Still reeling from the Nimda virus that infiltrated thousands of  computers nationwide, Chinese net buffs are on the  alert for yet another attack,according to today's  China Daily.

    This time, however, the perpetrator is Warvote,  a new bug that raged across the United States yesterday.

    Though no cases of Warvote infection have been  reported in China, the Chinese State-funded anti-virus  task force has stayed on alert for the bug which slinks  into computers via Microsoft Outlook, an e-mail and  personal communication system.

    "No reports of attacks have been called in, but  you know, we have to brace for it,'' said Zhang Jian,  chief engineer of the State-funded National Computer  Virus Emergency Response Centre, in an interview yesterday.

    Zhang assured that Warvote is not as dangerous  as its predecessor Nimda which has been listed as  the most feared virus in China.

    According to Zhang, the bug attacks when users  open an e-mail in Microsoft Outlook titled "War Vote.''

    "It is an English version so I think the repercussion  can be temperate,'' said Zhang.

    The "War Vote'' e-mail carries an intriguing message ： "Hi. Is it a war between the US and Islam？ Let's  vote to live in peace.'' When users open the message  though, their desktop is devastated.

    China's cyber community has been mired in an arduous  battle against Internet worms in the last few months  as pests like the Red Code series, Sircam, Bluecode  and Nimda have wreaked havoc on computer systems,  causing cyber traffic jams and collapses and cutting  into corporate bottom lines.

    "I feel embattled in a cyber terror war and really  worn out as I have had to rush for patches（which  protect against the bug ） and stay alert for new  bug tipoffs in the past few months,'' said Xu Xiaobin,  a website engineer.

    Xu's corporate network has yet to recuperate from  the nefarious Nimda which slinked into China on September  18 from the United States. "We have installed firewalls  and software, but Nimda is too obstinate and latent  on the network ,'' he said.

    Xia Ji, an engineer at Kingsoft Co, Ltd, a leading  anti-virus software producer in China, echoed Xu's  agony. In the last few days since the outbreak of  Nimda, Xia's company has been overwhelmed with emergency  calls, and the company website was deluged with computer  users trying to download patches.

    "On September 22, there were more than 100,000  people downloading patches from our website. The figure  is just eye-popping. There has never been such a rush  like this before,'' said Xia.

    Zhang Jian confirmed that Nimda is still active  in China though the assaults have lessened as more  people build up defence.

    But Zhang, a well-known net bug warrior in China,  is concerned that public awareness on prevention and  defence against Internet viruses is still lacklustre  something he said that is a major problem.

    A recent official survey found that more than  73 per cent of Chinese computer users had their computers  infected by bugs at least once, with 59 per cent of  them reporting at least three attacks.

    But Liu Liang, another anti-virus expert, said  the high frequency of bug attacks in the last few  months have exposed more computer users to this issue,  which may increase their awareness.

    Chen Min, a college student in Beijing whose desktop  fell victim to the Nimda five days ago, echoed Liu's  sentiments. "I had escaped the bug attacks many times  before, so I did not bother to download any protection,  but since the attack these days, I know it is really  an issue.''