Net threat rising: crime abounds, but you can fight back.(ONLINE SURVIVAL GUIDE)

Use the Internet at home and you have a 1-in-3 chance of suffering computer damage, financial loss, or both because of a computer virus or spyware that sneaks onto your computer. That's one of the unsettling conclusions from our 2005 Consumer Reports State of the Net survey of online consumers.

What else did we discover? Although American consumers invested more than $2.6 billion in protection software over the past two years, they still spent more than $9 billion for computer repairs, parts, and replacement to solve problems caused by viruses and spyware. Those problems were so extensive and so serious that they prompted almost 8 percent of all computer purchases by consumers during 2003 and 2004.

The results of our survey, summarized in the table on page 15, also highlight the risks of spam and the scams known as phishing--sending fraudulent e-mail that solicits confidential information by impersonating a reputable institution. Future surveys will continue to track these growing consumer threats.

As our survey results indicate, the Internet is no longer the urbane information motorway it was five years ago. It's more like a no-holds-barred raceway teeming with unsavory drivers and with hardly a police car in sight. Consumers now face assaults through e-mail, Web sites, messaging services, and downloads.

To help you cope with the Internet's growing catalog of hazards, we interviewed experts from government, industry, and public interest groups. We collected hundreds of pieces of spam and intentionally infected computers with the latest spyware. And we tested three types of security software you need to protect yourself. We found that the software is better than ever (see the Ratings on pages 17 and 18).

Our survey and investigation revealed that most online threats are worse than they were a year ago despite industry's efforts, largely because of government inertia and consumers' imprudent practices. We also found that major, well-known companies have supported spyware by using it as an advertising medium. Until the institutions that can clean up the Internet provide more effective solutions to its security problems, most of the burden for online security will continue to fall squarely on consumers.

Here are the specifics: