Power cuts and pcs

[LIZS]

Is there a way of protecting your pc against damage from power cuts. We've today had our 4th this year, one of which wreaked costly havoc on our o/s. Is there any smart way to protect it rather than make my stomach lurch with worry each time that it won't reboot !

We have ours plugged into a UPS (uninteruptable power supply I think) box so they keep going when there's a power cut - the UPS box then keeps beeping so you notice (if you haven't noticed because you've been plunged into darkness and the kids are screaming because the tvs gone off) and so you can shut the computer down before the UPS power runs out (ours lasts for hours though so we mainly sit and surf in the dark until the power comes back on).