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It takes a bit of money to get set up for doing business on the internet. Once you begin doing business, protecting your computer and its data becomes extremely important. You can't afford downtime. The internet is no longer a place to play. It is your business. And you must keep your business investment safe.

At one time, if you didn't open attachments or use a floppy disc, you were safe from viruses. Spyware and trojan horses didn't exist. Those days are gone. If your computer is hooked up to the internet through broadband cable or DSL, you are constantly bombarded with programs probing IP addresses looking for unprotected computers. It's just a matter of time before they find you.

Use firewall/anti-virus software

This is some of the best insurance you can have. Viruses can not only delete data on your hard drive but can add new programs to your computer. A common technique is to turn your computer into a "zombie." This is a program hidden on your machine that let's other computers on the internet take over control of your computer. A common practice is to turn your machine into a spammer. As a result, your machine may begin to run very slowly as you surf the net because of the many emails you are unknowingly sending. You may also find you are in trouble with your ISP for sending this spam and may lose your internet service. You email may also be banned from other servers so you are no longer able to send email without it bouncing.

A firewall and virus protection is a must to avoid these problems. The best bang for the buck, in my opinion, is Zone Alarm with Anti-virus which runs about $25 for the download. McAfee and Norton also make good products but I find Norton to be a resource hog and it slows the operation of my computers. Zone Alarm is cheaper, as well. These programs will automatically update themselves so you can stop any new viruses.

Using programs like this will help prevent hackers from gaining access to your computer and will notify you when any program tries to access the internet. You can deny access to the internet if your machine has become a zombie and you will know to correct the problem.

Keep your computer clean of spyware

Spyware can range from programs installed on your computer without your knowledge to innocuous cookies that track where you have been. Programs interfere with the performance of your computer and can present popup ads when visiting sites that do not even use popups.

Programs can be loaded onto your machine by unscrupulous web sites that encourage you to click on offers of free (fill in the blank). Sites that target teens are noted for doing this. Also a problem is free software downloads such as those used for downloading music. They have to make money somehow. Many of them contain spyware packages.

A good example of this is a free anti-virus package my son downloaded to protect his computer. Soon afterwards, he was complaining about how slow his machine was running. He ran a spyware removal program which found and removed some spyware. However, the next time he attempted to reboot his computer, it hung and wouldn't finish loading Windows. It turned out that his "free" anti-virus program stopped and waited (indefinitely) to load its spyware - which was no longer there. Removing the anti-virus program brought his computer back to normal and he now buys ZoneAlarm to protect his computer.

Beware of spam and popup offers of free software that will rid your computer of spyware. Companies that make money using spyware have developed programs that will removed spyware - all except their own.

The top spyware removal programs are Adaware and Spybot Search and Destroy. The good news is that the personal versions are free so you have no excuse for not using one of them.

Backup your data

Most people think of hard drives as permanent data storage. Hard drives once came with a 3-year warranty against failure. Most drives now come with a 1-year warranty. You pay a premium price for a 3-year warranty. Why the change? Hard drives fail. They fail often enough that manufacturers changed their warranty to protect their profitability.

Create periodic backups of your data, the information you cannot reconstruct. You generally don't need to worry about programs as they can be reinstalled. I like to put my information in a folder I call "data" so I only need to backup that one folder. Data scattered all over your hard drive can be a real pain.

If you are concerned about backing up your entire drive, get a second hard drive if you have large amounts to backup. Drives are cheap. A DVD burner can also be used but you will be limited to a little over 4 gigs of storage. There are a number of suitable products on the market such as Ghost and Drive Image for duplicating drives as well as a built-in backup utility that comes with Windows.

Run Scandisk

Scandisk is a Window's program that automatically runs when your computer is turned off without Shutdown. However, you can run this program from My Computer by right-clicking on your drive and selecting the Properties tab and then Tools. When you run it, check the "Scan for and attempt to recover bad sectors." If your drive begins to have additional bad sectors when you run this, your hard drive may be nearing failure. Replace it while you have access to the data. Ghost and Drive Image can duplicate your hard drive.

Use a surge protector

You paid good money for your computer and all the peripherals. Don't take a chance on getting it fried with an electrical surge. All it takes is a lightening strike on a nearby utility pole to send a 20,000 or 30,000 volt surge through your electrical lines. A surge protector can prevent it from reaching your equipment. I also use one on my home entertainment system.

When buying a surge protector, don't go for cheap. You'll probably have your computer, monitor, printer, and maybe a few power supplies for other devices all hooked up together. Look at the amount of protection you get listed in joules of energy. The more equipment you put on the protector, the higher the rating should be. Also get one that takes your phone or cable connection. Surges can come through those lines as well.

Browse with Mozilla

Simply surfing the net can be dangerous. Some web sites make their money selling advertising through the use of pop-up ads and by loading spyware onto your computer. This is most often done through Internet Explorer's security risks such as Microsoft's Active-X Controls. Spyware can make you a target of pop-up ads as well as sending information to advertisers about your surfing habits.

There are two browsers that can help you avoid these problems. The first is Firefox. It is lean and fast and offers many features not found in Internet Explorer. Mozilla is the big brother to Firefox. It has some addition browser features but also contains an email client. This is the one I use.

Don't waste time with spam

Spam is a big time waster. Mozilla Mail has a feature that will automatically place spam in a "junk" folder. You must first teach it to recognize spam. This is done with a simple click of the mouse on the email you don't want to see again. At first, you will need to periodically check your junk folder to make sure it is sorting your mail properly. Unclick the ones you want to receive and move them back to your inbox. The more you use Mozilla Mail, the better it gets at filtering spam. You can also set up accounts for other email addresses. I use more than a dozen, one for each web site.

I have many, many spam filters at the server level. Even so, I receive about 500 spams a day from my many email accounts. Mozilla Mail catches 90% of these and moves them to the junk folder automatically. This way I do not have to deal with them. For me, it is a huge time saver.

Use these tips and you will keep your computer and the information it stores safe. You will also save yourself a lot of time and anguish when things go wrong - because they will, eventually.