The Curse that is Resnet
Today I was blessed to be reminded why I am so happy I am not in the dorms. Don't get me wrong, I did like the dorms when I was there. However, today Cari (oh so foolishly) clicked on a link in a random IM sent to her. Sure enough, it wasn't really a picture of her that someone found; it was a virus! Now normally I wouldn't be too afraid, an IM virus can't be that dangerous, and sure enough, one reboot-into-safe-mode-and-scan later, as well as a system restore just for good measures, the computer showed no signs of illness. As soon as she got the virus, resnet made her try to log back in (not sure why or how it knew to make her do it) but when she did she was told her computer was 'infected' and she should fix it. Of course, they don't let you access the internet, so you need to fix it via other means.
Luckily, we were able to fix it, and so we optimistically logged back into resnet, smuggly celebrating our superiority to the virus that tried to 'infect' her dear computer. Unfortunately, resnet thought otherwise, and told us that she was still 'infected'. This caused much anger, because the computer had clearly recovered from its previous illness, and should now be allowed to access the internet. Then, strangely enough, Alyssa's computer was forced to re-log into resnet, and now it was told it had been 'infected'. This was odd, because nothing had been done to it to cause it to do so.
Thinking something was fishy, I called 1help (the U's tech help line) and told them the story. They said that Cari's computer might be better, they just needed to grant her the privilege of the internet back. Apparently, once you are told you have a virus, you don't get internet back until they say so. Alyssa, on the other hand, was in a bit of a predicament. Since resnet told her that she had a virus she must have one, even if there were no signs of one. So if I couldn't find the virus and remove it with a virus scan, the only option she had was to reformat her hard drive. Well seeing as that is more than a little harsh for a virus that has absolutely no signs of existence (and in my opinion doesn't exist at all) I think I will just tell them that I did find a virus and removed it, even though there are none on her computer. Then she will be granted internet again, and as long as they don't kick her off again, she is fine. If they do kick her off, then it is almost guaranteed they won't give her the internet back again unless she reformats.
Which is not cool.
Lets hope the virus detection scan resnet uses gives us a break... because I hate reinstalling everything after a reformat!
Luckily, we were able to fix it, and so we optimistically logged back into resnet, smuggly celebrating our superiority to the virus that tried to 'infect' her dear computer. Unfortunately, resnet thought otherwise, and told us that she was still 'infected'. This caused much anger, because the computer had clearly recovered from its previous illness, and should now be allowed to access the internet. Then, strangely enough, Alyssa's computer was forced to re-log into resnet, and now it was told it had been 'infected'. This was odd, because nothing had been done to it to cause it to do so.
Thinking something was fishy, I called 1help (the U's tech help line) and told them the story. They said that Cari's computer might be better, they just needed to grant her the privilege of the internet back. Apparently, once you are told you have a virus, you don't get internet back until they say so. Alyssa, on the other hand, was in a bit of a predicament. Since resnet told her that she had a virus she must have one, even if there were no signs of one. So if I couldn't find the virus and remove it with a virus scan, the only option she had was to reformat her hard drive. Well seeing as that is more than a little harsh for a virus that has absolutely no signs of existence (and in my opinion doesn't exist at all) I think I will just tell them that I did find a virus and removed it, even though there are none on her computer. Then she will be granted internet again, and as long as they don't kick her off again, she is fine. If they do kick her off, then it is almost guaranteed they won't give her the internet back again unless she reformats.
Which is not cool.
Lets hope the virus detection scan resnet uses gives us a break... because I hate reinstalling everything after a reformat!
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