As a retired TV newsman, I am constantly amazed at how much easier it is to communicate with people these days. There are high-speed Internet connections (wireless and otherwise), Cellphones, texting, BlueTooth, Blackberry's, and the list goes on.

We can communicate at the touch of a button, across cities, countries, the entire world. It allows cheating on a mate easier than ever. However, I can assure you that new technology also brings new ways to find the truth.

Using the new digital protocols to be unfaithful is almost instant, fairly cheap and, most important to the cheater, completely private and hidden. Or, so they think.

Advances in digital communication are, on the whole, a great thing when used to improve our daily lives. On the downside, cheating husbands, wives (or, for that matter, girlfriends or boyfriends) can communicate with their private lovers away from the prying eyes and ears of their trusting partners. It happens every minute of every day across the world. Digital technology knows no national borders. Thousands upon thousands of text messages are sent by disloyal men and women every minute of every day.

In my day, the only way a guy or girl could arrange a clandestine meeting would be over a hard line, i.e., a house phone, office phone, or a pay phone. The cheater was forced to make risky calls from the home of their unsuspecting spouses, or secretly take a trip to a nearby pay phone and do it from there. Both of these methods of communication could often be spotted by the betrayed party quite easily.

Fast forward to today.

Things are easier for cheaters these days, it's true, but cheating cannot be totally hidden. Just as all others kinds of cheats, be it a card shark, a con man or a computer hacker, who leave tracks of their dishonesty behind, likewise do disloyal partners. And, looking for the right signs, in the right places, is the absolute best way of knowing for sure if you can trust your partner.

What are the signs, the indications, the clues of this kind of activity so you can be sure?

Let me caution you here. This is risky business that demands absolute proof, not innuendo or paranoia on your part. Before you begin, you must ask yourself if you are really ready to know the truth and ready to handle the heart break. Or, are you willing to do what I recommend, that is, do everything in your power to save your relationship if your investigation indeed confirms your worst fears.

This is tough stuff. No matter what approach you decide to take, it will demand patience and the ability to keep your emotions under control. Anger and revenge are never good things for your well-being. Remember this.

Electronic devices offer cheaters a multitude of communication methods, including: email, instant messenger programs, chat rooms and forums. Although it can be difficult to tell what your partner is doing electronically, without actually looking over their shoulder (not a good idea!), there are indications you can look for that keep your investigation hidden.

1. Does your mate spend an increased amount of time at the computer for no apparent reason, perhaps when you're in bed or before you get up?

2. Is your partner quickly turning off the computer monitor or turning it away from you when you enter the room?

3. Try checking the Internet browsing history on the computer your partner uses most often. Sometimes there are web pages, chat room locations or other tracks that will reveal if your partner has been taking part in Internet infidelity. At times, you may find that the browser history has been freshly deleted ? this, as you can imagine, is equally suspicious.

There are software programs you can buy and load onto the computer that will track Internet activity. They work under the radar. Many parents find such software to be an effective tool to keep track of their child's Internet activity and you can use the same tools.

4. As mentioned earlier, mobile/cellular phones make quick and private communication easy. If you feel comfortable doing so, checking your partner's phone's call history. Their address book and text message archive can provide you with a wealth of telling information. Bear in mind, though, that cheating partner's ? in an effort to remain unfaithful ? often keep their phones on their person most of the time. If your partner used to leave their phone lying around, but now never seems to do so, you must ask yourself why.

5. Don't forget or ignore the ?old? style methods of cheater communication. Many cheaters still use house phones to call their secret lovers. Check your itemized phone bill for calls to local numbers you don't recognize and that are not in your phone book.

6. Pay attention to how your partner reacts when you walk into the room when they're on the phone. It's difficult to mask panic and surprise when the partner being cheating on walks into the room while the cheater is chatting to their secret significant other. Quick hang-ups could be a sign your partner's being disloyal over the phone and, perhaps, elsewhere.

There are many more methods you can employ. However, just using the methods I've listed here, you can begin to unravel the new modes of communication that cheaters are using and discover what's really going on.