It bears repeating: Keep you browsers (and other web-connected software) UPDATED!!!

We haven't got around to doing a proper article on home computer security practices yet (been a little busy building the most useful database of tech solutions on the planet), but we'll get to it soon.  We have stressed the importance of keeping you browser current with the most recent updates. This advice was brought into sharp relief when news came in that a massive amount of websites were compromised over the weekend [via Infoworld]. What happened was that all these legitimate websites (gov't sites, hotel sites, hobby sites, etc.,) were inflected with a small piece of code.  If you went to an affected site, your browser was sent to another web server (where websites are stored) that would attempt to do one of many nasty things on your machine .... if you were running an outdated browser!  Infoworld quoted David Perry, global director of education with Trend Micro, saying "If they have a browser that hasn't been patched, their machine is going to be compromised."

Now if you're like me, you may not be all that happy when a computer program does something without being prompted by you. Whether it's popup ads, getting a webpage I didn't want, or even being prompted that the programs is checking for updates.  But I quickly learned to get over the "you do only what I tell you" attitude for my web browsers (Firefox 2 and Safari 2). Every minute of everyday there are software guys working on making sure that evil people can't get at you when you're online. Take advantage of their work and set your browsers to automatically check for updates (usually found through "Options" or "Preferences" menus).  When prompted to download an update, don't put it off just because you're in a hurry.

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