Hub and surge protectors...?
970480
yes to be safe - potentially a surge can irrevocably damage your hubs and add to your cost and downtime.
317067
Setup up a network where all your electronic equipments are connected to one central hub. It is kind of tough, but it sure will be one hell of a project.
422528
Try pa powerport. Lots of links ther regarding Pa
403001
Try pa powerport ! They have lots of links to things in P.A. I found lot"s of stuff there!
720054
I'm in Oklahoma, too, so I feel your pain!  Always unplug your computer system from the wall during storms, do NOT rely on a surge protector.  Also, unplug the phone line from your DSL modem.  Electricity can flow through the phone lines and kill your modem, lost mine a month ago because I forgot to unplug it.  Be sure to remove the DSL line from the back of your computer as well.  Better safe than sorry, and better paranoid than regretful!
944163
its a patch to secure usb appliances\n\nhttp://support.microsoft.com/kb/307271
858757
you probably have a hub and a couple of devices like mice and keyboards on there, remove a couple of devices and try again or buy a powered USB hub and use that.
11124
The power plug is keyed so you can't plug it in wrong.  If it went in correctly you didn't harm it.  If you used the "bigger hammer" method of plugging it in, yep, it's fried.\n\nI've found many stickers on devices that were printed wrong, FYI.
270046
A power surge can cause multiple drives/devices to fail at once.  Also, if your power supply starts to go out, it can take other components with it.
263216
You could use a USB hub or extender, this product from Tiger Direct also looks like it could do the job for you;\n\nhttp://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1487819&Sku=ULT316261
906929
hub:\none broadcast domain\none collision domain\n\nswitch (no VLANs): \none broadcast domain\none collision domain for each port\n\nswitch (with VLANs):\none broadcast domain per VLAN\none collision domain for each port
1115689
There is a lot of factors that could go wrong, so if you are really worried about it, you should probably shut down.  Surge protector, properly grounded electrical system, and other factors will make it less risky though.  It may be worth the risk.
24446
There are ethernet connectors that actually connect to a USB port. I had one on my old desktop, and it worked fine (pretty inexpensive too!).
483805
A USB hub is a small device which you plug into a single USB port on your computer and it splits the port into several ports - typically four - allowing you to connect several devices to a single port.
480190
yes the Tower is referred to as the CPU[Central Processing Unit] \n\nthat is in technical parlance\n\ngood luck\n\n\nRegarding the power surge, i have an UPS[Uninterupted Power Supply] which not only protects my pc from frequent power loss and of course from fluctuations\n\nyou can also try power surge protectors, instead of leaving them on\n\n\nremember..turning your pc not only savees your computer and tvs from burn out\n\nit also saves power
694875
I recommend leaving it on, provided--\n- If you are connected to the internet full time, you  have good up-to-date security software (firewall (software and on router), anitvirus, and spyware.  As added security, when not running scheduled updates over internet, many modems have an off switch; turn it off when not actively using the internet.\n- If you have an UPS.  While lightening over lines connected to the computer can destroy parts of it, a good surge protector works wonders--most of the time.  The UPS also answers the problem of low voltage spikes.  When the voltage drops and comes back up, without a UPS, your computer starts to turn off.  When the voltage kicks back in, the drive restarts after slowing which is hard on the drive.
646772
Buy a power splitter cable. They'll only cost a few $/£ or sprodgetts. See the Sources for examples. There are other variations for different types of connector.\n\nAs the earlier reply said about your power supply being rated highly in terms of wattage, the usual problem that sometimes occurs is that the extra current taken will trip out the power supply or the system will get unstable. Most, if not all, modern poer supplies have some sort of overcurrent protection and will trip out if the current gets too large. This usually happens when the machine is powered up as all the drives start up and take a starting surge current. If this is the case, your cheapest option it to replace the PSU and I'd suggest the biggest wattage you can get! It will easily slip in usually. MORE POWER! HOO HOO HOO!!