With more and more people (especially in our field) using their phones and PDAs to keep up with the constant flow of email and surfing the web on the fly to save time, there's a flu going around for these devices.  It isn't an epidemic yet, but I am hearing about these nasty cases more often:  viruses.

On our desktops and laptops, we would never think of connecting to the 'net without our nice little virus protection programs - since our phones and PDAs are our lifelines, shouldn't we care for them in the same way?  Well, for all practical purposes, we can't.  The software for our computers takes up too much space.  Until reliable programs to protect our cellular devices become practical, here are a few tips to keep them from "catching a bug:"

1. Don't open email on your handheld that you don't recognize.  Sure, you want to respond quickly to catch that next lead...imagine how many you won't get while you are trying to figure out what is wrong with your Palm?  How much time will you lose getting back up to speed if you have to replace it?
2. Text messages and MMS messages that you don't know who they're from?  Delete without opening.  Marketers have been blasting us with SMS messages for a couple of years.  It is only a matter of time before some hacker sends you a bug just for kicks.
3. Surfing on your phone?  Fine--just be sure you're going to sites that are safe.  Leave the exploration for when you get back to your protected computer.
   

I'm not intending to scare anyone - just a few tips to be aware of to reduce the panic and havoc that having your mobile device infected can cause.  There may be some good protection out there, but I'm not aware of it.  If you know about some--please, inform me and everyone else!  Be smart, be safe...be productive!