CNN.com is reporting an AP story of confirmed cases of computer gadgets being purchased from manufacturers and retailers pre-installed with multiple electronic viruses.

Apple has confirmed many video iPods were delivered to your homes with viruses as serious as providing hackers a way to steal passwords from your computer; including your bank account login information stored in your web browsers’ configurations.

Best Buy has pulled many gadgets including electronic photo frames from their shelves blaming their partner manufacturers for the virus issues.

Sam’s Club and Target are performing internal investigations to attempt to validate complaints against their products.

The AP said they’ve contacted some of the world’s largest electronics manufacturers to interview them on protecting their processes from virus insertions but all have declined comment or did not respond. Among them are Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., which is based in Taiwan and has an iPod factory in China; Singapore-based Flextronics International Ltd.; and Taiwan-based Quanta Computer Inc. and Asustek Computer Inc.

The bottom line for each of us as consumers is to be prepared. Be prepared for the worst and protect yourselves and your computers. If you have not already, purchase an anti-virus software application from one of the major manufacturers such as Symantec or McAfee. And be diligent about keeping the anti-virus definitions up-to-date.

If you’re prepared, are smart about your Internet surfing and have taken the proper security steps to protect your computer system(s), you can sleep soundly 95% of the night. Let us worry the other 5% for you.