Have you noticed slow downs, lock ups and blue screens on your new Windows XP computer? There's a good chance that there's nothing wrong with Windows XP or your computer hardware. The fact is that the quality of the power we get from the utilities isn't what it used to be. There are perceptible increases and decreases in power that can wreck havoc on your Windows XP computer. The solution is a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply). A UPS guarantees a smooth flow of power and protects you from data loss, program and operating system corruption in the event of a power failure. You can make the Windows XP Power Management feature work with your UPS to protect your system. Here's how:

1. Click Start and then click Control Panel.
2. Make sure the Control Panel is in Classic View, and then open the Power Options applet
3. In the Power Options Properties dialog box, click on the Alarms tab
4. On the Alarms tab, put a checkmark in the Activate critical battery alarm when power level reaches checkbox, and move the slider to 20%
5. Click the Alarm Action button
6. In the 'Critical Battery Alarm Actions' dialog box, put a checkmark in the 'Sound Alarm' checkbox. Put a checkmark in the 'When the alarm goes off, the computer will' checkbox, and then select the 'Hibernate' option from the drop down list box. Put a checkmark in the 'Force stand by or shutdown even if a program stops responding' checkbox. This might cause loss of open files, but your program file and operating system will be protected, as will the rest of your files.
7. Click OK, then click Apply and then OK.

When you get your UPS in place, there's an excellent chance that those random blue screens and lock up will go away.