Ahead of the New Year, computer experts are warning mobile phone users to be on the alert for short messages as the flourish of romantic exchanges may also bring viruses to their handsets.

Early last year, about 10 billion messages were sent via mobile phones in China, according statistics cited by today's Shanghai Morning Post.

With more functions on mobile phones today, such as Internet connection and multimedia messaging services, handsets are exposed to an increasing risk of virus infection, said experts with Rising Technology Corporation Ltd, a Beijing-based company devoted to computer virus protection.

The variety of handset viruses has soared while the channels of infection have expanded, the experts noted.

To ensure safe use, they suggest phone users not download ring tunes, pictures or other information from unknown websites, nor open or read messages that appear in unreadable codes.

Despite that, people needn't be overly concerned, the experts said. The negative impact of phone viruses may be limited because the different chip designs of handsets will cause difficulties in the wide spread of the virus.

Also, researchers are speeding up the development of virus protection software for handsets, they added.

Source: Shanghai Daily