Do you know what your PC is doing while you're reading this, right now? Probably not. If you don't know the difference between a memory chip and a hard drive or if you call the case that your monitor connects to a hard drive, definitely not.

When was the last time you checked your antivirus program to make sure it was up-to-date? Do you still have the preinstalled antivirus program on your PC that it came with when you bought it? Do you even know what an antivirus program is? If it's not up-to-date or you don't know what it is, your PC could be a zombie.

Do you know what the terms spyware, adware and malware mean? Do you have software on your PC to eliminate it? If your answer to either question is no, your PC could be a zombie.

If you're not sure about any of the above, your PC could be zombie. How would you know? Why should you care?

A zombie is a PC that has been hijacked by another computer or network of computers somewhere on the Internet. If your PC is a zombie, it's in the process of transmitting viruses, worms, trojans and other kinds of nasty things to other computers and email addresses on the Internet. You can't know for sure whether your PC is a zombie or not unless you test it to see if it is.

You need to make sure you have a reliable and up-to-date antivirus program up and running on your PC at all times. If your antivirus program is nonexistent or is not up-to-date, I recommend you uninstall whatever you have and replace it with something like AVG Antivirus Free Edition. It's free and it's reliable.

You need to make sure you have a reliable and up-to-date antispyware program installed and have it scan your system on a periodic and regular basis (at least once a week). I recommend Spybot Search & Destroy. If you have Windows Defender on your PC, you need to be aware that it's not good enough, by itself, to stop all the nasties that can attack your PC.

If you, and everyone like you, followed my advice then we wouldn't have to worry about zombies at all.

Note: My apologies to those of you who are not running Windows on your PC. This post is directed to the majority who are.