A couple of weeks ago, I attended an all-day workshop on computer safety and security called "Desktop Self Defense". It was sponsored by InfoPeople, an organization devoted to helping libraries with computer technology and training. The workshop covered things we could do to help defend our pcs from viruses and e-mail worms, information on how to recognize scams, spam and phishing, and also on how to create and use free "throwaway" e-mail accounts to spare our "real" account from becoming the recipient of too much spam.
Each InfoPeople course comes with "bookmarks" - a list of web resources used or featured in the workshop. This workshop provided us with a great collection of free web resources that I highly recommend for everyone who uses the Internet at home! Among its several dozen resources, it includes links to free programs you can download to protect your computer against spyware and adware, a free firewall, and a link to information about downloading and installing the Firefox browser.
Although I didn't learn too much that was totally new to me, it was very useful to hear the horror stories of the participants, and to be able to ask questions and hear tips and comparisons for the sites and downloads I'd only read about. I'm just glad we haven't yet (knock on wood) had any major run-ins with some of the malicious stuff that's out there. Now, armed with this new information, I have taken steps to secure my li'l pc.
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