Dear friends:

Regarding my message yesterday about the threat of cybercrime, some have asked, ":What can I do to protect myself."

Here are some ideas...

John Terry of Revelation Files responded with this suggestion:

"Programs like www.spywarebot.com  (one-time fee, free updates thereafter) and Spyware Doctor (www.pctools.com, $29.95 per year) help protect computers against the vast majority of these “bot” attacks... and are updated daily as new threats are identified.  These are excellent tools to protect a computer user against identity theft, data corruption, personal profiling, hacker attacks, pop-up ads, and spyware."

Personally, I use the free anti-spyware called Ad-Aware.  You can download that free at http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad-aware_se_personal.php .  I have used that for years but for possibly better protection am considering purchasing one of the ones John mentions.

If you research it you may find other good anti-spyware programs available.

Another idea is to download the new Firerox browser and stop using Explorer.  I did that several years ago and have been very happy with Firefox.  You can download it free at http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ .  It enables you to easily transfer your bookmarks or favorites over from Explorer.  I also keep Explorer on my desktop for special occasions where it may be needed.

I hope this helps.

Jim