Here are some suggested resolutions:

1. Update antivirus software at least daily - new viruses, worms, and Trojans are appearing at a rapid pace, with an estimated 12,000 new ones appearing in 2004 alone. New viruses can spread around the world literally in minutes, so antivirus software that has not been updated at least daily may be worse than no antivirus software at all. We may have a false sense of security using non-updated software, believing that we are protected from the current crop of viruses, so we click on any interesting email attachments, and insert that questionable floppy in our computers, a dangerous practice. Considering that there are a variety of free antivirus products available, and commercial antivirus software is reasonably priced (especially after rebates), there is absolutely no reason why not to have current antivirus software that is updated at least daily.

2. Spam mail - Delete them without opening them, period. As 2004 came to a close, estimates are that up to 80% of all email is spam. Never purchase anything that is advertised by spam email. Never click on a link in spam email, as many links may load Trojans on your computer, or result in identity theft. Never disclose any personal information such as account numbers, passwords, social security numbers, PIN numbers, etc. in response to an email, even if it says that your account will be threatened if you do not click on the link. This illicit and criminal practice is a method of identity theft called "phishing". Many who market via spam mail are scammers and thieves who make unverifiable claims about their products, sell pirated software, or who will take your hard earned money and send nothing useful back in return.

3. Never click on a popup ad. While many are legitimate sellers, many are also scams. As long as we click on them, and sometimes make purchases, the popup purveyors will continue to plague us with their material.

4. Practice good email etiquette, also called "netiquette" - If forwarding emails to others, do not simply hit "forward" and enter names from your address book. Having a lot of headers, those lines of others' email addresses and routing information, as well as a lot of ">" (greater-than) symbols makes email difficult to read. Strip off any useless header by painting and deleting them, and delete the ">".

   Another beneficial piece of netiquette is to be sure that attachments are reasonable in size. Since many newer digital cameras can take poster-sized images, users should reduce the size of emailed images to a reasonable size, such that they can be easily viewed. It would also be a good idea to save the image in the universal JPG or GIF formats, rather than the sometimes-default BMP format, as the JPG and GIF formats greatly compress the file, making it a much smaller download. I sometimes resent receiving a digital photo taken at 2560x1720 or larger, when trying to view it; recently, some one proudly sent me a 4 megapixel photo of his new grandchild, to view on my 800x600 monitor. When I first loaded the image, all I saw was a huge eye, and with red-eye at that.

   Not just was the file size huge, and slow to download, but the image was several times the size of my screen, requiring me to scroll to see the image.

5. Do not forward Hoaxes and Urban Legends - These may be cute, or we may feel that we are really warning others about some perceived threat, but please check out any email which says "forward this to everyone you know" as it will most likely be a hoax or urban legend. Sites such as www.snopes.com are excellent resources to debunk hoaxes and urban legends. Be aware that you can not get rich, or get gift certificates by forwarding emails, and that the poor dying kid in Georgia wanting postcards has long since recovered. Save yourself some potential embarrassment and email bandwidth, and refuse to forward these messages without first verifying their authenticity. Smart people can be duped too, so do not automatically trust the sender.

6. Kill Spyware - According to many cyber security experts, spyware, software that can gather and send information of the users' activities, may be a greater threat than computer viruses. Spyware is used to steal passwords, account numbers, and other personal information, as well as generate obscene popup ads, redirect purchases and searches, and several other undesirable acts. Also referred to as "malware" spyware is dangerous. Microsoft, never first on the bandwagon, is now in the process of attempting to purchase one of the anti-spyware software companies. While there are several decent commercial anti-spyware products on the market, there are also some excellent free ones, such as Spybot Search and Destroy (www.safer-networking.org) and Ad-Aware SE (www.lavasoftusa.com). Never respond to the scam popup ads that tell you that your computer is infested, and click here ... many of those supposed anti-spyware products are scams themselves.

   Install legitimate anti spyware software, update it and run it at least weekly.

All of the resolutions above are necessary, and easier to keep than losing weight.

For more information on the Tulsa Computer Society click here