by Last week I introduced you to 20 computer terms you should know. In addition to a few “thanks for that” responses, I also received a few “Yeah, but what about…” queries. And each is worth our time. So, have another round on me.
Peripherals
Not all hardware devices have simple names like printer and keyboard. A few go by their acronyms.
UPS: I know, I know, UPS is commonly thought of as standing for United Parcel Service. But in this case it’s uninterruptible power supply. A UPS is like a large powerstrip. The difference is that it holds a battery. When you plug a device into a UPS and, sometime later, the power goes out, that device will continue to draw life-sustaining electricity from the battery.
If you have a lot of devices plugged in to that UPS—your computer, a monitor, a modem, a router, and a printer, for example—there’s a very good chance that its battery will drain in short order. For this reason, you should be careful about what you plug in to it (you might skip the printer, for example). Even then, a UPS isn’t intended to substitute for a solid power connection. Instead, it’s a safety measure—designed to allow you enough time to shut down your gear as you normally would (versus having it shut down the second the power blinks out, which can result in data corruption). I wouldn’t run my gear without one.
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