Welcome to the Neighborhood

Definitely worth a read, especially if you're computer-illiterate:

Originally Posted by The Spyware Weekly Newsletter

Welcome to the Neighborhood
So you got a new PC for Christmas. Maybe it is the first PC you have ever owned and someone was kind enough to send you here to read this. If you are just now experiencing the internet for the first time, I have some bad news for you. This is a very bad neighborhood. Many of the houses are boarded up. There is trash in the street. People will jump in your face and try to sell you things you don't want. And there are people waiting for you to walk down the wrong alleyway so they can mug you. Welcome to the World Wide Web.

If this is your first time on the web, I guarantee you, you are going to be mugged sooner or later. If you have been here before but are now using a shiny new PC, chances are better than average you will be mugged too. That is, unless you follow the advice that I am about to give.

More so than ever before, a computer connecting to the internet today is in danger of becoming infected by everything from viruses to trojans to adware and spyware. These days, you really don't have to do much to become infected. You don't have to open an email attachment. You don't have to be tricked into downloading and running a strange file. These days, all you really have to do is connect to the internet and surf around a little. Chances are good that you will be infected by something by the end of the day.

To help you keep your new PC clean, this newsletter will be a republication of my two most popular articles, the Browser Hijacker articles. Follow the advice in these articles and you will be far less likely to become infected by the parasites flooding the internet today. The first article will help you protect your PC from becoming infected in the first place. The second article, how to clean up a hijacker-infected PC, is a little out of date. Still, it will point you in the right direction if you do become hijacked.

If you know someone who has received their first computer for Christmas and is brand new to the internet, I strongly urge you to send them a link to this page. You will be doing them a big favor. http://www.spywareinfo.net/jan13,2005

As long my compy is safe from Syphillis, I am all set...

Oh wait, that's something else o_O

And that article is so true. Just opening up the internet, all those germs can rush in and eat away at your motherboard like it was no one's business... meh

I've only got pop-up ads once on me crappy old Windows 98 computer... all you need is a firewall and not to be so stupid clicking on "You have just won a IPOD or a Xbox a P2 and you have even won the world... just click here*

and you will be fine

Not true, though that should be evident after actually reading the article.