I thought I'd do something a little different with this issue. With the number of viruses and spyware prevalent on the internet causing problems for so many people, here's the first of four sites to keep you from having problems. (One of my customers said he had 24 systems brought in one day just to get Sasser removed.)

Mozilla is the current incarnation of what used to be Netscape--who lost out to Microsoft in the browser wars. I've been using Firefox and the previous browser for some time. Many features are built-in that you'd have to pay extra to get with Internet Explorer, along with features IE doesn't have yet. I really like the tabbed browsing, pop-up blocker, integrated search, and the download manager.

I just started using Thunderbird, what I consider to be the best email client I've ever used. My favorite feature is the junk mail filter which uses intelligent filtering to move the majority of my 300 or so junk emails a day from my inbox to the junk folder. I've added a few of the free extensions and use Thunderbird as my only mail client now.

Spybot is an exellent program to get rid of Spyware--which some experts say is a bigger threat to internet users than viruses or worms. The first time I ran this program I was amazed at the amount of Spyware found on my system. I thought I was really careful about installing programs and avoiding sites that might have nefarious programs. Many users find their systems run much faster and are more stable after removing their spyware.

I'm amazed when I encounter anyone who uses the net and doesn't use an antivirus, especially when there are free programs like AVG from Grisoft. AVG includes an email virus scanner for Outlook and Outlook Express and can be set to automatically check incoming and outgoing email. It can also automatically update virus signature files.

If you're reading this and don't have an antivirus program installed, get this one. Also, a virus scanner is only as good as its last update. Have you updated yours lately?

When I finally got a cable modem, the first thing I looked for was a good firewall. Cnet had just reviewed a number of the available ones and gave their highest rating to ZoneAlarm. It out performed all others in the test, and amazingly enough, it was a free program. I've installed this on every system I've hooked up to the next with a broadband connection. It's very easy to use and works well--it also stops programs from accessing the net from your computer (I don't think the Windows firewall probably keeps Microsoft programs from jumping out every once in a while ;)

In case you don't know, hackers lurk everywhere on the Internet, waiting for an "in" into your personal and financial information. Even legitimate Web sites have sophisticated methods of snooping, such as cookies that track your identity and browsing habits. You need nothing less than the industry's best protection.