Google is sorry
I do a lot of research on the web using Google. Starting early last week I started getting these Google error messages:
The search term was “gutenberg” as in Gutenberg Bible.
This is happening 5-10 times a day. I enter the captcha and I’m on my way. But it is irritating.
What is going on?
The downside of “free” is non-existent customer service. I’ve written to Google’s comment address asking about this and, of course, no response.
I have seen reports that other people are experiencing this problem, so it isn’t just me. I’m running Mac OS 10.5.1 and as near as I can tell I am virus free. I even checked for the codec Trojan and it isn’t there.
There is a Windows XP machine on the home network, which has the virus protection our local Windows guru recommends. It is a business system and doesn’t get out much anyway.
The StorageMojo take
My sense is that the boffins in Mt. View tweaked something last week that started this. What makes a human-generated query look like a virus? Or a DoS attack? I’m stumped.
Comments and/or solutions welcome. Any thoughts?
Update: Ms. Mojo ran the virus/spyware/whatever software on her Windows machine and it located 17 suspicious files. Haven’t gotten the message since. Since Ms. Mojo is all business it gives me a new appreciation for just how vulnerable XP really is. Thanks to all who wrote in with suggestions.
I had the same problem with Google Translation. Have switched to Altavista.
Are you using a http proxy to access the web? It could be that the proxy is blacklisted..
It is quite possible that you DO have a virus on your network that is coming out your NAT’d IP and accessing google to search for potential targets. Or as Matt said if you use some sort of proxy it could be someone else using the same proxy. I have had the same problem and in my case the local network had a virus that was using google.
Robin, I have never seen this, but there are plenty of other search engines around. Maybe if you are stockholder in Google, you can call them on that basis, “Hi, I am one of you stockholders, and I am having problems…” otherwise, feel free to go to another engine.
That happens fairly frequently if you do a lot of searches using advanced operators or using keywords that are flagged as spammy. Example operators are site:, inurl:, and others. Spammy keywords could be worms (like PHPBB worms) and things like that.
It’s a time-based thing based on IP. If you cool off for a few hours (use another, better, search engine like Yahoo), Google’s fear of you will subside. Remember that the IP address that Google sees could be shared by someone on your network.
I don’t know of any case where the IP address was banned.
Pierre
Interesting post on Google’s Gdrive and Storage services
Google uses SOAP and Amazon uses REST to access their Online Storage. If you have your Web Framework in place then you are using Web Services and REST and SOAP are easy. That was not the case in the heyday of StorageNetworks, an SSP, and the other Service Providers like ASP and MSP.
[Operational Definition]
My “Information” is the result of separating the information/(data) from the noise in the Stored object [Walter Shewhart’s definition].
This means keeping your Stored Information, that which generates 80% of your Gross Revenue, synced from local to private remote and Online Storage, both virtualized, is a whole lot easier than in the xSP days. It might be automatic if your Web Strategy is correct and properly Implemented.
The driver is the low cost basis of the IDCs. “xSPs” never had the right cost basis to make this succeed.
A really enterprising VAR might “block/bulk buy” Storage from an IDC and lease it to customers through the VARs MSP program. Very profitable for the right cost basis. Something no one has been able to do cost effectively yet.
The key to success here is the ability to help the customer identify that Stored Information that generates 80% of their Gross Revenue. This is where eDiscovery and Content Management come in. The actual percent of the Stored Information that generates 80% of the Gross Revenue might be pleasantly small. This proprietary and survival critical Stored Information is not a good candidate for “out-Storing”. “Out-Storing” the less valuable Information takes the strain off the local budget and infrastructure. That’s right. The “non-Mission-Critical” primary Information is “out-Stored” Online.
For Disaster Recovery the picture is different. Here the Stored Information to be identified is that Information, which if you should lose it, will put you out of business. In some cases the 80% Gross Revenue generating Information and the “out of business” Information will be exactly the same. They will certainly overlap. You also have to think about “Profit Enabling” versus “Profit Enhancing” Information. Today’s quiz — Which is more important?
I haven’t noticed this this, but then 9 out of 10 times I use http://search.yahoo.com. Search != Google…
I recieved the same error message on Dec. 4th as well on my personal laptop (I use a wireless card for internet access). I was concerned that it wasn’t really a Google Error message because the font for Google was different in the error message. On my work computer, I had no problem. The error was only on my personal computer. I’m very careful of the sites I go to and keep virus protection turned on, but I’m orderning new virus software as a double check and will retry Google after running a new virus check.
You are using a blacklisted proxy. Not a Google’s fault, they are just protecting themselves from fake search requests.
“Google thinks I’m a virus”
Well, gee Robin, maybe if you got your hair cut…
Seriously, the lack of contact is one of the most annoying features of Google. Comes right after their limited options for search criteria. Yahoo isn’t any better in my experience. Alta Vista has a much better selection of search operators, but their listings aren’t nearly as complete.
I’d recommend switching to a different search engine. I started getting these after installing TMN, a plugin used to sanitize cookies and make random queries so google can’t track me.
While google was once a good company, they sort of suck ever since they decided to adopt the same business model as NBC.
If you don’t want Google to track you, Scroogle claims it will do the job.
– bill
googling “google”. google thinks i’m a virus. I use ubuntu so that’s not too likely. the rest of this place is all OSX so not so likely there either. gee, time to use microsoft search i guess.
I agree, I have gotten the same error form 3 independent machines on our work network.
Google may be protecting it’s bandwidth but the message is unclear and causes fear that a users machine is infected, when it’s not at all.
I have long blocked url/links/text and anything to do with google-analytics.com
They should have to opt into my information (request it) rather then me (opt out)
The true Virus is all the hidden data miners these companies hide in the background collecting information on people.