In the past couple of days, with all the press about the April Fools Day Worm, several people have asked me how to keep their computers protected. The short answer is, you can't.  If someone has the right skills/knowledge, has enough time and the motivation to break into your PC, they probably will. You can however, make it less attractive to do so by keeping your computer up to date with the latest security patches and by connecting from behind a firewall/router. Besides keeping your anti-virus software up to date you should also keep your computer, web-browsers (I like Fire-fox ), and any other Internet software up to date. Most programs will prompt you when it is time to update.

Today, I received a prompt to install an update for the Adobe Flash Player. Normally, this kind of update prompt I might ignore, that is, until I noticed it was a security update.(click and install this update) Flash generates those fancy animations on websites and it is very common to have the Flash Player installed on a PC.. It is also common to incorporate Flash on websites and Flash has become more relied on in recent years. In the process, the language used to develop Flash applications has evolved and become more complicated, thus opening it to possible security exploits.

The bottom line is, keep your computer updated. Most Internet programs have a "Check for Updates" link under the help tab. For Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer click "Tools" and then "Windows Update". Click the "Express Install" button to check for updates. Make sure "Automatic Updates" are turned on.

It is also good to scan your PC from time to time for mal-ware (hidden software that tracks your Internet usage). I like Ad Aware. Download, install and run once a month or so.

Microsoft Windows Update - http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/v6/default.aspx?ln=en-us

Adobe Flash Player Update - http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb09-01.html 

Fire-fox Web Browser - http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/

Ad-Aware - http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware.php 

BTW: If your still on Win 98 you are SOL, because MS no longer updates Win 98 or Win 2000 machines.