Try shutting your eyes or using a pair of powerful sunglasses and operating your handheld PC.

You might then get an idea of how difficult it is for the blind (who have to use text-to-speech conversion programs) and the visually impaired to navigate their way around the new machines or the Internet.

Some companies are addressing the issue by creating standards for Internet sites (for example always create a text alternative for images) or by creating machines that are more usable by those with seeing disabilities.

One bright example is Maestro, a pocket personal computer created by HP and VisuAide for the blind. The Maestro is essentially HP's iPAQ Pocket PC h4150 adapted for the blind using VisuAide's technology for the visually impaired.

Maestro features text-to-speech technology and a tactile keyboard membrane over its touch screen so the visually impaired can use the computer without using a stylus. The machine is due to begin shipping in September.

Maestro also has VisuAide's Trekker technology, which uses the global positioning system (GPS) to produce talking digital maps and menus to provide real-time information on surroundings and to pinpoint the user's location. Hopefully the Maestro will spur competitors into creating even better technology for those who have difficulty seeing.

While we are on the subject of HP, check out the new free online courses offered by the company at www.hp.com. The current cycle of classes start on July 15th. For example try the 'Maintaining your Windows XP' computer course, which consists of six lessons on how to maintain your Windows XP operating system.

Other courses deal with open source solutions for businesses, wireless security, business communications etiquette and Microsoft Publisher 2003. There are lots more to choose from, you just need the time and determination to participate in them. I've tried one of the courses before, to learn a bit about programming, and found the online forum easy to use. However it soon became easy to skip classes (they are available for up to a month after the course ends) and try to catch up later. But one never does.

Speaking of time (how's that for another segue!), Tech Republic has created a series of downloadable template security policies for small business owners who have put off making their own for their employees.

Unfortunately the templates cost about US $10 or more each and I was not able to evaluate them in detail. But I can at least say the free downloadable offerings by Tech Republic are generally good to excellent. The new security policies can be adapted for individual businesses.

Tech Republic's E-mail Security Policy covers subjects such as authorised usage, privacy rights, and message monitoring.

The Instant Messaging Policy template outlines etiquette and security measures that should be followed by employees, who are also asked to sign the policy. The Internet Usage Policy provides two templates, one for moderate Internet use and one for strict Internet usage.

The moderate policy allows for occasional and reasonable personal use of the Internet and the strict policy spells out the permitted and prohibited behaviour and defines violations.

A monthly survey by EarthLink and Webroot has found that about 134,000 (about one-third) out of 420,000 personal computers scanned in April contained a Trojan horse or system monitor, like a keystroke logger, that had been deposited by spyware. The April scans also found each computer had an average of 26.9 spyware programs or components per machine.

One type of intrusion is the horrible dialler program, which can be inserted in your computer through a variety of ways. Just last week, Spanish police said they had arrested five men operating out of Madrid and Pontevedra in Galicia who are allegedly responsible for the biggest Internet dialler fraud in history.

Using music, cars and pornography to lure victims to more than 150 web pages, a premium rate dialler was installed on their computers. The dialler program would dial out to high rate numbers. An estimated 45,000 victims lost a total of 35 million to the seamsters.

To remove dialler programs from your computer go to www.spy-bot.net which has a free online scan for such files.

Another method is to do a search for all ".exe" files on your computer and delete the ones that you have not put there. Just make sure you backup such "exe" or executable files before deleting them, as they actually might be useful. Do a search on the Internet using the name of the particular file to be sure before hitting delete.

I have added lots more news on information on current security issues at www.SecureBermuda.com.

Contact Ahmed at editoroffshore on.com if you have any comments or suggestions.