At height of one frustrating and particularly badly written install attempt I imagined myself as John Cleese with a garden gnome under my arm hunting for writer. Anonymity on internet does has its advantages in this case.

Now, I know you will be cynical and say that most of this is down to fact that many script writers are hoping you will pay them to install their scripts for you, indeed many do offer installation services. This really is a bad way of advertising your services. There are plenty of people who will have trouble with easiest installs and if you wrote clear and concise documentation which any user can see is genuinely comprehensive, you are more likely to secure customers as a result of failed installs.

During this laborious exercise we went through scripts of all kinds some of which include; online photo albums, content management systems, member login and authentication scripts, virtual postcards, email programs, hosting scripts, live helper, communication, e commerce, shopping carts, quiz and chat programs to name but a few. We also purchased 3 scripts. Only one of those free scripts was simple to install and marginally better than free versions available. Paying money does not necessarily mean better service. In fact one photo album provider charging around $30 dollars per script provided bad install information and less than helpful advice, immediately deleting anything that mentioned install problems from his forum.

It has been an experience. If none of this has meant anything to you and you have no idea about scripting or installing scripts then consider yourself fortunate and leave it to geeks if you are able.

For those of you that regularly dive into scripting for your websites – here is a useful tip that saved us no end of time and frustration. The minute you come up against bad scripting, bad documentation or difficult to install scripts – trash them, ditch them and move on. There are plenty of others. Leave tricky badly written stuff to real hardcore freaks.

4. Never provide personal or financial information to a non-secure website. A "secure" website is indicated by "HTTPS" in address bar, and a small padlock icon in lower right-hand corner of your browser window. http://www.verisign.com/advisor/check.html is a free place to check your browser's security capabilities.

5. Never provide confidential or financial information in response to an email request. Legitimate companies will never ask for personal or financial information over an insecure medium like email. Attempts to trick people into revealing personal and financial information through impersonated email messages is known as "Phishing." Some of these messages look very official and may come what appears to be a bona fide bank or company. Beware! When unsure if an email message is genuine it's best to telephone company in question. Phishing email messages may be reported to http://www.antiphishing.org/.

6. Read fine print before typing in private personal information. Always read privacy policy of a website to understand how they will use your information. Will they share or sell it? Be suspicious if no privacy policy is visible.

7. Never download or accept any file or program from an un-trusted source. Adware and Spyware are frequently bundled with "free" programs. You may download one program and find that your computer becomes infected with a Spyware programs.

8. Be wary and virus check all email attachments. Never open an unexpected email attachment, even from known friends or business senders. Their computers may be infected. Self-spreading worms can infect a computer and then send an infected email-attachment to everyone in owner's address book.

Malicious Internet threats are clearly a formidable enemy; however, good news is that tools and information are readily available so that you can enjoy Internet without putting your computer and confidential information at risk.