by : Ron Hel-Or

Just a few short years ago a PDA anti virus was not necessary. The viruses, worms, Trojan horses and the like were the concern of PC owners only. But as we all know things in the online world change very fast, and these days all PDA's surf the web frequently. The popularity of PDA's and the ease of access to wireless surfing at wi-fi hotspots is a blessed phenomena. But while this is a good development, new throats enter the arena. Today's worlds of pocket pc's is as dangerous as the regular PC's. Numerous viruses, Trojan horses and key loggers are speeded each day, thus forcing PDA owners to arm themselves with the proper protection.

Let's take a look a few of the treats that have immerged in today's PDA environment:

1.If you are surfing the web, there are types of viruses and Trojan horses who "know" how to penetrate your PDA and do their worst. You therefore need proper protection from infected files, just like any PC user who surfs the web, downloads files, reads emails etc. The rule of thumb is : if a PC needs this protection, than a PDA user needs it too.
2.If you are surfing and downloading emails wirelessly, than you need even better protection. If the information you beam and receive in not encrypted, a hacker can read your e-mails and attachments, see what websites you visit, and even worse, steal your personal and financial information. A hacker can even illegally download copyrighted material or launch attacks using your identity. This calls for a Wireless Home Network Security protection system which makes sure all the information you send from your PDA in encrypted, so no hacker can reach it and grab it form thin air. The McAfee or the Caspersky products are recommended for this matter.
3.If you are using your PDA to access sensitive material like your bank account, you need to be extra careful and make sure both your communication and your PDA itself are secured. Don't rely only on the security measures that the bank's website have because they are rarely enough to stop a really good hacker.

Just like in the PC world, You need to stay updated and on top of things. You'll want to update your anti-virus every day through the live update option that most anti-virus software products have. This will ensure your PDA has maximum protection. Always remember that it's better to take care of this in advance as it's always more painful and expensive to revive a computer that was taken by a virus.