Today's statistics from MessageLabs show spam making up over 50 percent of all incoming email, though the rate peaked over last weekend nearer to 70 percent. Even more of a concern is the increase in malicious spam, those unwanted messages that have content or attachments that contain various forms of malware, like viruses, trojan horses, or attempts to obtain personal information through phishing. The virus rate has averaged 0.7 percent for the last week, with phishing attempts running at about 0.4 percent.

This means out of every 1000 email messages you receive, approximately 7 of them contain some variety of computer virus or trojan horse, and another 4 are specific attempts to fraudulently obtain personal or financial details from you.

The purpose of this new blog is to help you avoid the pain and frustration of an infected computer and the financial and privacy losses that can result from attempts to steal your personal information and even your identity.

No solution is foolproof. Online criminals are very sophisticated, and with technical knowledge and determination are often successful. The good news is there are simple methods of avoiding being easy prey, and those are the methods the New Tech Heroes will be looking at and recommending here.

Stick with me, and I'll help reduce your exposure to the seamy underbelly of the internet.