How many of you know what a browser is? No, it’s not the lady who comes in and looks over everything and never buys. A web browser is the software that reads information (usually from the Internet), and makes it pretty on your screen. That is an overly-simple explanation, but I think it covers what we need here.

Almost everyone I know is using Internet Explorer(IE) by Microsoft. Primarily, this is because Microsoft pushes IE out with its operating system Windows. IE is just ‘there’, and works, so people use it. Unfortunately, the bad guys know this too and write malware (viruses, etc.) for Internet Explorer more than the other browsers combined. I have to admit, I first surfed the Internet using Explorer myself. The great news is that there are many free browsers to use for surfing, and they may suit you better.

Opera (opera.com) is a browser that has been around for some time. They are about to release version 10 to the public, but 9.6 is the current release. Some of the perks of Opera are that it can synchronize your information across different computers, check mail using the built-in email client, and preview news feeds from your favorite sites before you subscribe.

Opera also makes the claim that they have the fastest browser engine. This claim is hard to verify, but if speed is important to you, it might be worth downloading for a better experience.

A new entry for those using Windows is the Safari (apple.com/safari) browser from Apple. Safari has its own pros and cons. Most of its pros relate to being ‘pretty’ and being able to pass standards tests. The standards are important so that websites work properly across all browsers and everything works as it should. Unfortunately, this doesn’t really mean much to the average user. Also, Safari claims to be the fastest browser available. Are you noticing a trend here?

The last browser I will mention is Firefox (mozilla.com). Firefox (Fx) is an open-source browser from Mozilla. Since Firefox is open-source, anyone can look at the code that makes it run and find problems or fix them. Firefox also has an extensive range of ‘add-ons’ that people contribute to make Firefox able to do more than just surf the Internet.

For example, I use these add-ons: AdBlock, Xmarks, Twitterfox, and NoScript.

AdBlock stops me from seeing ads on websites. Imagine the Internet with no ads, and that’s how you can see it. Xmarks synchronizes bookmarks and passwords across different PCs like Opera does with ‘Opera Link’. Twitterfox updates me with my friends’ tweets from Twitter. Finally, NoScript stops Javascript from running without your permission, and I would not recommend using it unless you don’t mind learning how to allow scripts to run that you want.

Those add-ons make my browsing much cleaner and more useful for me. There are a great many more that do these same things, just in a slightly different way. There are also add-ons to do everything from posting to your blog to listening to music at Last.fm. Put simply, Firefox can be customized by adding and removing add-ons until you find what works for you. With its 3.5 release, Firefox promises to be faster and easier to use.

Put simply, there are choices out there to be had. My suggestion is to give one or each of these a try to see what works for you. After all, isn’t that what a ‘personal’ computer is all about?

Well, no, not exactly. The Web is a great tool and resource that a lot of people find incredibly useful. There are ways to access information once only available within libraries (www.wikipedia.com). There are resources to investigate and log your genealogy (www.geni.com).  Heck, you can even find video lectures from colleges that cost thousands of dollars to attend (www.tinyurl.com/lkgsq).

 Unfortunately, there are also a lot of bad guys who know that millions of people use the Internet to access the Web, and not everyone is as careful as they should be when accessing this wealth of knowledge. These same persons spend quite a bit of time and energy doing very little but trying to gain control of your computer and/or trying to get your personal information.

Why would people spend so much time and energy trying to break into your computer? The simplest answer is money. Even if you don’t do shopping or banking on the Web, will they bother with you? Absolutely. These hooligans might not get anything directly from your computer, but if they control it then they can use it together with others to attack a bank server or to send out spam (junk email) to people who will give up money in some way.

These infected computers are collectively called botnets, and vary in size. Here are some estimates of a few different ones and what they do: www.tinyurl.com/5rcz2w . Scared yet? You should be, but just in case you’re not, here’s something else to look at: www.tinyurl.com/spooknet .

This information is not meant to cause mass hysteria, only to let you know that there are bad guys in the world who do nothing but work all day everyday to do these bad things. Every time you connect to the Internet you are taking a chance on becoming their next victim. The good news is that you can reduce your risk.

Everyone who is fairly responsible should be running antivirus and firewall software on their computer, If you’re not, go download one of the free versions such as AVG or ZoneAlarm. Be aware they also offer pay versions, so be sure you download the FREE one and not the trial unless you want to pay for it, which is fine. The next step would be to have a spyware prevention/removal program installed as well. Spybot S&D is my personal favorite, but some people prefer AdAware. Either one is great, and both have free versions available for download.

I would also suggest having a router between your PC and the Internet. You do not have to use a wireless router, especially if you don’t need it. However, most routers have a built-in hardware firewall to help protect you. Plus, the router will spread your connection into another ‘subnetwork’ that the bad guys will have to get through to get access to your PC. It’s not foolproof, but will help.

If you don’t have broadband and need antivirus or firewall software, drop me an email. I will make a CD available for you so that you can have protection. We all need to be good netizens and keep ourselves safe from the criminals.

Got something you want to say? Well, the Internet is out there waiting for you to say it. Believe me, there are very easy ways to get your opinion or knowledge into print, audio, or even video for others to read, see, and hear – good or bad.

The simplest way to begin getting your opinions, thoughts, or experience ‘out there’ for the world to consume is to start ‘blogging’. Thankfully, there are many sites that offer the ability for you to sign up and ‘blog’ for free. You should be careful about using these free sites however as they will sometimes make you give up your rights to the content in exchange for the free service. Make sure to read the terms and conditions carefully.

Some free sites you can use for your writing are:

• blogger.com (Google)

• wordpress.com (WordPress)

• xanga.com (Xanga)

You could also purchase your own domain, hosting, and use a platform on that domain. That is more complicated, and will cost approximately $30 to start. This process is beyond the scope of the column, but email me if you have questions about the process and I will help as best I can. One local blog you might check out is www.blondish.net.

If you feel like creating something of the audio variety, called a podcast, you also will have some free ways to get your content out in the wild for the world to consume. You can create the audio simply by using Audacity (free at audacity.sourceforge.net) to record from a cheap microphone attached to your PC or laptop. Audacity allows you to edit audio files and export (save) them as mp3 files. Unfortunately, this usually involves owning your own domain that you will host your podcasts.

If you don’t feel like editing your audio, there are websites that allow you to record and store them on their site for free. Again, be careful with these sites as they will often place advertisements in your podcast (audio) or tacked onto the end. If you want complete control, you will probably prefer to spend a small amount of cash and have complete control of your product.

Video is very similar to audio in that there are free sites to host them, and you can record them for free using a site such as Ustream. Unfortunately video files are much larger than audio and you will spend a much larger amount on hosting (cost for your own site) if you decide to go that route. Video editing is much more difficult than audio, and the programs can be very expensive as well.

To be honest, the Internet is full of blogs that contain writing, audio, and video. The sad fact is that most of these blogs have been abandoned once the ‘new’ wore off of whatever the people were doing. The worst part of that result is lots of clutter all around the web that we have to wade through. Be sure that you can make it past the first month before you begin. Writing is more difficult than most people imagine, just ask my editor.

I’m about to start reposting bits that I’ve had in the newspaper. You won’t see all of them, but most. Since the paper isn’t posting them online and I still have copies, enjoy.