by Simon Clausen
With the constant media bombardment about viruses, worms, hacking and crackers youd be forgiven for believing that you shouldnt touch the Internet with a ten foot pole for fear of someone stealing your identity and running off with your life savings. But behind the news headlines and hype there is little more threat of that in the online world than there is from the risks of everyday theft or fraud. It is simply a matter of taking some simple precautions to protect yourself as you would when walking down the street or locking the house.
In these days of high speed "always-on" broadband Internet connections the security of your of computer, files and privacy should be a priority. Unfortunately, a lot of people are leaving their virtual front doors unlocked, and giving crackers the green light to do as they wish, simply because they do not understand the risks and take the appropriate precautions.
The responsibility for this common lack of security falls squarely on the shoulders of the humble Windows operating system. The consumer versions of Windows 95, 98 and Me are based on code written back in the days before networks and modems became common, and certainly before computer security became the issue it is now. In fact the original foundations of Windows are based on MS-DOS 1.0 released back in 1981, and although obviously major improvements have been added since that time, the legacy of an insecure operating system remains.
So what can you do to make an insecure operating less prone to security problems?
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