Prepare for power cuts 2
Naturally, if your neighbourhood suffers a power cut, your computer will still turn off, unless you have an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). These devices have batteries that take over during a power cut. They’re widely available - such as this two-socket Tecnoware model (pictured below), available for £59.99 from Amazon ( www. snipca.com/40147) – but not all of them will keep your PC running. Some are designed to provide just enough power for their associated software to shut down your PC and connected devices safely, avoiding data loss. If a UPS is designed to keep your computer running, you still risk losing the connection if the power outage lasts longer than the battery inside the UPS.
However, depending on your computer, there may be a solution to this problem, too. Some computers can detect when they’re connected to power, which means they can also detect whenw the supply returns after a power cut. You can set these PCS to switch on automatically in such circumstances, which would reinstate your remote access to your files.
The steps to enable this feature – if your computer supports it – will vary depending on manufacturer and model. The first step is to enter the BIOS or UEFI, which is a core program built into the motherboard that tells it how to start up and access various components such as memory and the processor, even before Windows begins.
To access this program, reboot your computer and keep an eye on the screen for a message telling you how to enter the BIOS, UEFI or setup. Often, you’ll need to press a function key (F2, F10, F12 and so on, although again this varies between manufacturers and models). If your PC doesn’t display a shortcut while starting up, check the documentation.
Be very careful when making changes to the BIOS or UEFI, as an incorrect setting could prevent your PC from starting, or cause it to behave erratically. Wwork your way through the menus until you find an option for AC Power Loss, ‘Restore on AC’, ‘Wake on AC’, or similar. It often appears in a section labelled Power Management oor ‘Advanced Coconfigurationon and Powerr Interface’ (ACPI). Of the tthree laptops we checked, onlonlyly one supported
this feature - a Dell computer that had a ‘Wake on AC’ option in its Power Management section (see screenshot above). When we enabled this, then switched off the PC and reconnected it to a live mains connection (as would happen when the power returned after an outage) it spontaneously restarted.
You’ll also need to set your computer to log you in automatically when it restarts. Note that if you do this, anyone who has physical access to your computer can use it just as you do - opening programs and files, reading emails, browsing the web and so on.
Press the Windows key, type netplwiz, then click the top option on the menu. When the window opens, untick the box beside ‘Users must enter a username and password to use this computer’ ( 1 in our screenshot above right). Windows will ask you to enter the password for your user account (twice, so you’ve confirmed it 2 ), which it can then use to log in automatically. When you’ve provided this, click OK, then OK again.