Two computer viruses may launch attacks later this week, once again pointing to the lack of awareness of viruses among Chinese users.

The new virus warnings sound a loud alarm of the dangers faced by millions of Chinese computer and Internet users, anti-virus watchdogs predicted yesterday.

Sending and receiving e-mails and surfing the Internet accelerates the spread of computer viruses, Meng Bin, a researcher with the Tianjin-based National Computer Virus Emergency Response Centre, said.

More and more, computer viruses are affecting computers in China, and causing huge financial losses, he said.

The latest survey by the centre shows that more than 85 per cent of computers in China were affected by viruses in 2003. Those viruses caused losses among users of 63.5 per cent of those computers, reported China Central Television (CCTV) on its web site.

By comparison, the number of affected computers in 2002 was less than 84 per cent and about 60 per cent in 2001.

Most highly-damaging computer viruses came from abroad through Internet connections.

The latest warning by the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Centre refers to two viruses that could damage some of the most common files.

The centre has forecasted that two virus -- VBS/Triplesix, which spreads through Microsoft Outlook and mIRC, and WM/Kompu, which affects Word files -- will attack computers on Thursday and Sunday respectively.

Like many others, those two viruses may travel to China across the vast expanses of the Internet, but experts have also warned that the number of domestically created viruses has been rising fast.

Anti-virus experts have warned computer users to hedge against possible damages.

Meng warned, however, that companies or organizations are the biggest victims of virus because their internal networks depend heavily on computers and the Internet.

Meng said every computer user should install anti-virus software and frequently update operating systems to mend possible loopholes.

Mao Yiding, vice-general manager of the Beijing Rising Co Ltd, an anti-virus software producer, said computer viruses have been spreading very fast and will spread even faster in the future as the popularity of the Internet grows.

He said anti-virus awareness among Chinese computer users is far from being enough and needs to be improved.

For example, many computer game players tend to play games without firewalls or virus protection because both applications tend to slow down their computers.

"Computer users should form good habits, including not using unfamiliar software and opening firewalls," Mao said.

In a China News Service report, Du Yuejin, director of the operation department under the National Computer Network Emergency Centre, said the biggest troublemaker last year were network worms.

For example, the notorious Blaster worm, that last appeared in August, has affected nearly 2 million computers and it still has not been rooted out.

He called on users turn to his centre or other watchdogs if they find their computers affected by a virus to solve the problem quicker.

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