In this day and age of security-mindedness, our old ways are no longer acceptable, and some of our time must now be allocated to keeping our interests safe from these network hoodlums. Here are some ways to do just that:

1. If you are not on the Internet, nor have access to it, you must still have adequate protection if you read or install anything from a floppy disk or CD-ROM disk. Insurance against what is saved on these disks is no different than buying insurance for your car, even though you may only need it once in awhile.

If you have Internet access, I would advise having a minimum of three kinds of protection: a firewall, antivirus software, and anti-spyware software. Here are: links to the three types, corresponding to the order of types mentioned. They are free:

http://download.com.com/3000-2092-10039884.html

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download1968.html,

http://download.com.com/3000-8022-10122137.html

2. Maintain the Updates that are provided. For instance, for Windows PC users, you can insure you have the latest updates by going to:

http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.asp.

Choose Scan for Updates and install at least those labeled “Critical Updates and Service Packs”.

Note: Certainly, there are others to choose from. Many are free, and others are shareware. Please read their policies.

I mentioned to you that I believed that these were the minimum; they are not however exhaustive. There are people who, when they get up in the morning to exercise by running, run barely enough to do any good for themselves at all; others, perhaps even professionals, run each morning at a specified time for a certain distance, and who calculate their pace so they won’t tire. But there are other professionals who, besides winning races like their competitors, race to win the prize. These are the ones who get up at three in the morning, who run a mile further, and pace themselves faster. These are the ones who are not beaten. Not a good analogy for computer security however. You are adequately protected, or you are not. Since the status of potential infection is dynamic and never fixed, one can only have adequate protection for what he knows exists. It is important therefore to maintain not only Windows Critical Updates, but any application updates regarding security protection.

Security is complex from an engineering standpoint, but its implementation is not, and although it is still imperfect, it does serve a meaningful and useful agenda. For some, it is considered serious enough to make a daily habit of using; for too many however, it is something extra that should not be required in order to simply grab an email. Technology has not conquered this ideal way of thinking, so it remains for us to exercise our will and our patience to make certain that we do not overlook the details of keeping our computers safe from abuse.