The concerns of Internet Security have grown today like never before. Despite the continuous attempts of Internet community, the threats are increasing and getting more and more vicious by each passing day.

There are many Internet Security tools available in the market. Some of them are outstanding. But still, none of them is perfect. It can't be. The best protection is in your own hands. Follow a disciplined approach while using Internet services.

1. Be careful about using MS Outlook. Outlook is more susceptible to worms than other e-mail programs, unless you have efficient Anti-Virus programs running. Use Pegasus or Thunderbird (by Mozilla), or a web-based program such as Hotmail or Yahoo.

2. Take special precaution while dealing with email attachments. Be cautious about attachments with a double extension, such as .txt.vb or .jpg.exe, as the system will only recognize the extension to the extreme right, and run the file as such. Double extensions are often a good indicator that the file is malicious.

3. Do not use disks that other people gave you, even from work. The disk could be infected with a virus. Of course, you can run a virus scan on it first to check it out, but AV programs are not 100% effective.

4. Do not download software from just any website. If it is a reputable site that you trust, you are probably safe. The threat is not only from software; even other file types like .txt, .doc, .xml can have infections.

5. Be careful when surfing. You might get a malicious script from a webpage without even getting a warning. Tweak your Browser settings for maximum safety.

6. Try to balance paranoia with common sense. Some people get really weird about viruses, spyware, etc. It's just a computer! Back up your data and follow these steps, and it shouldn't be a big problem.

7. Setup your download manager to scan a download first before you open it. When you click to download a file from Internet, generally browser gives two options. To save it on the Disk or To Open the file with the default program. Always choose the first option, because, it ensures that the download is first scanned with your antivirus, before saving it on the disk.