The good news is that the average home network owners/users (meaning people who have done little or nothing to improve security) can dramatically improve the security of their computers, their networks, and the protection of their personal information with just a couple of steps.

Security is a very broad topic, but if we could recommend three minimum measures everyone should implement, they would be to install anti-virus software and keep it up to date, turn on wireless security for your wireless network, and protect your network and computer with firewalls.

None of this is "bullet proof" of course, but a few steps can make you considerably less vulnerable to bad things happening to your network, or your personal information.

David: What's the best way to keep my network and PCs safe from viruses?

Jim and Neil: The "best" way is to install an anti-virus program that protects against known viruses, but also checks against "suspicious behaviors" that may be undiscovered viruses (or worms for that matter, and we explain what the difference is). There are very good programs on the market from vendors such as Symantec and McAfee. They cost an initial fee and an annual subscription to continue to receive the latest virus threat information, but they're well worth the cost. If you want to skimp on your home networking expenses, this is not the place to do it.

Another thing you must do (yes we said must) is keep your operating system software updated. It might seem like a pain to download the latest Windows security patches, but the reason they provide the patch is that someone (a good guy, or a hacker) has discovered an exploitable hole in the software, and the patch plugs the hole. You should make sure you have the latest operating system updates every month or so. Windows XP makes it easy by automatically checking for updates over the Internet and notifying you when they're available.

David: What do I need to do to protect my wireless network?

Jim and Neil: Unfortunately, in order to make wireless networks so easy to set up in your house, wireless routers out-of-the-box have little or no security turned on. Because most people either don't understand the necessity to turn on wireless security measures, or perhaps get baffled by the terminology and options available, many wireless home networks are left wide-open. Leaving your wireless network open is like having your front door unlocked: eventually someone is going to walk in and take something.

There are several very basic steps you can take to secure your wireless network against the most common intrusions, including changing the SSID on your wireless router to something other than the default, disabling SSID broadcasting, most importantly turn on data encryption, such as WEP, or preferably WPA, and finally, change the administrator password of your wireless router.

Again, nothing is bulletproof, but the simple steps we provide will protect your network from the casual intruder by making you the harder target to crack in your neighborhood. Most intruders will likely move on to easier targets.