Thus begins the Dr. Computer News Wire. This is a special blog that will make reports and commentary on events in technology and any peripheral topic I can think of. Today's entry will talk about security.

We recommend that customers update their virus definitions every week as needed. An excellent program is Grisoft's AVG Antivirus. There is a free version there that rivals it's paid competitors.

Also, make sure that you have these two programs running on your machine: Spybot Search and Destroy and Ad Aware. These two programs are completely essential to blocking those random toolbars from appearing in your browser and any other spyware that may be polluting your system. And remember in Spybot S&D there's an immunize feature. Use it or you'll be using spyware detection software all over the place.

Don't worry folks these three programs are totally free and do not have any spyware added to it. Other products may say they'll help your system, but as shown by this article in CNET Spyware cures may cause more harm than good, other programs, such as SpyBan, may include it's own spyware.

So watch out folks. The internet is like the old west. If you didn't carry a gun, you might not be shot, but then again you might. At least if you were packing protection, you had a fighting chance. It's the same here. I help my customers identify spyware and viruses, sure. But I also help them change the behavior that allowed the nasties to get there in the first place.

Have a good day folks.