Exercise and diet are two important things you can do to maintain a healthy and productive lifestyle. Just like keeping your body fit, your computer needs a good routine to help avoid data loss, new viruses, spyware and other potential risks. Software makers routinely create updates for their products, in some cases to provide feature improvements, but also as the first line of defense in keeping your computer as secure as possible. This section provides you with the information to get and keep your computer in good working shape.

From a security and safety perspective you will, at minimum, want to make sure that your operating system, anti-virus and anti-spyware products are kept up to date. In addition, you want to make sure you update any additional software you use for browsing the Internet (if you use a product other than Microsoft Internet Explorer which is updated as part of Microsoft Windows), or for e-mail and online gaming.

Operating Systems

New operating systems are more secure than old operating systems, and are designed to help you keep up to date more easily. If you are a Windows user, Windows XP SP2 is the most secure option with built in protection against the most security issues (see table below). If you are a Windows XP user that has not installed SP2, then you should do so immediately. It's free, just turn on automatic updates and let the system take care of it for you. If you use Windows 2000, you can also turn on automatic updates to receive security updates, but your system does not have a built in firewall, malware protection, pop up blocking or SPAM protection so you need to address those issues separately.

If you are a Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me user there are fewer security features built into these products and it requires more work for you to maintain some level of security. These operating systems were designed and built before the Internet became popular; defending themselves against the kinds of threats that have emerged on the Internet isn't something these operating systems are capable of doing. Windows 95 is no longer supported by Microsoft and no security updates are available. Only security updates considered critical are available for Windows 98 and Windows Me, but this support ends on June 30, 2006. All protection you have with firewalls, anti-virus, and anti-spyware programs will come from third party software vendors, not all of which are easy to use and keep updated.

How you keep your operating system up to date depends on your system, and how recently it was published. For Windows users the first thing you need to do is choose the operating system that your computer is using. Users of Microsoft Windows XP and Windows 2000 are all able to enable automatic updates. Just pick a time that is convenient for you, keep your computer on at that time, and the system will keep itself current. Users of Windows 98 need to install updates manually. Following the links below will make sure you get the guidance you need.

• Windows XP with Service Pack 2
• Windows XP without Service Pack 2
• Windows 2000
• Windows Me
• Windows 95/98/NT

Macintosh computer users, get security information on the Apple security site.

The graph below shows the security features that are built into the different versions of Windows:

Anti-virus & Anti-Spyware

There are a number of reputable companies that make both anti-virus and anti-spyware products. While you should only run one anti-virus tool on your computer, some more sophisticated consumers actually use a few anti-spyware tools. The challenge for consumers is that the threat presented by worms, viruses and spyware (what many call "malware") tends to change quickly. The perpetrators of these programs are consistently trying to find new ways to break the system. That means it is extremely important to make sure that anti-virus and anti-spyware products are installed correctly and kept up to date regularly. All too often, people have a false sense of security because they think they have the right tools installed, but find themselves in trouble because simply because the product isn't set up correctly or their subscription runs out.