Google Error – This Site May Harm Your Computer on January 31, 2009
Editor’s update: Google Explains this Here.
Google has had a huge bug this morning. Google searches this morning (January 31, 2009) result in every site that comes up as the words “This Site May Harm Your Computer“. I confirmed this with several friends online and it is definitely affecting virtually all major sites (including cnn.com, foxnews.com and others, and this one).
What is the “This Site May Harm Your Computer” error?
When functioning properly, it means that Google’s search bot has found a problem with the site that is likely to damage a visitor coming to the site (e.g., malware, spyware, exploiting IE / Firefox bugs, etc). It has been the source of much frustration to web masters because the error normally lingers for 6 weeks or more, even after the issue has been cleaned up by the webmaster.
What can you do to fix it?
Unfortuantely, this problem is happening at the search engine and not on individual sites (which is very bad, because most people trust Google implicitly). As a result, there’s nothing individual webmasters can do. Further, it will probably take some time for Google to find and resolve the bug. (Wonder if heads will roll up at Google’s place).
What Effect Will It Have on the Web?
Our guess is that traffic will be way down today, and e-commerce down even further. Some people may not click through sites due to the error (which requires extra navigation to get to, as Google brings up a warning page on the site instead of just taking you to the site).
E-commerce will probably be affected even more as people are psychologically affected by the error.
When will it be fixed?
Update: 10:43am: It appears that at least the east coast U.S. data centers are performing correctly.
What do you think? Tell us how this error has affected you this morning, and whether it is still occuring in your region.
Comments & Conversation on this Article...
9 Responses to Google Error – This Site May Harm Your Computer on January 31, 2009
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January 31st, 2009 11:55 am
I was having loads of difficulty with Google searches this morning between 8:00-9:30 CST. I’m in Northwest TN about 100 miles north of Memphis. Seems that the problem has been corrected in this region at the moment but it was EXTREMELY aggravating. I’ve had reports of at least 100 customers not being able (or willing) to access my site because of the warning.
If this was a hack job, the perpetrator should be prosecuted if caught. There’s no telling how much $ companies lost in possible sales this morning. I’m sure many consumers were afraid to click through the warnings and risk damage to their computers. Can’t say that I blame them either. As a matter of fact, other than the actual hacker(s), Google should have had some type of precautions in place to prevent this type of access. But that’s just my opinion.
What say you?
January 31st, 2009 11:58 am
Ben, hopefully we’ll get a press release from Google on this… Completely agree with you that if this was a hack job, it should be prosecuted. It appears that most of the east coast has been restored. Hoping to hear from West Coast and international folks to see what’s happening there.
January 31st, 2009 12:10 pm
I am in the EAST COAST 01/31/09 11 08 am
google search engine working correctly as right now
it was really scary .. I thought pc’S took over the world Wde Web
January 31st, 2009 12:15 pm
Job openings at google!!!
I think that it is time for us to apply for a job at google (because almost certainly someone will get fired…) Big oportunity!!!
http://home.deds.nl/~antispam/
January 31st, 2009 12:31 pm
Last time it was just one of my sites (that is completely OK), today all websites.
Somebody should be fired for this stupid feature that limits our freedom to visit websites. You should have some antivirus and anti-spyware software, but also the possibility to visit harmless HTML pages.
January 31st, 2009 1:24 pm
This is so scary. Traffic went down. No clicks on my ads.
January 31st, 2009 6:09 pm
This comment may harm your computer! Just kidding…
Thanks for explaining what was going on this morning, OPC! Seems to be working now and I didn’t notice any affect on our site, but then again, maybe I just haven’t seen it yet.
January 31st, 2009 6:59 pm
I thought it was my laptop. I ran Spybot just in case I had gotten a bug. It lasted for about 30 minutes and then all was ok. Hope that doesn’t happen again.
January 31st, 2009 11:19 pm
here in malaysia same problem at local time 11.00 pm at first thought it was virus went to yahoo website ok, scan for virus ok problem was ok after 1 hour very scarry
hope it never happen again