Beware phony hot spots

Watch out for this latest hot spot scam -- someone surreptitiously sets up a hot spot near a cafe, created for the sole purpose of stealing personal information. You're asked to type in sensitive information in order to log in, and the thief makes off with your passwords and financial information. Ask a staffer at the cafe if there is, in fact, a hot spot available, and what its name is. Only connect to that network. And if you see two hot spots with the same name, don't connect to either --- one might be a so-called "evil twin" set up by a snooper to trick you into connecting to the phony hot spot.

Turn on your firewall

Windows XP and Windows Vista both have personal firewalls built in, so turn them on. In Windows XP, choose ControlPanel-->Security Center, then click the Windows Firewall icon at the bottom of the screen. From the page that appears, select On, and click OK.

In Windows Vista, choose ControlPanel-->Security-->Windows Firewall. The screen that appears will tell you if the firewall is turned on. If it's not, click Change Settings, select On, and click OK.