The number of high-profile occurrences of data breaches this year should serve as a warning to small businesses about the damage that occurs when a data security leak happens not just to your business transactions, but also to your reputation.

One of the most imposing risks for small businesses come from spyware and its supposedly less harmful cousin, adware. These discreet applications are overwhelming networks everywhere and stealing sensitive, personal information, while enabling identity theft and tracking online information.

Microsoft issued a rare, out-of-cycle Windows patch on Tuesday that fixed one flaw, but attacks through other known, yet-to-be-plugged holes continue.

Microsoft on Wednesday warned of "limited zero-day attacks" that exploit a new flaw in PowerPoint, Microsoft's widely used presentation tool. For the attack to be carried out, a user must first open a malicious PowerPoint file attached to an e-mail or otherwise provided to them by an attacker, Microsoft said in a security advisory.

SPI Labs has discovered a practical method of using JavaScript to detect the search queries a user has entered into arbitrary search engines. All the code needed to steal a user's search queries is written in JavaScript and uses Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). This code could be embedded into any website either by the website owner or by a malicious third party through a Cross-site Scripting (XSS) attack. There it would harvest information about every visitor to that site

What is gone is gone? Far from it! Avira UnErase recovers data that have been deleted from the hard drive ? either accidentally or as a result of a virus infection, an uninstaller or defective software. The danger of important data being lost forever is averted with Avira UnErase.

Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic reliably protects your private computer against dangerous viruses, worms, Trojans and costly dialers.

AVG Anti-Virus Free is a free anti-virus protection tool developed by GRISOFT for home use. We invite you to join the millions of satisfied customers worldwide who have downloaded the software and now enjoy the benefits of AVG Anti-Virus Free.

Spybot - Search &Destroy detects and removes spyware, a relatively new kind of threat not yet covered by common anti-virus applications. Spyware silently tracks your surfing behaviour to create a marketing profile for you that is transmitted without your knowledge to the compilers and sold to advertising companies. If you see new toolbars in your Internet Explorer that you haven't intentionally installed, if your browser crashes inexplicably, or if your home page has been "hijacked" (or changed without your knowledge), your computer is most probably infected with spyware. Even if you don't see the symptoms, your computer may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging. Spybot-S&D is free, so there's no harm giving it a try to see if something has invaded your computer.