Scanners and firewalls. Get a good virus scanner, which checks all of the files on a computer to see if there are viruses, and be careful of what you download and run on your computer. Personal firewall software will help protect you when you are on the Internet. Exercise common sense. Take time to read and understand the privacy policies of any web site you give information to.
Many sites collect and disseminate information.
A reputable site will publish their privacy policies. Advances such as these are being explored in the rapidly growing field of magnetoelectronics, which combines microelectronics and magnetics to create new technologies that will quench the public's growing thirst for greater data-storage capacities on computers. David Jiles, a researcher affiliated with both Ames Laboratory and ISU, is heading up the project and anticipates having the facility ready in about six months. We've all got computers and we all want to be able to store more and more data on them. Ames Laboratory and Iowa State need to get into this area because there's a huge market for this type of cutting-edge technology.