Yes, I have used a UPS for several years now. I lived in Florida for about 4 years, and that is known as "The Lightning Capitol of the World." In my first week in Florida, the power blipped out a few times a day, and I lost my current projects when the computer rebooted. I got a UPS that first week, and am now on my second, more powerful UPS. I live in Maine now. The house wiring is a bit flakey. If you use the wrong electrical appliances at the same time, the power goes out in our upstairs office. I lost some equipment a few months ago when the battery on my old UPS died. I didn't mess around. I got a better UPS. Oh, and another thing: Backup everything to CD!!! CD's are less than $1 apiece now.Buy them in bulk quantities and save. You can afford that, right? It's much better to have a collection of 100 or more CD's than it is to be wiped out by power outages. Oh, that reminds me. It's time to make another CD!!! I don't want to lose the stuff I've downloaded over the past week or so. Oh, and the artwork I created! Can't forget that. I do wish you the best of luck. Ron