When using the Internet, the software installed on the machine you are using, whether at home or at an Internet Cafe abroad is the first thing that you should pay attention to, if you try to keep your computer and most importantly yourself away from security breaches that could affect you.

After the end of the browser war between Internet Explorer and Netscape, the dominance of IE meant that lots of malicious software was being written by opportunistic companies (Bonzi Buddy, Alexa) and individuals (viruses, worms & co).

Browser add-ons and plug-ins can make your Internet Explorer vulnerable, so it is advisable to only install what you know is safe (Encryption plug-in for your bank) and make use of free utilities such as Spybot S&D or Lavasoft AdAware to frequently
protect scan and remove software or 'cookies' that could track your identity.

Furthermore, make sure that your router box (for ADSL or Cable) has its hardware firewall enabled. In any case, normal firewalls only filter out data coming in at a certain 'port', meaning that a virus on your system could still send itself out to other machines.

In this situation, free anti-virus utilities such as AVG Free Edition (free.grisoft.com) can help you out.

Firefox may be safer than Internet Explorer, but lots of 3rd party ActiveX things don't work with it.

When using the Internet, the software installed on the machine you are using, whether at home or at an Internet Cafe abroad is the first thing that you should pay attention to, if you try to keep your computer and most importantly yourself away from security breaches that could affect you.

After the end of the browser war between Internet Explorer and Netscape, the dominance of IE meant that lots of malicious software was being written by opportunistic companies (Bonzi Buddy, Alexa) and individuals (viruses, worms & co).

Browser add-ons and plug-ins can make your Internet Explorer vulnerable, so it is advisable to only install what you know is safe (Encryption plug-in for your bank) and make use of free utilities such as Spybot S&D or Lavasoft AdAware to frequently
protect scan and remove software or 'cookies' that could track your identity.

Furthermore, make sure that your router box (for ADSL or Cable) has its hardware firewall enabled. In any case, normal firewalls only filter out data coming in at a certain 'port', meaning that a virus on your system could still send itself out to other machines.

Firefox may be safer than IE, but there are some 3rd party plug-ins that do not support it.