To directly test whether targeting CCR4‐NOT deadenylation activity can impact HCMV replication, we used a purine‐2,6‐dione derived inhibitor that selectively blocks the activity of Caf1 (compound 8j, Jadhav et al, 2015), treating cells after the initial inoculation period and for the remaining duration of the 7 day multicycle infection. Here, CNOT7 is linked to infection.