Keep Your System Updated!

ZDNet leads with an overly provocative headline, but it has a point: Most drive-by computer infections by viruses and other malware use old vulnerabilities for which patches are already available.

Keep all your software up to date. Don’t stop with the built-in updater for Windows/Mac, but also keep Firefox or Chrome (or your preferred web browser) current, Adobe Reader, Flash, Java, plugins, etc. — anything that connects to the Internet or opens files that you download from the Internet.

Sure, it can take time – but a lot of software will notify you or even auto-update these days (though you may have to turn those updates on). And if you can’t take the time to get everything, just keeping up with those key programs listed above can save you a lot of grief.

A good rule of thumb is to check your other software when Windows updates: once a month, on the second Tuesday. That makes it easy to remember.