google issues?

[traq]

this may be a virus or malware, I suppose, but I can't find one.

I've encountered the problem on several different machines (at least 3 of which have never shared files or connections; at least two use different ISPs), OSs (windows xp pro, xp media center, server 2000(terminals)) and browsers (ie6-8, firefox3.6, chrome).

When browsing google search results (usually deep links), I've been redirected to unrelated sites quite often. this has even been happening on search result links to known good sites (charter.net, wikipedia.org, others). I am redirected two or three times and usually land on a random search engine page, or one of those search/ad pages that inactive domains can be forwarded to.

I can't reproduce this problem reliably, but it has been persistent over the past two weeks or so.

I've also been experiencing a possibly related issue on google's image search: I put in a search term, and I'm redirected to google's web search page (not the home page) with no results, and sometimes the google logo is broken. This has been happening less frequently, and so far, only on the machines running Windows Server 2000.

If anyone has heard anything, experienced this, or has any ideas at all, I'd really appreciate some input/help.

Thanks much, everyone,

-traq

[X96 Web Design]

I haven't had this problem at all... I'm on a Mac (snow leopard; Firefox 3.6/Safari 5)...

- Alex

[traq]

I haven't had this problem at all... I'm on a Mac (snow leopard; Firefox 3.6/Safari 5)...

- Alex

"I'm on a Mac. meh mehmeh mehmeh."
:p

[X96 Web Design]

"I'm on a Mac. meh mehmeh mehmeh."
:p

I still use Windows for some things... Like....... IE testing. And..... Solitaire... ;)

[traq]

I replaced my CPU a few months ago and upgraded my HD. They installed IE8 while they were at it... Now I don't have IE6 and IE7 available for testing anymore!

Of course, I'm not quite upset enough to go to the trouble of reinstalling them. Someday, I guess.

[X96 Web Design]

I use a program called IE Tester. It lets you test in everything from IE9 beta (if available) to IE 5.5...

http://www.my-debugbar.com/wiki/IETester/HomePage

// Alex

[azoomer]

Hi x96, thanks for the link to the IE tester. Very helpful. ( but also somewhat depressing to see my pages deteriorate in ie6 & 7)

[seruna848]

hi friend,
i have online store site. i have gifts and birthday gifts etc. And i want to submit my product in google so what i do for that.

[djr33]

Seruna, this is the wrong place to ask a new question. Please read the forum rules and do not interrupt other discussions.

----

Traq, I have no idea what is wrong with your computer(s)... I've never heard of this or had weird issues with google. I'd suspect malware except that you say it's on several systems. Could it be malware on all of them? Maybe you visit the same website from all of the computers, or it got on a disc you used on all of them?

[traq]

I didn't share anything between all the systems, though I suppose they could've all caught it from the same place online.

[djr33]

Can you duplicate this on an unrelated computer?

But I really have no idea...

[traq]

I don't know. I don't have any unrelated computers to try it on. But I can't duplicate it reliably anyway. I haven't figured out any suspected causes; it just happens once in a while (usually on the server terminals I mentioned). When it happened on my home office PC is when I began to suspect that it might not be malware/adware, as I haven't ever shared anything between those systems. But as I said, they could've been infected via a commonly visited website.

[lilpete]

Ive seen that happen, it doesnt happen to me, but it happens to my boss sat next to me...
Hes searching on Google, clicks a link, an amazon item or something, like you say, a deep link, then he ends up in a random site, it is very strange. I tell him to go back and try again and it works fine, so Ive always put it down to a click out of place or something. But maybe it is a real issue.

hes running Vista 32bit, IE8 (up to date), Avast and Spybot Search and Destroy have regular scans on there aswell and dont pick anything. It doesnt happen much and im too busy to look further into it, and like you say I cant reproduce the problem.

Maybe Googles trying to get site visits up on crap sites, not like Google to be underhand though... :P

[traq]

Yeah, I seriously doubt that its something Google's doing -at least, on purpose. There's got to be some kind of trojan with a redirect list...

but if so, it's sure well-hidden...

[leon2046]

I haven't had this problem. I'm on a Mac.

[traq]

Since this thread was brought back up, I found the problem. The server in question had a trojan that was randomly redirecting search requests. Thanks for your input, everyone.

[traq]

Joseph: that's kinda off-topic. if you'd like to discuss it, you should start a new thread, maybe in general discussion.

my problem has already been resolved - this thread can be closed.