It's very important that you keep your browsers up-to-date. When a new service pack or security patch is released, get it as soon as possible! This is particularly important for Internet Explorer, but you should update all of your browsers regularly.
The importance of this cannot be overstated. Although you may normally restrict your browsing to websites that are almost always "safe", there are unfortunately those on the Internet that constantly try to come up with ways to exploit Internet Explorer security holes to cause damage. These people may place rogue code on innocent-looking webpages and try attracting people to visit such sites. Do so with an un-patched version of Internet Explorer, and who knows what could happen? At best, perhaps your home page or search page may get changed without your knowledge. At worst, your browser may crash, your entire computer may crash, or your computer could get infected with a virus.
To find out what updates are available to your browser, open Internet Explorer, choose "Tools", then "Internet Update". Scan for updates and apply the latest browser and patch hot-fixes. Or go to http://update.microsoft.com to update all your Microsoft software.
SSH (Secure Shell) is a communications program that provides you with a secure connection to a remote computer. It replaces the older Telnet program, which has a serious security problem. When you use Telnet, your ID and password are transmitted as plain text. Unscrupulous users can easily capture these crucial pieces of data, putting your work (and the Unix system you're connecting to) at risk. SSH, on the other hand, encrypts and decrypts all traffic between your Windows computer and the remote machine. Even if your data is intercepted, it will be useless to anyone else.
You can use a SSH account to secure FTP files as well.
Macintosh OSX – Fugu ssh http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/internet_utilities/fugu.html
PC – Windows –PuTTY
http://www.putty.nl/download.html
This page was last updated on 5/15/08.