On December 27th when I did the diary I commented on how quiet it had been.  Well it appears the quiet ended and I perhaps jinxed us.  The question is - how many of the new computers out of the box and connected to the Net have been fully updated, patched and AV protected?  How many new computers are being protected by a firewall of some type?

I purchased new computers for my grown, married children and their families for Christmas.  They each had really old hand me downs and it was time to get them up to date.  My daughter and her husband didn't even have an email address of their own, they came to my house and used mine.  So for Christmas I decided to give their families something they could really use. 

Before those machines even made it under the tree - they were completely updated.  (That is what I spent late Christmas Eve doing). I installed a software firewall program and antivirus program on them as well as AdAware and Spybot. I uninstalled all of the junk programs that the vendor had put on the machines (Kazaa Lite, etc...). Their email was setup and all of the updates were done.  They have been instructed on running scans and making sure that the live update is running. I have instructed them on what not to do (open unsolicited emails, click on links or attachments from unsolicited emails), don't download, stay out of chat rooms, etc.....

I contacted them yesterday and reminded them not to open ANY attachments or links in any email that they were not specifically expecting. And to stay out of the IM's.

Here is hoping that this will keep them safe for the next few days.  How about you?  Have you adequately protected your computer? Do you have a current AV program that has updated defs?  Do you have a firewall?

Have a Happy New Year everyone.