Google Adds Malware Warning to Search Results

Posted on February 13, 2007

Google is now flagging pages that may contain harmful malware that could damage your search results. The malware message links to this help document on Google.

Why do some of my search results say "This site may harm your computer?"

This warning message appears with search results that we've identified as sites that may install malicious software on your computer. We want our users to feel safer when they search the web, and we're continuously working to identify such dangerous sites and increase protection for our users.

Malicious software is often installed without your knowledge or permission when you visit these sites. Some examples of malicious software include programs that delete data on your computer, steal personal information such as passwords and credit card numbers, or alter your search results.

Google Operating System says Google also won't let people visit the website.
Even if you click on the title, you won't be able to visit the site: Google explains you once again that the site could be dangerous and recommends you to visit another search results or to change your query. The only way to visit the site is to copy the URL and paste it in the address bar, which is not an obvious or a trivial task for an ordinary computer user.
If Google can spotlight enough viruses and keep people from getting infected maybe it will help reduce the number of infected PCs and keep some of these viruses from spreading around.


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