This morning I received a spam (unsolicited) HTML e-mail from a government and industry sponsored initiative Get Safe Online. It’s purpose is to ‘protect yourself against internet threats’. Such as unsolicited HTML e-mails, I presume?

The expert advice falls into three numbered categories:

1. Protect your PC
2. Protect yourself
3. Protect your business

Why does protecting your PC appear more important than the other two? Malicious software and scams are ultimately actioned by people not computers. Educating people is surely the most effective way of stopping this, complimented by setting up users as users rather than administrators and disabling their ability to install applications.

I cannot avoid commenting on the Protect Your Mac page, which starts with the assertion that ‘Macs need to be used properly to be safe’ (advice that should be emblazoned across the Protect your PC section, and isn’t!)

Judging by the following – contained in the Protect Your Mac page – the writers were a little short of things to write about – I particularly like points 1 and 3 (it’s the same thing, and if you follow point 2, there is no need for the other three points):

1. Check for updates by going to the System Preferences application and selecting Software Update and clicking Check Now.
2. Make sure Check for updates is ticked and Daily is selected in the drop-down menu. This will ensure that your computer automatically checks every day for new updates. However, this only works if you are logged in as an administrator.
3. To check manually for updates, go to the Apple menu and select Software Update. This check should be performed regularly.
4. You can download additional upgrades and patches from Apple.