More sophisticated firewall that are popular among small businesses are Norton Internet Security 2002 and Norton Personal Firewall 2002.

4. Shut down computers when not in use for rest of day. Or physically disconnect your computers from Internet. If you use a high-speed broadband connection, turn off your high-speed modem when not in use.

5. All email attachments are to be regarded with particular suspicion, since most viruses today are transmitted as attachments via email. Use your anti-virus software to scan any attachment before opening it. It's also a good idea never to open an attachment unless you know person who sent it to you.

6. Check your application software vendors' web sites regularly for security patches. Keep up with computer security issues in news that might affect you.

7. Make sure you scan all floppy disks that you receive from an outside source or that have been inside another computer before using disks. Likewise, scan all downloaded files before using them, and only download files from trusted sources.

8. Educate all your employees regarding computer virus. Most viruses today are transmitted through emails with attachments, engineered to appeal to recipient by promising a free screen saver, party pictures, or photos of celebrities.

Email attachments are to be regarded with particular suspicion, since most real-world viruses today are transmitted as attachments via email. Use your virus software to scan any attachment before opening it. It's also a good idea never to open an attachment unless you know person from whom it came.

9. Consider purchasing computer system insurance. Most standard commercial insurance policies exclude intangibles like data and software. But insurers are starting to fill that gap with technology risk insurance, which can be added as an endorsement or purchased as a specialty policy.

Such policies pay for replacing software and reinstalling data, as well as lost revenue for business interruption, if you are victim of a hacker or virus attack.

10. If you do not feel your small business has technology expertise in house to handle your computer system backups and monitor security -- consider out-sourcing your security needs.

Your personal peace of mind will more than make-up your efforts and small cost outlay.

Copyright Steven Presar

Be sure to go online and update virus scanning utility regularly so that you can protect your system from latest computer virus circulating. New viruses circulate Internet daily and you will not be fully protected unless your virus detection software is as current as possible. Another basic virus protection tip -- most computer viruses are transmitted via email attachments. Thus, do not open email attachments from email addresses that you do not know.

Be sure to keep your Windows Start-up disk (3 1/2" "diskettes") or CD, current. It may be your only way to recover from a Windows start-up problem when your hard drive "boot" files have become corrupted. [Go to START, SETTINGS, ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS, then select STARTUP DISK tab.]

If you have make it this far, here are three most important points of this article;

~ Backup your files ~ Backup your files ~ Backup your files

As mention before, whether you are struck by a hard drive crash or a victim of one of ever increasing number of computer viruses circulating today, how quickly you can recover or even prevent it -- may determine whether it is a disaster or an inconvenience.

The most important thing that you can do on that point is to backup all of your critical data files on a regular basis.

Disks (3 1/2" "diskettes") are still most common way most people back-up their data files. The data files are files that you want to make sure that you back-up on a regular bases. Data files are files that you build when you use a program or "application" such as your word processor or spread sheet. You should schedule your backup of these files according to importance of information stored within file. If it is your daily client contact list or accounts receivables information that are critical to success of your business, then backup those files every day. Other data information files may only have to be backed-up once a week.

Since you have your original applications on CD or disk, you do not have to back-up those program files at all. You may use original CD or disk to reinstall application as needed.

Generally, CDs are a more durable back-up medium. More and more people are using their read/write CD drive to handle their data back-up.

If you have a lot of data or images to back-up, look into adding a Zip drive to your computer. The detachable Zip disks store as much information as old hard drives of a few years ago.

Keep in mind that there is no such thing as a lost cause when it comes to computer recovery. Any data can be recovered, it depends on how important it is and how much money you're willing to spend. Even if you fail to properly prepare for recovery, you can turn process over to your local computer professional to attempt to recover your computer system -- at a price!

Copyright Steven Presar