What I do to stay malware free:

• Eschew Outlook and Internet Explorer, the two major gateways to malware;
• run like hell when a site offers something FREE! This doesn't include, of course, stuff that is explicitly Open Source, etc.
• Never accept offers to clean up my disk, protect me from spyware, enhance my browsing experience or lengthen any appendage.
• Never run programs that I haven't bought or obtained from a trusted source (if in doubt and sorely tempted, I'll break down and try a virus scan);
• Turn on the display of file types, know what each does, and tooltip the file name before clicking on it.
• Use a virus checking Web mailer like Google Mail and a security conscious browser like Firefox with NoScript.

In view of Malware I, standard recommendations are:

• Install and run antivirus software;
• Don't run as administrator;
• Steer clear of "Perfectly Ordinary Recreational Naturalism" sites;
• Back up your hard drive regularly.

Your mileage may vary. I've been active in the Internet since it began; ignored all four of those guidelines; and never had a malware problem on any of my PCs.

Consider this:

• Antivirus software is always chasing the viruses and can never hope to be 100% effective.
• Whatever privileges you need to get stuff done are enough for malware to get its stuff done.
• A site trying to make a buck by selling you something, even a debatable product, will usually not try to to make a buck by messing up your machine.
• Backups are a good idea, but not because of the malware. The biggest threat to your data is yourself.

Last year I noticed a post in a WoW forum by some poor bugger who claimed he was hacked and all his gear was gone. He blamed Blizzard and wanted his stuff back.

Perhaps surprisingly, I took Blizzard's side. His PC was his alone, he hadn't given his password away, but some questions revealed that he most likely had a keylogger. Who let that keylogger on his system? He did!

It's a nasty world out there, on the 'net. No longer is it just a few kids with modems re-enacting War Games nor pimply-faced youths writing viruses to sabotage their school, get back at their ex or gain some attention.

Malware writing is now a for-money cottage industry in countries like Russia, Romania and China. And every time you pull a file off the 'net, even if it's "just looking" at a browser page, you run the risk that the contents of that file are "alive" in a bad way. Someone somewhere wants your PC to join his botnet because he gets a few hundred bucks for every batch of 10,000.

Not that I claim to have been one of the shakers and movers of the German RoM community, but I was an addon author, originator of a WoW Wiki like documentation site for the game's Lua API and a Thottbot-like database of in-game stuff. I gave out helpful advice in the forums and collaborated with a number of people on addon development and Wiki expansion.

I'm now trying but finding it hard to find someone to pick up maintenance and development on my code.

Am I being too responsible for trying to find inheritors, or too irresponsible for shirking my responsibility (if any) toward my former game community?

I played Runes of Magic until just recently. Then I realized that they operators of this F2P are completely singleminded about pulling cash out of their players' pockets. I feel there's a line between creating a good product to make a buck and optimizing a mediocre product for maximum cash flow. Of course cash is the motivation for the venture, but please don't forget that that's not the players' motivation for playing. Strive to give us at least the illusion that you care about our enjoyment of the product! I don't mind paying. I do mind being taken for a gullible idiot who is easily parted from his money.