Kind Of Like A Virtual Celebrity Bodyguard

We're on the road about 300 days a year; because of that, we conduct a lot of business and day-to-day activities via the Internet. Taking care of banking, paying credit cards, buying gifts, paying for and downloading books, trading stocks, buying and selling on Ebay, transferring money between bank accounts, and most importantly, receiving direct deposits to pay us for the loads we haul. In addition to that, we do a whole lot of general surfing, emailing and other online centric stuff.It goes without saying that the security of our internet connections are of utmost importance. For most people in general, but specifically for us drivers out here on the road, you need to have a good resource for Internet Security to protect you from any harm that may come your way via hackers, viruses, spyware, and even pesky spam. You surely don't need your computer to crash or information to be stolen, especially when you're in the vulnerable position of being away from home. Not only is a software crash a good reason to crawl into your sleeper bunk and cry for days (that's what I would be doing if I lost anything important), but it's likely to be a catalyst for buying a good protection system.

We have our own Wi-Fi system in our truck, purchased through our wireless service provider and snaked through a router that Ed set up, so we can access it with all of our devices. Not all drivers have this kind of setup in their trucks, a lot of them use the Wi-Fi services provided by truck stops or other businesses. We don't have a need to use the ones at truck stops, but we will sometimes use Wi-Fi in places like Barnes & Noble, Starbucks, or any number of the hotels we stay at. And although I am not a full-on geek, I know those places are not as safe as you might think they are, especially if you don't take all the precautions you could to protect yourself.

The best protection is not to do anything over these Wi-Fi airwaves that use your most personal information, but as this Red Tape Chronicles article on MSNBC.com indicates, you might start out innocently reading the news online and before you know it, you're moving around your investments through your broker website because you read something in an article just minutes before. Recipe for disaster.

Ed backs up our computers regularly and other than one incident a few months ago (where we didn't back up and I lost two months' worth of stuff), we've never had any issues. We have excellent internet security in place and make sure we always keep it up to date. In order to get the full benefit of all the features your protection system offers, you must download and install any updates they make you aware of. You can't expect to be protected if you don't do your best to employ all of the tools at your disposal.

In my opinion, taking a few minutes to make sure you're virtually protected, even while you sleep, is a lot better than being followed 24/7 by a 6-foot-3, 320-pound bruiser in a three-piece suit.


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2011: Things Are Going Swimmingly

2010: A Real Truck Driver Meets A Real Housewife
2009: Stars Glowing, Wine Flowing, Sax Blowing
2008: Western Ed Friday
2007: Salena Kandinsky
2006: Bam! Traumatized.
2005: Swing Low Sweet Chariot