Viruses, spyware, hackers, data loss or theft-these are a few of the digital dangers a computer faces. Fortunately, there are some easy ways to protect hardware and your irreplaceable files. An important first step in data protection involves updating Windows with the newest security patches and ser-vice packs.

Protect hard drive data by backing it up on recordable or rewritable CDs/DVDs or separate hard drives. You can also use special software to create a "disc image" of your hard drive. If your hard drive ever crashes, you can simply load the disc image onto your computer, and you will be up and running as if nothing ever happened. Popular disc-imaging programs include Norton Ghost, Acronis True Image, NTI Backup NOW, and Turbo Backup.

Blogging appears The term "weblog" was coined by Jorn Barger on 17 December 1997 . The short form, "blog," was coined by Peter Merholz...

Blogging gains popularity In 2004, the role of blogs became increasingly mainstream, as political consultants , news services and candidates began using them as tools for outreach and opinion forming...