Microsoft dominates computer operating systems.

It is the biggest fish in the Internet pond and the standard-bearer for much of what happens in the computer world, granting a tip of the hat to the few, but loyal, users of Apple machines.

Given its place atop the computing food chain, we’re glad to see it has taken steps to help protect some of its customers against “phishing.”

Phishers are a dastardly bunch. They use official-looking Web sites and e-mail that masquerades as the real thing to con unsuspecting people out of personal information.

A common technique would be for an e-mail user to receive a message that looks to be from Microsoft concerning his or her e-mail account or from a bank. The e-mail includes a link that sends the clicker to a fake site that looks legitimate, but asks for sensitive personal information. The sites are bogus, but they have lured an untold number of people into giving up data.

On March 31, Microsoft filed 117 federal lawsuits against unnamed defendants, trying to track down the crooks behind phishing. Estimates put the number of phishing e-mails sent out every day at between 75 million and 150 million. With that many lines in the water, it only takes a few bites to make it a successful criminal enterprise.

Whether the lawsuits will succeed remains to be seen, but Microsoft has the money and the expertise to attack the crooks head-on. The company has 65 employees working on phishing scams alone, a number that greatly exceeds the number of Maine cops working on computer crimes. Combined with informed computer users who are skeptical of e-mails or Web sites that seek personal and financial information, there’s a chance to cut the profits of online scoundrels. Maybe then the criminals will cut bait, stop phishing and leave in-boxes alone.