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Overview
This document will explain the steps that are necessary to restore your connection when your connection has been blocked due to virus infection and activity (SPAM/UCE, network probes, etc).
If you are blocked for a DMCA violation, read this review the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) violations are handled separately from connections blocked due to virus activity. If you have been blocked due to a DMCA violation, please click here (KB link).
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Virus Infection Notification
If you have been notified that you have a virus infection on your computer that is causing it to behave in a disruptive manner on the network, it is extremely important that you get your system reformatted immediately to ensure that you maintain your Internet connection.
Reformatting is recommended due to the prevalence of bots, keyloggers, rootkits and other malware that are capable of compromising your personal information and may open you to identity theft, credit card fraud and other computer-related crime. These types of malware cannot be reliably removed by either anti-virus or anti-spyware software and often appear to them as legitimate applications. Infection by these types of malware are often caused by visiting compromised or illegitimate websites, through not having your computer operating system patches up to date or because of the use of use of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) filesharing programs such as Limewire, eDonkey or BitTorrent.
Once your computer has been reformatted, browse to the online form (see below) and fill it out. This will ensure that you will not lose your Internet connection, as long as the virus activity has stopped.
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Blocked Connection Due to Virus Activity
If you have been blocked due to virus activity on your computer, you will need to have your computer reformatted immediately in order to have your connection restored. Your connection will not be restored until your computer has been reformatted and the virus activity has stopped.
Once your computer has been reformatted, contact the IT Service Desk to begin the unblock process.
We cannot guarantee the length of time it will take for the unblock request to fully process, but usually the connection will be restored within 2 business days.
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Reformatting Your Computer
MSU Computer Help and Repair can reformat/reinstall Windows for a fee, using your original Windows media. You may contact them at (517) 432-0700 for pricing information or to schedule an appointment. MSU Computer Help and Repair walk-ins are also welcome Mondays through Fridays from 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. (Eastern time) in 110 Computer Center.
Keep in mind these important facts whenever installing Windows yourself:
- If you are on the MSU Network, always keep the system unplugged from the Ethernet port until after you have installed your anti-virus and anti-spyware software and the Windows patches necessary for safe exposure to the network. Failure to do so will cause instantaneous virus activity on your computer.
- Once you have these installed, you may then safely introduce your computer to the MSU Network.
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Computer Classroom Internet Access Option
If you have been blocked due to virus activity, have reformatted your system, and are waiting to be unblocked, you may wish to use a Computer Classroom computer available on campus for Internet access. For a complete list, please visit https://tech.msu.edu/service-catalog/teaching/computer-labs-classrooms/.
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