broadband stopped

[gina32]

i had my broadband discontected yesterday, and when i phoned and asked why i was told it was because i had a virus on my pc and the only way to stop it was to cancel my bb until my computer had been reformatted, not heard of an isp doing this before has it happened to anyone else?

[ChuckFickens]

the only reason they would do that is if your computer has got a virus that is using your computer so send bulk emails (spam) out to lots of people

I assume you have anti virus software on your computer??

If so run a full system scan and hope it cleans it.

If you haven't got anti virus software on your computer then silly you, get some and run a scan AVG is free and hopefully will clean it.

http://free.grisoft.com/ww.download?prd=afe

while you at it get adaware too, install and run a full scan

http://lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

Of course you may have to get somebody else to download them and put them on a CD for you if your broadband is off .

[gina32]

i have got full antivirus but obviously didnt catch it, it was expalined to me what happens and yes it was the bulk thing you mentioned. just never heard of it before

[ChuckFickens]

try running a full system scan with the AV you have installed, if that doesn't pick it up then the easiest option is sometimes to do a full reinstall. hopefully it will get it though.

Yes heard of ISP's stopping peoples service due to an excessive amount of emails being sent from one computer before.

Basically your computer is being used to send bulk emails via your ISP's mail servers and if they don't do something to stop it quickly there is a chance that your ISP's mail server will get "blacklisted" which would mean that nobody who uses that ISP would be able to send emails anymore.

[gina32]

i did have to do a full reformat, what apain!