Before you connect:

Your computer was designed to basically be an open door to the world.  When ever anyone sends a request to your computer (internet, keyboard, etc) it was designed to try to answer it!  This is good if it's you making those requests.  It becomes bad when those requests are made by someone down the street or half way around the world. 

When you connected to the internet on a dialup modem, your computer was exposed to these dangers but you were harder to find and were much less a valued target because you were coming and going often and your speed was too slow to make you "worth" much to the people wanting to exploit your computer.

Now that you will be going to broadband (cable, DSL, wireless), you are now an easier target to find and once they have access to your computer, they can do a lot more with it!  They can actually place software on your computer to monitor what you type, what sites you go to or even read your hard disk and steal your information. 

There have been many studies about how long it takes a new, unpatched and unprotected computer to be infected.  Some studies have placed that time at less then 20 minutes! Scary isn't it!  But there are things you can do to protect yourself and your computer...

Protect Yourself:

Here are a few inexpensive and simple ways you can protect yourself and your computer BEFORE you plug in your new connection to the internet and retire that dial-up modem:

	Add Anti-Virus software.  This will protect you from programs designed to do damage to your computer
	Add Anti-Spyware software.  This will protect you from programs that spy on you or steal information.
	Add a Firewall.  A firewall is designed to make your computer look invisible on the internet
	Update your computer's operating system often

The good news is, there are many free versions of these programs available on the internet to help you.  The bad news is, there are just as many that claim to want to protect you but do just the opposite!  We have some recommended software packages in our recommendations section (click here).   While the free software packages are good, they often don't update as often or protect as many things as the commercial versions. 

The commercial versions of these packages are sold with update service of usually a year or two.  During that time you are given updates on a regular basis.  You need to be careful that you renew the maintenance service when it expires though.  Once the maintenance period expires, the program is no longer protecting you against new threats.  (New threats are being created every day so you must be updated!)

Finally, update your computers operating system at least monthly. Microsoft releases critical and suggested patches and updates on the second Tuesday of each month.  If something very serious is discovered, it will release patches outside that set time as needed.   Be careful to ONLY download patches from the actual Microsoft web site.  Do NOT fall for emails that say they are from Microsoft and have a patch you need to install.  Microsoft NEVER sends emails with patches