Sadly, with this widespread use has come an increasing risk from spammers criminals with malicious intentions. It seems that not a week goes by without warnings about some new computer virus, trojan or worm designed to manipulate your computer's memory files.

The threat posed by computer viruses should not be taken lightly. They come in many different forms depending on what their creators have designed them to do. This could be feeding back to the hacker information held on your computer; slowing it down and making it unstable, or even deleting files from it.

Computer virus programmers will usually cover up their nasty scripts to appear as the type of common file that you're accustomed to using everyday e.g. an mp3 music file, or they'll send an executable program file as an email attachment that will be run as soon as you open the email.

A lot of the protection you can give yourself from these nasty pieces of code comes down to commonsense. Don't open emails if you don't recognize and trust the sender. Make sure the security settings on your Web browser are set to 'high'. Try to stay away from the 'shadier' areas of the Internet. Don't use peer-to-peer file-sharing programs.

You should make sure that you have current versions of the two essential items of software installed on your computer and that they are operating at all times. What are the vital pieces of software that everyone should have active on their computer? An Antivirus program and a Firewall.

No longer is a good Antivirus program all the protection you need. These days, many computers are permanently connected to high speed internet services, and need to control access to their computer with a Firewall program as well.

Innovative new computer viruses are being introduced often, and need new countermeasures. Your Antivirus program needs to be updated regularly, and should look for updates automatically every time you connect to the Internet. Most of the leading Antivirus programs will do this as a matter of routine.

Stepping in and installing protection before you are hit with a virus attack will save you a lot of trouble. You should not leave your computer vulnerable to interference. If you don't already have an up to date Antivirus program and Firewall installed on your PC, schedule a few minutes to put that right today - the potential outcome of not doing so could prove very costly.