We all know that keeping computers up-to-date on security patches is important to fight computer viruses and worms, but did you know that it also helps reduce spam? For around a year now, spammers have been writing worms of their own (or paying someone else to do so) which infect vulnerable computers and use them to send out massive amounts of spam. With some computers always online with broadband connections, they're enticing targets for spammers who want to avoid having their internet connections shut down for spamming.

Computer users need to be educated in the process of downloading and applying the latest security patches. On systems like MacOS X and Debian GNU/Linux, this is easy. MacOS X checks for updates automatically, however often you want it to (generally once a week). Linux systems with apt-get installed on them are almost as easy to keep up-to-date. Other operating systems are improving in this area too.

But computers users aren't the only one's who need to help with this process. Software vendors need to build semi-automated update systems into their software. I say "semi-automated", because it's generally a good idea to require some minimal user interaction when applying updates rather than running completely automatically. If an automated update fails and user interaction is required, it's best to have the user there and ready to work on the problem rather than having to say "get over here and fix this thing that you didn't even know was happening!"

For software vendors who don't already have an update system in mind, I posted an idea on one of my other blogs recently suggesting that RSS or Atom feeds could be used to deliver updates. Until someone builds a system to do that, there are probably easier ways to do it, but it's an idea that I think could work.

Aside from applying security patches, you should also be sure to follow the recommended procedures for securing your computer like turning off unneeded network services, making sure shared disks are password protected, etc.