An astonishing 98 per cent of home computers could be vulnerable to hackers and other cybercriminals, it has been claimed.

Security researchers working for Danish firm Secunia said that fewer than two per cent of home PCs that had its PSI (Personal Software Inspector) program installed were running fully-patched software.

Read the transcript of Web User's security chat with Symantec's Con Mallon.

In its sample of 20,000 PCs, Secunia found that the vast majority had one or more out-of-date software programs installed.

Over 45 per cent of the computers assessed by Secunia had 11 or more unpatched programs.

The company warned that out-of-date software could often be vulnerable to recently discovered flaws in the coding, which could let cybercriminals infect or attack a PC.

Visit the Web User security forum for more advice and help on keeping your PC secure.

"A vulnerability in a program can be exploited by hackers to do anything from compromising a PC, to automatically installing Trojans/viruses, to sniffing out private information," said Jakob Balle of Secunia.

The company recommends making sure that you have the latest version of all software installed on your PC.

Read our guide to keeping your computer malware-free.

http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal

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