Google is sorry.

... they think I have a virus, but I don't

[MatthewHSE]

I've been trying to find some info on Google, and everything was going just fine. Suddenly, when I tried to visit the next page of results...

We're sorry...

... but we can't process your request right now. A computer virus or spyware application is sending us automated requests, and it appears that your computer or network has been infected.

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

We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope we'll see you again on Google.

What in the world is this? I know what it means but I can't believe it's me - I run AV software, just scanned recently, no spyware, no new downloads or programs, I use Firefox, CPU usage is normal, system resources are fine, in other words no nasties running wild on my machine, and I haven't been trying anything sneaky, so what gives? Furthermore, I'd just been searching a moment before, and I can still perform new searches. They just won't let me see the next page of results.

How strange, I guess I'll head over to MSN for awhile! ;)

[Stefan]

Bizarre. Do you have a dynamic IP# (dial-up)?

[tedster]

A number of reports like this recently. For more see [webmasterworld.com...]

[followgreg]

You will usually get an automated message like this when repeated attempts of querying their DB have been made from your IP.
If you are using a ranking check software, which is not based on a Google API key you will mostly get that after a few attempts.

[Wizard]

It can happen in networks where many computers share one public IP.

[MatthewHSE]

I'm on a DSL connection with a static IP, and only four computers on the network. Furthermore, I was the only one searching at the time. So that's not it, but I did find the problem after all.

I found it strange is that I was able to do new searches okay, but it wouldn't let me go to the next page of results for the searches. So I checked around for other people having the same problem, and it turns out that Google seems to have issues when you are viewing 100 results per page and 'PHP' is in the search string. Sure enough, if I remove PHP from the search, I can go to any results page I want.

Apparently, this is Google's way of preventing automatic queries that are sent through some sort of vulnerability in old versions of phpBB, but it seems very unlike Google to plug the hole so clumsily.

Not sure why they moved this thread from Foo to here; it seemed decidedly "Foo-ey" to me but I guess this is as good a place as any...

[colin_h]

It just sounds to me like Google are trying out the next Anti-SEO measure, maybe on a single search string to save mass panic.

The use of position / rank checking software and websites is really inflating the search figures at Google and I'm sure that although they may like the numbers, the stock will drop if the public find out that the number of searches on Google are mainly down to webmaters looking to make sure their still in the serps.

You have indirectly hit at Googles achillies heal ... without the interest of webmasters just how big are they. Most of hits came from google, but when I got kicked off in June my revenue only fell by 15%. This has to mean that the majority of google hits were by the searches who were more interested in how I got to the top rather than my services and products.

I stick by my comments in the middle of Jagger ... this is only the beginning, once the mad xmas shop is over it's going to get heavy for webmasters on google.

Cheers & all the best

Colin

[peewhy]

Its just Google's Christmas gift. What happens next is you get some smart anti virus software as a 'thank you' from Google and you think ..."exactly what I needed!"

Pretty smart!