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Because they are considered to be less powerful computers, there are some parts of the netbook industry that believe they are more prone to destructive viruses, malware, worms and other similar digital creatures. In a past article, Computer World claims netbooks pose a "big security threat." The article claims that, because they are less powerful than the average desktop or laptop, netbooks operate on older operating systems like Windows XP or more simplified distributions of Linux, which may not be as secure as newer software. In addition, because of limited processing power, netbook users may not want to run data encryption, anti-virus software, and other anti-malware applications. The conclusion? Netbooks are can be bad for your business.

The Real Score

While it is true that netbooks are not as powerful as desktops and laptops, it is also true that any computer, cell phone, or PDA that does not have the latest software updates is a risk to your company’s digital network.

If you’re so concerned about security issues, just know that there are many ways to get around it. For one, you can decide against buying netbooks altogether. Don’t think the low price is not worth the security risk? Fine, just let netbooks and their lovers be.

Netbooks Are Good For Business

But you cannot deny the fact that there are many, many advantages to using netbooks for business purposes. Because they are ultra portable, your employees, especially if they are salespeople, can work more easily and have more time for client calls. Netbooks are also cheap, and for the price of one cheap laptop, you can actually issue two to four netbooks to your employees.

What You Can Do

If you are a business owner, what you can do is to treat netbooks the way you would treat other computers to make them secure. If you are using netbooks that ship with Xandros Linux or Linpus Linux Lite and you are not convinced they are secure enough, just download the latest version of Ubuntu, Fedora, or Mandriva.

If your netbooks are slow to process applications at 512MB, simply upgrade the RAM to 1GB. Almost all netbooks are very easy to upgrade ? you just need a screw driver, a good pair of eyes and a pair of steady hands.

If you want to go all out on security with your Windows-based netbook, then upgrade to a Windows Vista, which has a number of security enhancements. Yes, it will boot slower and will take up more disk space. Surprisingly, however, Windows Vista runs well on some low-powered netbooks

Put Netbooks On The Netbooks

Now if you already have netbooks issued within your company, just make sure to connect them to your company’s systems and network. There are many advantages to networking your netbook. You can share printers and drives between computers and you also minimize the risk of virus transfer by eliminating the need for CDs or flash disks in transferring files. You also save up on storage space since you can work on a shared file, yet store it only in one computer.