That shiny new computer you plan to send off with your college freshman could be in danger—from viruses, spyware, phishers, and spammers. But it’s easy to set up an effective line of defense with some software and a few safe computing practices. Here are some tips to share with your college-bound student.

Get the right security software. Your college might have a site license for security software, but if that’s not the case, you’ll need a suite that includes anti-virus, anti-spyware, and anti-spam tools. You can download some effective—and free—security software. Avira offers a free anti-virus program that we really like. And Windows Defender, an anti-spyware program from Microsoft, comes bundled with Windows Vista and will be included with Windows 7, too, when it’s released in October. If you don’t have it, you can download it free.

You might find that using a full suite of integrated products is an easier approach to security. Three suites we recommend in our Ratings (subscribers only) incorporate tools for fighting spam, spyware, viruses, and phishing.

Keep your software subscriptions up to date. When you purchase security software, you generally pay for a one-year subscription. Once the year is up, the software should prompt you to renew. To make sure your subscription is current, check to see if it was updated in the past week or so. If not, see if automatic updating is enabled. If it’s still not updating, you need to renew.

Mac users, beware. Macs may be less susceptible to viruses than Windows systems, but there are still plenty of reasons for taking precautions. Phishing, for example, is a potential problem for all users, regardless of your choice of operating system.

Turn on the firewall. Firewalls prevent unauthorized incoming and outgoing messages from reaching or leaving your computer. Vista has a firewall that’s automatically activated, as will Windows 7. If you want increased firewall protection, you can grab a firewall free from ZoneAlarm from download.com.

Use your browser’s anti-phishing features. One more tool for your security arsenal: your browser. Most browsers have anti-phishing protection built in. Internet Explorer 7 and 8 have an anti-phishing component you can turn on during installation or from the Tools menu. Three options in Firefox 3’s security settings are enabled by default. And in Safari versions 3.2 and later, a “Fraudulent Sites” warning service is on by default. An  alternative is to install a free anti-phishing toolbar such as McAfee Site Advisor.

Configure your wireless router for safety. Change the default network name; hackers know the names manufacturers use by default in their routers. Choose WPA rather than WEP as your encryption standard.

Don’t provide personal info via e-mail links. If you receive an e-mail that asks for a password, account number, or other personal information, don’t respond to the message. Instead, access online accounts via links you’ve already bookmarked or by typing in the institution’s Web address yourself.

Craft a secure password. Your password should combine at least eight characters, included upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and punctuation. Keep away from personal information like your address or birthday. One way to form a password you're unlikely to forget: String together the first letters of a song title and add some combination of a number, punctuation, and an upper-case letter.

Be a careful typist. Watch out for typos when you’re keying in a URL. Cybercrooks often use misspelled names to surreptitiously direct you to their sites.

Update your operating system, browser, and other applications. Make sure you run updates when Windows tells you to. When your browser gets a facelift, download the new version. Third-party apps like Adobe Reader might prompt you to update, but do so only directly from the company Web site. Unauthorized “updates” could cause malware to be placed on your computer.

Don’t click on pop-up ads that claim your computer is insecure. Most are fakes, and many take you to sites that download unwanted applications.

Get freebies from a reputable site. Free software from those smiley-faces sites often includes spyware of some sort that’s downloaded onto your computer without your knowledge. Look for freeware from sites that have already vetted the offerings, like Download.com and SnapFiles.com.

Keep current on security threats. Regularly check back for information at Consumer Reports Guide to Online Security. —Donna Tapellini

Like the idea of reading books on an electronic screen, but don’t want to buy a Kindle 2 or other dedicated e-book reader to do so? Your options for reading e-books on
a range of devices you already own have expanded with the launch of a new online e-book store from Barnes and Noble.

Most notably, the site expands the selection and sourcing for e-books to the Phone
and other smart phones, using the free B&N eReader app. It’s a challenger
to Amazon’s Kindle application for the iPhone, which allows you—effectively,
my colleague Mike Gikas found—to buy and read Kindle titles on Apple’s smart phone and iPod Touch.

The B&N app also comes in a Blackberry version, which Amazon does not yet offer—though Amazon has promised to expand its range of smart phone apps, and Blackberry
owners can get e-books from some other sites. Barnes and Noble promises to “add a bunch” of other phone apps “in the coming weeks.”

The B&N site is billed as the “world’s largest eBookstore”, with more than 700,000
titles. But that number includes more than half-a-million free public-domain books from Google. Without that library included, Amazon’s Kindle store still offers the most copyrighted e-book titles, at more than 250,000.

Like Sony’s
free ebook software, the B&N app promises easy access to those Google
public-domain titles, which range from old (like, a hundred-years-old) editions
of literary classics along with a host of other, and often-obscure, titles. Unlike the Sony app, which allows downloads only to PCs (and the company’s own Reader devices, including the newest 700C), the B&N app makes these available on smart phones.

The B&N app also allows downloads to computers, including to Macs – which the Sony e-book app does not support. And B&N is currently offering a Merriam-Webster's dictionary and five pre-selected classic titles (three with the Blackberry app) free as e-books for downloading the app and setting up your online account.

Finally, Barnes and Noble announced that it will be the e-bookstore for the upcoming Plastic Logic e-book reader, set to launch in early 2010 and expected to be aimed at—and priced for—business users. —Paul Reynolds

The New York Times reports today that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) withheld research from 2003 indicating that using a hands-free device while driving provided only a “negligible” safety benefit compared with using a hand-held cell phone. According to interviews with key players, the research was withheld to avoid “antagonizing” Congress and, “to a much smaller degree,” the cell phone industry. You can view the full 266 pages of NHTSA’s report, finally released today, here. Or, to save time, read a summation of the report posted on the Consumer Reports Cars Blog.

The breaking news story comes three days after NYTimes.com hosted a Room for Debate forum, querying panelists, “Should cell phone use by drivers be illegal?” Weighing in was Consumer Reports’ own David Champion, our director of auto testing. While banning all cell-phone use outright “is probably an impractical solution” he wrote, “the best solution in the near term is to warn drivers with public service announcements of the risks involved with cell phone use and make the punishment for crashes caused by cell phone use extremely high.” (Read Champion’s full piece here.)

For the record, while our coverage Bluetooth headsets includes lab tests of voice clarity and other factors for a Ratings (available to subscribers), we do not test—or recommend—the use of Bluetooth handsets or integrated car systems while behind the wheel of a moving vehicle.

What’s your reaction to the news of the NHTSA report? Do you think talking on a cell phone adversely impairs your ability to drive? —Nick K. Mandle

The fallout from Amazon’s removal of two George Orwell books
from its Kindle book lineup—and from the Kindle libraries of those who had
bought them—may not all be bad. It might, for example, prompt some Kindle
owners to venture beyond Amazon to seek content for their Kindle.

Late last week, saying a third party had added the titles to
the Kindle catalog without the rights to do so, Amazon removed copies of 1984
and Animal Farm from some Kindle libraries. The move has spurred
impassioned forum debate and posts on sites such as InformationWeek.com about
the legality of such removal. Responding to the uproar, Amazon told CNET it
would not in the future remove titles from Kindles, at least not in the same way.

But by illustrating the potential vulnerability of Kindle
books to legal problems and the like, the kerfuffle might prompt some Kindle
owners to look further afield than the Kindle Store for content. In the
process, they may even find some free books for their Kindle. They may also turn up titles that are not available from Amazon; despite its 250,000-plus Kindle
library, it does not offer every title is available for the device, as a June 12
comment to one of my blog posts on Kindle pointed out.

Nothing is quite as easy as buying a book from the Kindle
store—as we’ve pointed out in our reviews of Kindles, including the flagship
Kindle 2. But our colleagues at The Consumerist have turned up a source that’s
nearly as easy: Feedbooks.com, which offers both some newer (if mostly obscure)
titles and free public domain titles. True, you can’t get the books from your
Kindle, as you can Kindle Store titles, but you can supposedly send them to
your Kindle from the feedbooks website, using the instructions from Consumerist.

Many other alternative e-book sites, such as Mobipocket.com
and ManyBooks.net, are possible sources of Kindle content, providing you’re
prepared to connect the device to your computer. Also, in some cases, you’ll
need to convert the books to a format your Kindle can accept, something the
Consumerist post also covers.

If you’re a Kindle owner looking for those Orwell titles,
you’ll find both for download at Mobipocket, for $2.98 (Animal Farm) or $3.99 (1984). —Paul Reynolds.