stone5150 is the Page Editor for the Wireless topic areas. He is the network administrator for a non-profit organization.

There are a multitude of free things available on the internet, ranging from toolbars to full-fledged and quite useful applications. Some of these applications are just fine and are given away free of charge for altruistic and promotional reasons. You usually have to look kind of hard to get the best freebies. I am referring instead to the ones that jump out at you regularly in the form of pop-ups, spam advertisement and banners ads. These "freebies" come at a hidden cost that is not realized right away, sometimes not until it is too late.

Some of these applications offer to "help" you out by giving you access to weather alerts, stock tips and other seemingly useful information. They also often help themselves instead to your personal data and habits. There are valid and safe applications that will provide these services, a lot of them are free as well. The best way to check is to go to an internet search site and type in the name of the application you are thinking about getting and the word spyware, for example "weatherbug spyware", and see what shows up.

One of the more prevalent type of "helpers" is toolbars. I don't mean the toolbars that are a critical part of most programs, but rather the multitude of free toolbars that are offered by many sites and pop-ups. There are a lot of toolbars out there claiming to help you search for all your favorite things; some even claim to help protect you from bad things on the Internet. Even the seemingly innocuous toolbars offered by some of the bigger websites, like MSN, Yahoo, and Google, will interfere with functions that do not originate from the issuer's site. As for claiming to block pop-ups, if you are using a recent and updated version of one of the popular internet browsers this function is redundant.

The other 99.9 per cent of toolbars generally deliver something not advertised; usually that something is spyware and/or viruses. While some spyware is fairly harmless, some is quite dangerous to your data safety. These programs can range from recording what sites you visit to recording your every keystroke, including passwords, and opening up your computer to malicious attacks by viruses or hackers.

The most common indication that you may be infected with spyware is an increase in the number of pop-up ads that come up when connected to the Internet and a general slowdown of your computer. Some common spyware-laden applications to watch out for are WeatherBug, CoolWebSearch, Gator, Bonzai Buddy, KaZaa, and most toolbar applications. Be aware, too, that some applications that purport to rid your computer of spyware are in fact spyware themselves.

The two best antispyware applications out there are AdAware and Spybot Search&Destroy. I prefer the latter myself, mainly because there are spoofed copies of AdAware out there that are actually malicious applications. A good place to download these is www.download.com, a long time reputable site run by CNet. Still be on the lookout anywhere you get things, because even a reputable site can have stuff from less than honorable sources.

(Editor's note: We have always been partial to TUCOWS as a download site.)

I remember when you didn't see Christmas advertising until the first week of Advent, or even Thanksgiving. Now, you see it right there with Halloween. For me, that means spending a little more time going through some of my favorite shopping sites. It also means it's the right time to say something -- again -- about being careful with your personal information. That was driven home on the local news over the weekend, when they ran a story about a company that chases down the underground market for credit card information. There's even a pricing structure: the thieves will sell your information based on a percentage of the available funds.

The story was about a company called CardCops, which tracks down stolen information and tells banks, consumers, merchants and law enforcement agencies about it. The fact that identifications are stolen isn't really all that big a story -- it happened long before online shopping and banking became prevalent. The big story is in how the information is now being traded like any other commodity, and how it takes a lot of work, with tiny results, to catch the traders.

It isn't just your checking account or your credit card you should be worried about. Since it isn't that difficult for anyone to get compromised information, you need to be especially careful who you give it to. The single most important tip: Never give your information out in response to an email. Today's junk mail folder has over a dozen emails allegedly from brokerage houses, credit reporting agencies, and finance companies all eager to update your information; don't believe any of them. After all, it's the Christmas season -- not April Fool's Day.

There's also a new twist on your favorite "$38 million from a dead Nigerian general" scheme that is making the rounds. This one invokes the name of FBI director Robert Mueller III, and tells you to fill out an online form on a site that looks for all the world to be the FBI. Don't bite; it's just the same slimy package wrapped up in the manila paper of a government envelope.