Think of using the internet as like going to war... as long as you're suitably prepared, you should come out reasonably unscathed!
Personally, I have my machine protected to the max. Nothing, and I mean
nothing comes into my machine, or goes out of it without me knowing about it.
Using a combination of Firewall, Anti-Virus and Anti Spyware software my PC is safe as houses.
Believe me though, broadband does nothing more than to create a whole host of new potential programs. Most broadband connections have reasonally static IP addresses [something you don't generally get on dial-up] which makes your machine easier to hit [seeing as with broadband your PC is always connected].
A few recommendations for you all. Go to
www.zonelabs.com and download the free version of Zone Alarm at least. It offers great protection against unwanted intrusions and you can give or deny permissions to programs that want to access the internet. That's your first port of call.
Secondly, get some decent anti-virus software. AVG Free edition is pretty good [
www.grisoft.com].
Try not to use Outlook for your email if you can help it. Outlook is commonly targetted by virii and is particularly susceptible to attacks - and ask your ISP for a Spam Blocker.
NEVER reply to spam e-mail - especially if it has a link to remove yourself from their list. Doing this only confirms that your e-mail address is indeed active and will only lead to more spam coming your way.
Another issue with spam e-mail [but only e-mail that is in HTML format] is that they usually contain an image that is used to identify you [i.e. when you view the HTML e-mail, the image gets loaded into your browser with a unique id who's purpose is to show that your address is active]. Basically you should delete anything that looks like spam
without opening the e-mail.
And finally,
never open attachments from someone you don't know - especially those ending with *.exe, *.scr or *.pif - cos only bad things can happen! Be sure to fully check the extension on attachments cos a seemingly innocuous attachment [e.g. introduction.doc] maybe in fact be one of the above file types. I've seen attachments called introduction.doc_____________.scr [imagine the underscore to be spaces] - so don't take filenames at face value.
If anyone has any other questions about internet security, gimme a yell and I'll see if I can help you.
- S