Tips to help avoid becoming a victim of Cybercrime 2 of 3

Don’t share a computer

But simply staying away from the seamier side of the internet is no guarantee that you won't run into malware.

Sophisticated crooks have taken to hacking into legitimate sites and infecting them with trojans or viruses that can be passed on to you. Cluley notes that about 8,000 websites a day are infected with malware, and 70 per cent of those are what are commonly considered to be safe, mainstream sites. That means that you can pick up an unwanted intruder while innocently shopping for electronics or checking the weather.

An alternative to having two computers is to equip your machine with a removable drive tray that fits into a computer's standard CD/DVD bay (less than 10 minutes of work with a screwdriver, or you can have one installed at a computer store). It allows you to put hard drives into cartridges that can be swapped in and out of the machine in seconds. You can set up one "secure" drive with an operating system for things like banking, e-commerce and office work, and set up another drive that you and the kids can use for general surfing.

Using removable drive trays is almost as simple as swapping a DVD in your home theatre system: Power down the computer, remove one drive, slide the other drive into the computer to replace it, and reboot. A removable tray and medium-capacity hard drive can be had for around $100, saving money and space since you only need one computer, mouse, keyboard and monitor.

Install patches

Malware often gets into your machine by exploiting loopholes in operating systems and other software. Make sure you download available patches and updates to fix these vulnerabilities as soon as they become available.

Most good software will do this automatically — all you have to do is say "yes" when it asks you whether you want to install an update. With older software and peripherals, you may have to visit the manufacturer's site yourself to check for updated software and drivers.

Change up your passwords

Cluley notes that around 40 per cent of people use the same password for all applications and websites, a dangerous practice. Vary your passwords, and don’t use obvious ones like kids’ names or a birthday. They’re the first things crooks try.

The same principle applies to security questions. You don’t have to enter your mother’s real maiden name, which is a matter of public record, just because someone asks for it. Type in "supergirl" or the name of your favourite actress instead.