Okay, you've just got your brand spanking new super duper laptop computer home and unpacked. You went ahead and spent the extra money for a few more bells and whistles just in case you might need them. Of course, you don't know what these bells and whistles are used for, but you surmise that they must be useful for something.

The problem with new laptop computers is that right out of the box they run extremely smooth and fast, lightning fast. You can click Mr. Mouse and whamo, the screen pops up faster than you can say "Jack Sprat". You may even be able to play movies on them with crystal clarity. However, over a period of time your laptop computer can start running like honey on a cold winters day.

So, what do you do? Well, the first thing you want to make sure you do is set up a firewall for your Internet connection. What a firewall does is put up a line of defense against intruders who may have an evil intent. They would love to get access to your hard drive on your laptop computer and poke around in there to see what personal secrets they could find, like your credit card information.