How can the sun or sunspots affect my computer?
When the sun emits large quantities of charged material or charged particles (Coronal Mass Ejection) into space (Sun Spots), some of those charged particles can travel through our upper atmosphere and create problems. Here on earth we can see them as auroras on a clear night, some of these solar ejections can produce auroras so strong they can be seen on a clear night in lower latitudes as far as Texas. During solar flares or storms our power grid can become affected resulting in intermittent power loss or surges. In many cases it can interfere with radio communications, including satellite communications. In some occasions cellular phone, pagers and two-way radios can be totally interrupted for short periods of time. These interruptions can have sever impacts on our daily lives. If the power grid becomes affected the voltage on the grid can vary sometimes to a large degree. When this occurs power stations around the world need to adjust the output of the generators to compensate for the power fluctuations. Appliances such as your TV, stereo, computer and many other items that are plugged into the power can become damaged. During extreme solar events we can actually lose power for a period of time.
For more information on sunspots go to
Treat solar events as you would for any kind of power surge or loss, keep track of solar events on a regular basis or subscribe to an email list serve to provide you with information about coming CMEs.