Earlier today I was sitting in the lounge of a major International airport and I connected my computer up to their free Internet service, via a wired connection, which is provided to all visitors of the lounge.
Literally within minutes my computer was being attacked, and fortunately I am running both Anti Virus software and a Firewall, which meant in this case, the attack was blocked. The software I am running also performs continual updates which means as long as I have a connection to the Internet I am updated with whatever updates and definition files are available.
Even so, I decided to remove my computer from their network as it was badly configured and unprotected!
The moral of the story is this, no matter where you are, no matter if you think your computer will be safe, always, always, always make sure that you are protected as best as possible. And always think before connecting to an unknown network, even if you would think that something provided by a reputable airline would be safe.
Not only were you fortunate enough to have updated antivirus and firewall applications, but you were fortunate in that you were using a notebook. Consider those who are buying netbooks…
Confused why is a Netbook is not as safe as a Notebook? My Netbook has Anti-Virus and Firewall where is the difference?
Keith
Andrew
The same would apply to bottom end Notebooks. My Acer netbook 1GB mem running XP PRO not Home is fast enough for my MS Office 2003 use with Avast protection AND defraged manually daily. I would not blame Netbooks blame users.
keith
I think it's a good article, thank's