For more advice and a step-by-step guide to staying safe online visit banksafeonline a website launched by APACS, the UK payment association working on behalf of the banking industry.

Further information is also available from the following website the UK Government's ITsafe website.

Keep your computer software up to date

To check for updates and patches you should visit your software publisher’s website.

·If you have a Windows computer you should regularly run the Windows Update tool or visit Windows Update to check for new patches from Microsoft.

If you have an Apple computer running OS X you should run the Software Update tool regularly.

Anti-Virus Software

This is software designed to detect and remove incoming viruses.  Popular sources for anti-virus software include:

·McAfee

·Symantec (Norton)

·Sophos

·AVG free Anti virus

Be aware that some Anti-virus software is better than others - information on different types is available at the following independent website, Virus Bulletin or by searching on the internet for anti-virus software.

Many Trojans (hidden programs) can be detected and removed using up to date anti-virus software and there are also a number of specialist software programs that claim to detect and remove Trojans.

Advice on Trojans and the software tools available can be found at the following independent website, anti-trojan.org or by searching the internet for Trojan information.

Firewall Software

A firewall can protect your computer from unauthorised access and block malicious and unwanted Internet activity.  Popular software firewalls can be obtained from various sources such as:

·Zone Labs

·Symantec (Norton)

·McAfee

·Computer Associates

Firewall software is also built into Windows XP and Mac OS X, although you may need to activate these as they are often not turned on automatically. These built in tools may not offer protection against certain kinds of threat.

Advice on firewalls is available at this independent website, Firewall Guide or by searching on the internet for firewall information.

Anti-Spyware and anti-Trackware Software

Programs that detect and offer you the choice to delete any spyware that might already be on your PC can be obtained from various sources such as:

·Microsoft Anti-Spyware

·Lavasoft’s Ad-Aware

·PeprMK’s Spybot Search & Destroy