A pair of 1N400x diodes in parallel with opposite polarities may help protect the circuitry of a DMM. Since a DMM doesn't supply more than .6 V generally on ohms ranges, the diodes will not affect the readings but will conduct should you accidentally put the meter across a charged cap or power supply output. They won't do much with a charged 10 F capacitor or high current supply where you forgot to pull the plug but may save your DMM's LSI chip with more modest goof-ups.
This approach cannot be used with a typical analog VOM because they usually supply too much voltage on the ohms ranges. However, my 20 year old analog VOM has something like this across the meter movement itself which has saved it more than once.
