So I have completed several articles about insurance, taxes, and computers. The obvious question that you are asking is : "Is this the most boring guy in the whole world." Unfortunately, Yes.
But I will continue.
If you study risk management you will learn the risk management process, risk management techniques, and loss control techniques. The risk management process is simply identifying exposures, selecting techniques, implementing techniques, and then monitoring the results. Risk management techniques include avoidance, retention, transer and control. Avoidance simply means not taking on the risk, e.g. avoiding business risks by not going into business. Retention means you accept the risk sometimes by lack of another technique. Transfer means you give the risk to someone else. You could rent a car instead of buying it. The most common type of transfer is insurance, where you transfer the financial consequences to an insurance company. Finally control involves trying to reduce your risk. This is often done in combination with retention and insurance.
Two loss control techniques that you should consider are duplication and separation.
Duplication is commonly used with computers. If you make a back up CD for your computer files that is an example of duplication. Duplication can also be beneficial in other cases. Your financial records could be duplicated. You could keep paper records as well as computer records. Having an extra set of house keys or car keys would be duplication. Think through what you could not get by without. Is there a way to duplicate that asset in case something should go wrong.
Seperation means locating your assets in different areas. If you have valuable papers, you could keep some at home and some at your office. A fire at your business will not destroy all your records. You could divide up your inventory. Keep some at home and some at your office. You could divide up your tools and equipment. Keep some at a relative's house and some at yours. All these measures will reduce your total loss if something should happen.
Now to tie risk management into the world of business and computers.
I would suggest having two or three email accounts. Use one for personal email. Use another for business email. Use the third one for junk email. Many times you have to enter your email address if you are buying something on the internet. Sure enough your email will be deluged with spam. By having this third email for this purpose, you can keep those messages separate from your important correspondence. You could even check this third email on the internet instead of downloading it to your email program. People you want to hear from will be using one of your other emails anyways.
Another way to use separation is with credit cards. There is inconsistent information about the amount of credit card fraud and what causes it. However you could get one distinct credit card for use on the internet. If things go afoul, then you will still have your personal card to buy groceries, and your business card to buy business supplies.
Finally you could use separation with your computers. If you have a PC that you use for business, I would only use it for business. If you want to 'surf the net' for non business reasons, then use an older computer. The prevalance of spy ware and viruses is tremendous. Don't threaten your business files by surfing the net.
OK, I am done. You can wake up now.