Take a trip with me

Picture this if you would.

You're a little kid again - or maybe you're just acting like one. It's a new day. You jump out of bed and get dressed to go outside. You're all clean and bright and shiny and it's a beautiful day out there.

You leave your house. If you leave your windows and doors unlocked somebody might break in, but we'll ignore that for the moment.

You wander down your own street. You've walked this road a thousand times, so it's safe. I mean, there's Mrs. Jeffrie's dog, but you don't go in her yard, so you're okay.

Wait! Here's a strange street. You've never been here before. Ooooh, it looks like fun, though it doesn't seem quite so sunny, but that's okay. You're brave. Off you go wandering down this street.

Some strange, sticky thing just stuck to the bottom of your clean shoes. Something smelly, like old cheese, just clung to your pants. The dirt in this road seems to float around you, like the dirt around Pigpen (thank you Charles Schulz). Some of it coats your clothes. Some dirt even gets in your mouth.

Maybe you even stop and play in that dirt pile over there. You know it's not a good thing to do, but it's too enticing.

Someone offers you a treat. Maybe he even tells you it's a vitamin and it's good for you. Maybe it is. Probably it isn't.

Now you feel sick. You're not moving as fast as you used to. You're not thinking as clearly as normal. Everywhere you go you spread dirt, and maybe, just maybe, a little disease too.

That's your computer every time you take it into the internet. It will always get a little dirty. It is always in danger.

Please, please keep it clean. Avoid web sites that might carry a virus, a Trojan or a worm. Run cleaning programs to remove all the dirt you collect in your normal travels - even if you don't see it, it's there.

If your computer does get infected, then you have to clean it up so it can go out into that dirty internet again. There's ways to do that. Coming soon.