Google has flipped out

A little while ago I went to Google and was searching for "flea
collar"

I got the following ERROR message. (below)

I was using IE at the time. A little later I put in the name of
church in a nearby town to see if they have a website. I got the same
error message.

I then opened Opera and entered the word "sandwich" Once again I got
that error.

I then opened Firefox and entered the same word, and google will not
load at all, but on the bottom of the screen it said "waiting for
sorry message".......

Google is completely fudged......

(Yes, i'm running Win98se)
No, I did not enter the characters below as it requested. I just used
another search engine.

If you're reading this, see if google works for you.

Here's the error message ......

------------

We're sorry...
.... but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer
virus or spyware application. To protect our users, we can't process
your request right now.

We'll restore your access as quickly as possible, so try again soon.
In the meantime, if you suspect that your computer or network has been
infected, you might want to run a virus checker or spyware remover to
make sure that your systems are free of viruses and other spurious
software.

If you're continually receiving this error, you may be able to resolve
the problem by deleting your Google cookie and revisiting Google. For
browser-specific instructions, please consult your browser's online
support center.

If your entire network is affected, more information is available in
the Google Web Search Help Center.

We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope we'll see you again on
Google.
To continue searching, please type the characters you see below:

----------------------

Jimw

 

And did you delete all Google cookies?

How do you know your computer is NOT infected with hijackware/spyware?


Jimw wrote:
> A little while ago I went to Google and was searching for "flea
> collar"
>
> I got the following ERROR message. (below)
>
> I was using IE at the time. A little later I put in the name of
> church in a nearby town to see if they have a website. I got the same
> error message.
>
> I then opened Opera and entered the word "sandwich" Once again I got
> that error.
>
> I then opened Firefox and entered the same word, and google will not
> load at all, but on the bottom of the screen it said "waiting for
> sorry message".......
>
> Google is completely fudged......
>
> (Yes, i'm running Win98se)
> No, I did not enter the characters below as it requested. I just used
> another search engine.
>
> If you're reading this, see if google works for you.
>
> Here's the error message ......
>
> ------------
>
> We're sorry...
> ... but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer
> virus or spyware application. To protect our users, we can't process
> your request right now.
>
> We'll restore your access as quickly as possible, so try again soon.
> In the meantime, if you suspect that your computer or network has been
> infected, you might want to run a virus checker or spyware remover to
> make sure that your systems are free of viruses and other spurious
> software.
>
> If you're continually receiving this error, you may be able to resolve
> the problem by deleting your Google cookie and revisiting Google. For
> browser-specific instructions, please consult your browser's online
> support center.
>
> If your entire network is affected, more information is available in
> the Google Web Search Help Center.
>
> We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope we'll see you again on
> Google.
> To continue searching, please type the characters you see below:
>
> ----------------------
>
> Jimw

 

Google lists about 347,0000 + entries for "flea Collar." I am afraid that you need a good malware disinfection. Be vary careful about any programs that claim that they will do it all for you.

If you would like some personal attention to your issue why not join us at www.computerhelpforums.net ?

 

Jim wrote:

> A little while ago I went to Google and was searching for "flea
> collar"
>
> I got the following ERROR message. (below)
>
> I was using IE at the time. A little later I put in the name of
> church in a nearby town to see if they have a website. I got the same
> error message.
>
> I then opened Opera and entered the word "sandwich" Once again I got
> that error.
>
> I then opened Firefox and entered the same word, and google will not
> load at all, but on the bottom of the screen it said "waiting for
> sorry message".......
>
> Google is completely fudged......
>
> (Yes, i'm running Win98se)
> No, I did not enter the characters below as it requested. I just used
> another search engine.
>
> If you're reading this, see if google works for you.
>

Once upon a time Google started serving me with the same or a
very similar message .. that was after i had loaded up page after
page of archived Usenet-post-pages doing research for something.
I wasn't a bot, but i must have looked like it to Google's
algorithms.

(I pasted in the links in the address-field by hand, so Google
didn't get a referrer with my page-requests. I also don't have
Google in my cookie white-list, so i didn't have any of their
cookies.)

Anyway, i couldn't use another search-engine for Usenet-archives
so i gave up for the day. When i came back and tried the next day
it was working again .. but the error-message came back after a
while again, perhaps quicker but perhaps not. I had to wait for a
couple of hours before i was allowed to continue loading the
pages, then wait for a while and so on until i was finally done.

So, the Google's algorithms has for some reason calculated that
you are a bot. You will most probably be able to continue after a
some time have passed (Your IP#'s blacklisting will cease after a
number of hours). Another way around it would be if you can
change your the IP# that your access to the internet is using.
(Approach may differ depending on how you connect. Turning off my
broadband /modem/ for a couple of hours is how i do it if i need to.)


> Here's the error message ......
>
> ------------
>
> We're sorry...
> ... but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer
> virus or spyware application. To protect our users, we can't process
> your request right now.
>
> We'll restore your access as quickly as possible, so try again soon.
> In the meantime, if you suspect that your computer or network has been
> infected, you might want to run a virus checker or spyware remover to
> make sure that your systems are free of viruses and other spurious
> software.
>
> If you're continually receiving this error, you may be able to resolve
> the problem by deleting your Google cookie and revisiting Google. For
> browser-specific instructions, please consult your browser's online
> support center.
>
> If your entire network is affected, more information is available in
> the Google Web Search Help Center.
>
> We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope we'll see you again on
> Google.
> To continue searching, please type the characters you see below:
>
> ----------------------
>
> Jimw
>


--
Nah-ah. I'm staying out of this. ... Now, here's my opinion.

Please followup in the newsgroup.
E-mail address is invalid due to spam-control.

 

Jimw wrote:

> Here's the error message ......
>
> ------------
> We're sorry...
> ... but your query looks similar to automated requests from a
> computer virus or spyware application. To protect our users,
> we can't process your request right now.
> ----------------------

Based on what I've read, the most likely explanation is that google is
recieving too much traffic from the same IP address, and you're one of
several or many computers with that same IP address. This would be the
case if you're using a proxy server to surf the web.

It's also been claimed that this message can result if you have
something like 100 results displayed per page (instead of the usual 10).

 

On Mon, 4 May 2009 03:09:15 -0400, "PA Bear [MS MVP]"
<PABearMVP@gmail.com> wrote:

>And did you delete all Google cookies?
>
>How do you know your computer is NOT infected with hijackware/spyware?
>
>


I delete all cookies and cache everytime I close any browser. I
purposly manually cleared all cache and cookies after this. I ran
Hijackthis, nothing found.

Oddly enough, I closed Win98 and opened my dual booted Win2K. Google
loaded and worked properly in Win2K. I closed 2K and reloaded win98.
The problem was gone and google has worked fine since. Maybe there
was too much activity from my isp, or just a fluke from google.

And jyst for the heck of it, I connected my laptop (win2K) to the
internet. I normally never use that laptop online. No problems there
either.

 

On Tue, 05 May 2009 00:05:20 -0500, Jimw <jimw@mail.is.invalid> wrote:

>On Mon, 4 May 2009 03:09:15 -0400, "PA Bear [MS MVP]"
><PABearMVP@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>And did you delete all Google cookies?
>>
>>How do you know your computer is NOT infected with hijackware/spyware?
>>
>>
>
>
>I delete all cookies and cache everytime I close any browser. I
>purposly manually cleared all cache and cookies after this. I ran
>Hijackthis, nothing found.
>
>Oddly enough, I closed Win98 and opened my dual booted Win2K. Google
>loaded and worked properly in Win2K. I closed 2K and reloaded win98.
>The problem was gone and google has worked fine since. Maybe there
>was too much activity from my isp, or just a fluke from google.
>
>And jyst for the heck of it, I connected my laptop (win2K) to the
>internet. I normally never use that laptop online. No problems there
>either.

I'll take back what I said before. I am not getting that error
message in google, but now when I search for something, and hit
"NEXT", it just keeps showing the same page. Whether I hot the NEXT
or use a different page number, it shows the same thing. Google is
just plain screwed up.

 

Jimw wrote:
> On Tue, 05 May 2009 00:05:20 -0500, Jimw <jimw@mail.is.invalid> wrote:
>
>>On Mon, 4 May 2009 03:09:15 -0400, "PA Bear [MS MVP]"
>><PABearMVP@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>>And did you delete all Google cookies?
>>>
>>>How do you know your computer is NOT infected with
>>>hijackware/spyware?
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>I delete all cookies and cache everytime I close any browser. I
>>purposly manually cleared all cache and cookies after this. I ran
>>Hijackthis, nothing found.
>>
>>Oddly enough, I closed Win98 and opened my dual booted Win2K. Google
>>loaded and worked properly in Win2K. I closed 2K and reloaded win98.
>>The problem was gone and google has worked fine since. Maybe there
>>was too much activity from my isp, or just a fluke from google.
>>
>>And jyst for the heck of it, I connected my laptop (win2K) to the
>>internet. I normally never use that laptop online. No problems there
>>either.
>
> I'll take back what I said before. I am not getting that error
> message in google, but now when I search for something, and hit
> "NEXT", it just keeps showing the same page. Whether I hot the NEXT
> or use a different page number, it shows the same thing. Google is
> just plain screwed up.

Google works fine & dandy just like it always did-- finding 10's of
millions of hits in a few nano-seconds! And it always seems the
information I'm looking for is on the 1st page-- even among the 1st five
items posted of 42 million!

(1) Did you "Upgrade to Google Chrome, a faster way to browse the web?"
(I didn't, not yet-- 'cause everything works fine as is!) If so, try
uninstalling it, if possible, to see whether that's it.

(2) Maybe post your HiJackThis report for us to scrutinize. Especially
interesting will be whether it shows you are running a script blocker or
some such.

(3) The latest problem you describe sounds like it might be a scripting
problem. Did you tighten scripting controls? Maybe try loosening them...

(a) "Control Panel, Internet Options, Security tab, Internet Zone"
(b) Ensure the slider is set to Medium.


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
Should things get worse after this,
PCR
pcrrcp@netzero.net