Computer viruses exploiting email have rapidly spread across the globe in the past, but this time the warnings got there first.

When news of a nasty email virus broke last night, the media bombarded Americans with updates. The so-called NewLove virus, which sneaks around traditional virus scanners, made the front page of USA Today and numerous regional newspapers. It was fodder for late-night TV news anchors and morning talk-radio hosts from Detroit to San Francisco. In Silicon Valley, radio stations broadcast the virus alert like a hurricane warning in the Carolinas. Potential victims received a second wave of alerts when they arrived at work. From cutting-edge software companies and investment banks to "old economy" manufacturing firms, corporate information technologists crushed NewLove with gusto. "Our people pulled up the drawbridges pretty quick," said Toyota spokesman Mike Michels. "We came in today and got an email warning that the IT folks had quarantined all incoming and outgoing messages." Despite its pernicious potential, NewLove hasn't been catastrophic. Vincent Weafer, director of Symantec's antivirus research center, said this morning that "less than a dozen" corporations in Israel, Europe and the United States have reported infections to Symantec.