Zero Day novel is scary and an exciting read

Mark Russinovich probably knows more about rootkits than most people on the planet, since he found some and wrote the first major tool to detect them. Now he has written a novel about viruses, computer security and government incompetence. And it is scary.
I thought my laptop was secure, but it isn't. The BIOS can be reprogrammed, the hard drive can we wiped out and any software running on it can be attacked and disabled, all by some cleverly written code. I called my antivirus company and asked them if they'd read the book. One of the guys had "heard about it".
So, my question is one that computer users hate to hear: when was the last time you checked your computer for security updates of ALL installed programs? When was the last time you made a backup? How about an off-line backup? Or an off-site backup? Will it be enough? Probably not.