With survey responses from more than 10,470 companies across 20 countries, it was revealed that approximately 48 percent of SMBs (with up to 1,000 computers) admit to having been infected by some type of malware over the last year. As further proof, 27 percent confirmed that the source of the infection was a USB device connected to a computer.

Horsesh*t. I do PM / UX at a website whose users are SMBs. Most of my life is spent talking to SMB owners: interviewing them, usability testing with them, dealing with customer support issues, etc. While these people are, in general, certainly not dumb, most of them (1) have a limited idea of how to use their computers (they're too busy and they often outsource IT functions, even if only to the Geek Squad) (2) have a limited understanding of what 'malware' is (3) would have no way of knowing that the malware came from a USB device and were probably just making that up (4) were probably using sketchy cheap malware-infested software they downloaded from the internet rather than paying for a reliable package since they tend to be very cost-conscious and (5) were probably trying to explain why there's all that pr0n stashed on their hard drives.

In other words, self-reporting by "SMBs" (owners? IT people? who?) about malware incidents in the past year is likely a complete line of bull poo concocted by a PR firm trying to be a "thought leader" and getting people to their blog post / website (our firm does this, although we at least make them be reasonably methodologically rigorous).

My company has also conducted surveys of SMBs, both for UX / Product reasons and PR "thought leader" reasons. You can buy a DB / mailing list of vetted business owner / mananger / C-level email addresses for conducting research like this. That list can in fact include owners / managers / IT people at what you think of when someone says "SMB" i.e. a small business with a few employees up to I think 1,000 employees. That list could also include a whole bunch of sole proprietors of companies like "Angela's Passion Parties" or "JayBob's Babysitting and Handywork". We don't know anything about who responded to this survey or whether they were actually the people who had to deal with the problem.

USB autoplay is hugely helpful for a great many people. Don't be so credulous of this story and start attacking what has been a great advancement in personal computing that's saved a lot of normal people a lot of frustration with their peripherals.

Move along, nothing to see here.

A lot of this advice tells you to go out and basically create a radical lifestyle change all at once. That generally doesn't happen. Changing things like diet, exercise, spending habits, social habits, etc., tends to work best if you slowly make small changes.

Lots of people find that diet / exercise tracking software can help them meet goals. I have a few friends using MyFoodDiary.com, and I like it pretty well. It does a nice job of giving you warm fuzzies for doing the right thing (fiber, produce, low cholesterol, etc.).

Exercise is really really important. It tends to improve mood and focus. It improves your cholesterol profile. Current thinking is that being fit is more important to overall health than being at the proper weight. So your goal is to get more exercise into your daily life. From what I understand, you can do this in 6 minutes every few days; you can walk 10,000 paces (about 5 miles per day), or do something in between.

Personally (I'm in IT too) I find it really hard to regularly go to the gym, and I hate the rigid schedule of having to go to the gym for 1 hour 4x per week or whatever. I like the suggestions of you doing small bursts of exercise while you're at work. In addition to strength / resistance training, how about:

• Get a stationary bicycle that you "park" in front of your desk
• Get an under-desk peddler like http://www.fitsugar.com/659265
• Get a small treadmill that you can stroll on, with monitor visible, so you can respond to incoming issues

Any of these would increase your overall activity level -- and then maybe you just have to do one strenuous exercise session on the weekend or something, like a vigorous bike ride plus weight training, or a 1x per week cycle to work.

Oh, you could also work with a trainer who could figure out a workout for you to do while at your desk.