Weather!

In recent times weather has played a roll in making life for the computer quite dangerous, how may you ask! Well in terms of the following:

Living near the Coast: Unless you replace your computer on a regular basis you may notice that even your PC casing is subject to rust, there is little you can do to stop the rust, except you can go the Acrylic route but unless done properly it can become expensive. Of course it's not just your casing, the moisture in the air also plays havoc with the dryness of the air mixing with dust forming a sticky form that is circulating around your machine, it can cause damage to components within. A cover is the best solution, sheet or plastic to protect the valuable equipment.

Those living inland are not clear of dangers either, you have the opposite to the coast, the dry dust clogs up fans and sits on the motherboard, too much of this dust and your machine never mind how cool you think it's running will eventually stop working as it will over heat and possibly blow components. Laptops are at the worst for fans clogging up from dust or moisture, once a laptop fan stops, it will damage more than a PC. Thus causing a major expense possible even complete replacement.

Natural disasters: Lightning, floods are two of the most damaging forms for computers! If you in areas where you have frequent storms best you find a safe place to house your computer out of reach of possible flooding. Make sure that no water can get anywhere near the machine. In terms of Lightning, if there is a storm brewing anywhere near by, unplug your machine from the network if it's on one, disconnect any cables leading into the machine especially power, network, telephone/modem cables. These despite what retailers of surge protectors say, I have a belief that if it's unplugged then it's safe, and to be right and safe or wrong and have an expensive bill on your hands to replace the costly equipment, well I know what I would choose. You could also buy a UPS - Uninterrupted Power Supply) which would help in smoothing the power to your PC/laptop through a surge protector but that would only be okay if it is protected from the Natural causes otherwise it would fall into the same conditions as mentioned above. Still the best policy is to unplug everything (even inputs to a router, modem) as these too are expensive replace if damaged.