Soup (... lost his pencil.)

How can you protect yourself when someone else may have made you vulnerable?

The first thing you can do is to change your passwords on a regular basis. If your information has been stolen, you may be able to prevent it from being used by changing your old passwords before they can be used. Never respond to unsolicited emails, even though they look legitimate. Always look for your connection to the company's website on your own, never use a link in an email. Always verify that you are connected or talking to the legitimate company before giving any personal information. Don't become too confident about your computer security and always keep informed about the newest cyber scams by subscribing to an online security notification service.

There are new things cropping up every day. A smart computer user needs to keep informed and be extremely cautious in the information they give out. With this known, you NEED to make sure to change you passwords as often as you can, at least a few times a month.

You also need to remember not to go to a site just because someone says, "Go to it, it's cool." It may not be safe. Also, remember that there are no websites that can give you free Bits. So if someone says to go to their site for bits, that's a lie. You can only get bits from the homepage (BittyBay.com), nowhere else.
If you don't already have an anti-spyware or an anti-virus program, you can get professional free trials which scan for and remove keyloggers/viruses. I recommend these: for anti-spyware (here) and for anti-virus (here).

If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask. Find myself on-client, or ask any other staff member. That's what we are here for.