Protect your-self from the cyber-idiots

Their has always been, and always will be, people who derive pleasure from making your life miserable. Why, who knows, but their out there. Your computer is attacked by would be hackers and bad robots daily and if your machine is unprotected you're eventually going to be sorry.

If you don't have a Firewall, Get one!

If you don't have a firewall installed on you computer, then I guarantee you, that you have spyware, adware, worms and other malicious programs watching everything you do, right now! It's even possible that your machine has been turned into a botnet and is sending out tons of spam without your knowledge. Think it can't happen, well Duh!

A firewall is a program that monitors all the traffic on your internet connection. It sifts out known threats, such as adware and spyware thereby making it much more difficult for the "cyber-pustule" to get their malicious code into your machine.

If you have Windows XP then you have a firewall built-in so make sure that it is turned on. To check your firewall go to your Control Panel and find Windows Firewall. Open it and make sure that the Firewall On is selected. If you're not using Windows then you should make sure that your machine has a firewall or get one.

There are plenty of firewalls available on the Internet. Two of the better known firewalls are Zone Alarm and Black Ice Defender. Don't download some free firewall from an outfit that you have never heard of, most likely, they have left the back door open so they can get in.

Get an Anti-Virus program!

Securing your computer now will save you a lot of grief later, so, "come off the hip" and get a good Anti-Virus Software and install it on your computer. Once again, there are a lot of good anti-virus programs available. Most are available for download and self installs.

You can also download that has a free anti-virus program included with the many other great tools. You can also go to the windows download center , if you use windows, and download the free "Windows Defender" program.

There is no reason not to use a firewall and an anti-virus program on your computer. As a matter of fact, I use all the tools mentioned above, plus a few others. After all, there's no such thing as a PC that is "too secure".