The recently released movie, Firewall, is about an executive who designed antitheft computer systems. This is a fictional movie, but the problems with firewalls are real. Some people innocently believe that having a firewall is enough. But it's not. Get the inside story on firewalls in this month's feature.

Most of us have dealt with difficult managers and colleagues, and it isn't always easy to work through the problems. The reader who asked last month's question has been struggling, and we received reasonable and professional advice from readers. We hope this helps those who find themselves in this difficult situation.

Do you deal with computers that operate more like a tortoises than hares? This month's question asks how to improve a computer's performance. Users who are comfortable with computers might "over clean" their systems only to make things worse than before they started messing with them. We're betting many of you are pros in fixing and speeding up computers, and we hope you share your secrets.

Thanks for your superb feedback, questions and suggestions. This issue is our 30th issue since we launched this newsletter. Most of you probably started to receive issues months after the premier issue. You might find answers to your pressing questions in the archives here. Keep sharing your thoughts and questions through the reader survey. As always, we'll have a drawing for a chance to win a rockin' 256 MB MP3 player.

We hope your year got off to a grand start.

Best, 
Meryl K. Evans
Editor, The Remediator Security Digest