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Internet security is a heightening concern with the high-speed Internet connections most consumers are going to. When you're on the Internet you are open to a variety of security threats like viruses, Trojan horses, Identity theft, E-mail monitoring, Website monitoring, and even death in the worst-case scenarios.

Virus can do a lot of damage to your system if you let them get on. They can delete files that are critical for your system to run properly. They can gather personal information from your files and send it out over the Internet, for somebody to steal your identity. There have even been instances where the virus uses your computer to transmit SPAM or Internet junk mail to millions of users.

Viruses and Trojan horses are major concerns but they are fairly easy to protect yourself from. There are quite a few companies out there who make virus-scanning software that you load on your computer to prevent viruses from getting on. They usually run between twenty to forty dollars and come with one year of free updates. The free updates are extremely important because you should update your virus scanning software every fifteen days. By going with one of the major companies you are going to get faster updates because of their larger twenty-four seven staff.

Virus should be your only concern though. With everybody switching over to high-speed Internet access it giving hackers and easier job target who they want to get. High-speed access varies a little from regular access. When you dial your ISP you are automatically assigned a random IP address for a modem and you will use that until you log off. Next time you get on though you will most likely have a different IP address making hard for a hacker to lock on and attack your computer.

But with high-speed access your computer is assigned it own IP that never changes. Once they have your address they can pretty much do what ever they want unless your protect yourself. With dialup it's like you move to a new house everyday. By doing so it's going to be a lot harder for somebody to track you down. The high-speed access though is like staying in the same house for ten years. Everybody will know where you live.

The best way to protect your-self is through a firewall. Firewalls only allow authorized communication to pass through them. With out a firewall your computer will be friendly and respond if someone calls it. For example if someone knocks at your door you generally open and say hello. Now they know you are home and

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