hardware.  Sometimes computer operating systems start doing things no technicians can fix or explain.  This can be the result damage from power surges.  A safe Internet search for real estate is no small matter.  Here’s how one expert explains surges:

Those very brief voltages that may go up into the hundreds or thousands of volts will slowly degrade all the solid state devices they hit. If they’re strong enough they can destroy solid state devices. Weaker ones degrade the junctions within semiconductors. And these spikes can contaminate your data. They frequently cause unexplained problems that no one can figure out. They’re especially hard on networks.

One manufacturer had a major recall of surge protectors, because they were causing house fires.   The wrong equipment is unsafe and dangerous.  There is a lot of garbage on the market, so I’ve researched and purchased for myself the two best pieces of computer protection you can buy.  While I write on this real estate blog all about real estate transactions, buying, negotiating, contract language and legal issues, I cannot over emphasize the importance of a safe Internet search for real estate.

Side Note:  You’ll also want to have a good firewall and virus protection.  If you have Windows 7, Microsoft has free software for that, Microsoft Security Essentials.  Keep that software up to date daily and have it run daily or at night to check for viruses.  I also finally found a powerful and clean tool for cleaning up the computer hard drive, including the registry, and it is called CCleaner.  You can do a Google search and download it and install it on your computer.  I recommend it. 

The vast majority of surge protectors on the market do not actually protect your computer hardware and your electronics in your home from power surges or spikes.  Imagine that!  Advertising that sells products that do not actually do what they claim to do!  Shocking, isn’t it?  Please, say it isn’t so!  If you have a house full of those little surge protectors with six outlets, just consider them extension cords, not really surge protectors, and do not expect those little toy plugs to protect your computer.

Safe Internet Search for Real Estate Solution

The best surge protector on the market is the Zero Surge Model 2R15.  Zero Surge got it right, and they have several models, but for home use I think the best one is the 2R15.  Believe it or not, office supply stores don’t carry this equipment, so I had to buy mine online at ZeroSurge.com.

Plug the Zero Surge protector into your wall outlet, and then plug your APC UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) into the Zero Surge protector.  I recommend an APC UPS like the one in the photo above with at least 1250/VA780 Watts.  The one in the photos is a model 1500.  You can buy the APC UPS at Office Depot in Sequim.  There is much more to the technical explanations about the importance of using these two separate pieces of equipment and why I selected these two, but that would be boring and beyond the scope of this article.

While this subject may not seem like it is directly related to finding your retirement home in Sequim, it could turn out to be extremely important if you lose your computer and all your hard drive data.  I hope this information is helpful, and I don’t recommend procrastinating on this subject.  Add these two pieces of equipment to your home office, and you just started your safe Internet search for real estate in the Sequim area.

Last Updated on January 8, 2013 by Chuck Marunde