APC recommend that you DO NOT use third party surge suppressors with their Uninterruptible Power Supply Units.
I've seen learned dissertations by power supply experts stating that most surge suppressors are complete junk and a waste of money. The only exceptions are surge suppressors designed for use in computer server rooms, where each suppressor can cost hundreds of dollars.
Ditch your cheap suppressors. They won't save your computer when the mains fails. Instead, purchase a good UPS from a reputable company. e.g. APC.
If you can afford it, buy an always on-line, true sinewave UPS. They're expensive, but there's zero switching time when the mains fails, because the sine wave inverter is always running.
Quasi sine wave switched UPS generate a "dirty" stepped wave equivalent to a sine wave, rich in undesirble harmonics which may affect your PSU. They also take milliseconds to switch over when the mains fails. If the UPS switching time is greater than the time taken to discharge the 400V DC bulk capacitor in the PSU (it should be at least 17ms), then your computer will crash before the UPS starts up.
Unexpected power cuts can result in a corrupted Windows (or other) operating system. As for damage to equipment, I cannot think of any simple tests to check if individual components have been over stressed. If I was at work, I might perform leakage tests in the lab, but you need very expensive equipment and even then it might not be conclusive.
I've had two lightning strikes on my house and it was immediately obvious which units had failed. Various broadband routers, network switches and hardware firewalls stopped working. Scorch marks on the wall by the telephone socket were a dead give away, together with the smell of burnt components. I have now switched to optical fibre broadband, so that's one less entry point for lightning. Mains borne spikes are less likely to damage your equipment.
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