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For some time now mobile Internet users could access their Gmail accounts with their cell phones by visiting the Gmail website and logging in, but now Google Sync will push your Gmail messages directly to your phone. This means those important messages will no longer have to wait until you get around to checking your email. You can instruct Google Sync to have them arrive automatically on your phone just like your text messages.

Google Sync features a couple of other cool applications as well, but in my opinion the “Gmail push” function will quickly become the most popular of the three. For more information about Google Sync visit this page on the Google website.

Panda Security, the company that distributes the highly-rated Panda Anti-Virus software package has released the results of a study that shows that the number of malware infections increased 15% during the month of September. With all the attention the current epidemic of spam, viruses, trojans and the like is garnering these days you would think the problem should be getting better instead of worse, but apparently that is not the case.

I personally have noticed an almost daily increase in the amount of spam and phishing attempts that hit my inbox throughout the day, even with a great many filters and message rules in place. I have also noticed that I have to be very careful when using a search engine lately because of a proliferation of fake, malware-laden sites that are now showing up in the search results. Much of this troublesome malware originates overseas which makes it difficult for our legal system to do anything about it, but some say that the majority of it originates right here in the good ole USA.

Instead of wasting massive amounts of time and trillions of taxpayer dollars tilting against windmills, our elected Don Quixotes (ie. our Congressmen and Senators) should get busy finding ways to effectively stop the purveyors of this garbage in their tracks. And as tough as it might be to accomplish on a political level, there are also a number of technological steps that can be taken to at least minimize the amount of garbage that makes its way into our country from other nations. But we send those folks to Washington to do exactly that – make the tough decisions and do the right thing to make life better for the American people. Ok, enough talk from the soapbox…

The bottom line is malware threats are becoming both more pervasive and more sinister, and each of us must take the steps necessary to guard our computers, our personal privacy and our identities. Be careful when opening your emails, performing Internet searches and clicking links. One bad click can ruin your whole day – or worse.

Computer games and those who play them have come a long way since the early days of home computing. Back in the day, playing a game every now and then was something you did to pass the time, because…well, you had a computer. But nowadays there is a thriving industry consisting of computer companies that build PC’s solely for gaming, and nothing else.

Gamers are a rather interesting bunch of folks. They’ll gladly spend three times what it would cost to purchase a top-of-the-line business machine just to have a gaming PC decked out with a super-fast, water-cooled, over-clocked CPU backed up with enough memory and hard drive space to equip a 1990′s era mainframe. And of course we can’t forget about the $500 video card required to display all of those amazing graphics at something approaching the speed of light.

I have seen people work hard all week, and then cash their paycheck and spend virtually all of it on a faster and better accessory for their computer. There’s nothing at all wrong with that mind you – after all, it’s their money and they are certainly entitled to spend it any way they see fit. I’m just saying that gamers are dedicated folks, and it seems that there will never be an “upgrade” that finally fulfills their inherent desires to own the best gaming PC on the block.

Of course I like playing games on my computer as well because they help me relax on occasion, but I tend to stick with the “free” ones that come with Windows. Solitaire – yeah, that’s the ticket!

But I must admit that it’s sometimes fun to pick up a computer magazine and check out the ads for gaming machines and all their expensive add-ons, because it sort of puts the things that are truly important to us in the proper perspective. And if what’s important to you is having the fastest, most powerful gaming machine on the block, then have at it!

Microsoft has announced that their long-awaited Microsoft Security Essentials anti-virus software will be available as a free download sometime on Tuesday, September 29. MSE is being touted as a FREE replacement for the ill-fated Windows Live One Care anti-malware suite, but according to most beta testers MSE seems to be a much better program overall.

I’ve been rather critical of Microsoft software in the past (especially Windows), but I must say that most everything I’ve heard about this new security product has been extremely favorable. About the only complaint I’ve heard so far is about the scan speed (apparently it’s a little slower than most other free anti-virus apps), but I have a hunch that this area is one that Microsoft has been tweaking of late. And even if the final version still runs malware scans a little slow, the fact that MSE performs its automatic scans only when the computer is otherwise idle should make it pretty much a non-issue.

Since no other company in the computer security business knows more than Microsoft about the various threats facing Windows-based computers, I expect Security Essentials to be quite capable at protecting Windows machines from malware – and reports from the beta testers seem to bear that out.

MSE has been in beta since June, but the official download button on the Microsoft website has been inactive for a while now, leaving many of the folks who are eager to try it out (myself included) disappointed that we weren’t able to take part in the beta program. But within a few short hours the wait will be over. I plan to download and install it just as soon it becomes available, and I’ll follow up in a few days with my overall impression of the software.

Update: It’s live – click here to download Microsoft Security Essentials.