We use our cars every day, and we use them hard. Stop-and-go traffic, accelerating and then hitting the brakes. Weighing the vehicle down with passengers and cargo. It's a lot of wear and tear.

But even if we treated our automobiles with tender, loving care; just over time they fall into gradual disrepair. The very act of driving wears down gears and belts, uses up fluids, and generates gunk and rust. It just comes with use.

If we don't bring our cars into the mechanic every so often they're bound to fail on us. Eventually all those "minor issues" just accumulate and eventually can bring the entire vehicle to its knees (or hub caps). Regular maintenance is just a necessity when you want a fully functional, everyday machine.

So why wouldn't you do the same for your computer?

Back in 1999 Y2K was the big nightmare scenario. At the turn on the millennium all electronics that depended on internal clocks were going to go haywire, and it was imperative we get Y2K-compliant machines. Or, the ultimate nightmare scenario, all major electric-based infrastructures were going to collapse.

Some months ago a client called me in a panic, saying we weren't prepared for the DNS Redirector conspiracy that was sure to cripple how we use the Internet and plumb international secrets.

At least a few times a year the media exclaims about some new bug or other malware that's bound to have infected most of the nation's computers, and is bound to activate any day now.

So the question is, do you see me running? Do you see any IT experts running? If we're not, it's probably not a bomb.

Last time I spoke about how the Webocalypse is not nigh, and that most tech scares are media fluff. That's not to say that there aren't dangers on the Web, and usually it is precisely because most threats are "small" that they are able to infect many systems.

"Anti" programs are all but mandatory nowadays. Antivirus, anti-malware, anti-spam, etc. It can be somewhat confusing for the less tech savvy.

So let's break things down, and best of all, look at the free options available.