Would you go away on holiday and leave the windows of your house open?

Does the computer you use to surf the Net have other valuable information on it?

These three scenarios have a lot in common -- you're putting your property at risk.

The recent rapid proliferation of the Happy99 and Melissa virus/trojans combined with the spate of Back Orifice infections that have occurred in the past six months is a clear indicator that most people really do put their information at risk when they log on to the Net.

Regular Net users who check such things will probably be surprised at the number of times their computers are probed by others looking for "a way in" while they're online. If you want to protect *your* system, check out some of the convenient monitoring programs such as NukeNabber which will keep a wary eye out for such attempted incursions.

I'm actually starting to wonder if those Net users who also use their computers for business or other applications that could result in "sensitive" information being stored on their disks might not be best advised to fork out for another machine (second-and or budget priced) just for surfing the Net.

Unfortunately, due to the naivety of the average Net user and the Microsoft's rather skimpy attention to the subject of security in its operating systems and browsers, finding a way in is often far too easy.

By simply using their favourite search engine, even the most unskilled malicious or curious cracker can find a plethora of "canned" tools for breaking in to other people's computers -- and if you're not ready for their attentions -- this could mean problems for *you*.

For instance... if you're running Windows/NT -- have you installed service pack 4? If you're running Win'95 -- have you installed all the security patches that have been posted to date?

And... if you're running IE5...

A "smart feature" that threatens to disclose your credit card details, window spoofing, and now a little "feature" that allows sites to tell if you're bookmarking their pages.

Okay, so this last one is more a "privacy" than a "security" issue and it probably doesn't worry most people whether a site knows that you've bookmarked it -- but the point is that anyone who uses a release *zero* program which connects to the Net is taking a fairly significant risk.

I'm not about to single out Microsoft -- Netscape's browsers are just as bad in their initial release state and I think the problem boils down to the fact that today's browsers are simply too big and complex to allow full and proper testing in the timeframes that the marketing geeks allow.

Of course if you're really security conscious and you want a small, highly standards-compliant browser (albeit at a small price) then don't forget to check out Opera.

Meanwhile we wait for the first open-source version of Netscape Navigator and Communicator.

As mentioned in an issue of Aardvark Daily this week, it seems as if the "big guys" have finally realised that the Net is becoming a very viable alternative to radio-frequency broadcasting for the purposes of radio and TV-type programme material.

I've long held the belief that the Net will eventually create an environment where anyone who wants to can create their own "Wayne's World" content and reach a global audience -- it seems the mainstream broadcasters are waking up to this as well.

Microsoft's new audio streaming software is interesting -- but seems to fly in the face of the "open standards" mantra of the Net.

Sure the files are smaller, it supports copy protection, micro-payments and a wealth of other features that will doubtless appeal to the existing recording and broadcasting industries -- but will it fly with users?

It's a bit hard to tell -- but initial reports indicate that for some reason, even the recording industry is giving it the cold shoulder.

Let's face it, 90 percent of all the music audio files that pass across the Net are illegal copies of copyright material ripped from CDs -- certainly the Microsoft solution isn't going to appeal to this crowd.

I also wonder, given the huge negative feelings that are being shown towards Microsoft at present and the shift towards "open source" alternatives such as Linux -- will anyone want to get locked into "yet another proprietary standard" from Billy Boy?

Only time will tell.

In the meantime however, I'm working on a little feature which will document just how difficult or easy it is to become a "small-time" radio or TV broadcaster using the Net.

I've collected the necessary hardware and software here and will be "playing around" as time allows -- documenting my findings and highlighting the pitfalls. Budding broadcasters stay tuned!

Do *YOU* Believe it's true?