Google Thinks Dell Support May Harm My Computer

January 31, 2009

It’s a cold sunny morning. I wonder why Google is displaying a message that Dell Computer’s support page will harm my computer. I poked around and found quite a few sites identified as harmful. I ran the query at 10 15 am Eastern. Pretty annoying because the warning page forces me to copy and paste the “offending” url into a browser address bar. Here’s the results page for my query Dell 2950 Server:

dell harmful

Here is the hugely annoying “warning” without a hot link to go to the page with a single click.

dell warning page

If I were Dell Computer, I would consider trying to get one of the world’s smartest people to look at this behavior. In a lousy economy, Dell probably wants to get referrals from Google. Handling 75 percent of the Web searches means that Google’s slapping and “unsafe” flat on Dell.com may be the digital equivalent of putting a road block in front of a bricks and mortar store.

I ran a query for PS4 crack and no warnings appeared. Is Dell irritating Googzilla? Maybe it’s just moi?

Stephen Arnold, January 31, 2009

Comments

3 Responses to “Google Thinks Dell Support May Harm My Computer”

  1. Andrew Girdwood on January 31st, 2009 12:35 pm

    Ah no. It was a rather embarrassing worldwide fubar. Google’s written up what happened here – http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/this-site-may-harm-your-computer-on.html

    The whole internet (/) was blacklisted.

  2. pookiewookums on January 31st, 2009 3:38 pm

    Also, there is no PS4.

  3. Stephen E. Arnold on February 1st, 2009 10:06 am

    Pookiewookums,

    True, but there is my typo in the post. I should have typed CS4, pookiewookums. Addled geese do make errors as stated in my editorial policy. Pookies, as I know, are flawless. The power failures, the National Guard patrols, and the inability to move around Harrods Creek does distract the addled goose. Pookies are much more focused than geese. It’s in their DNA.

    Stephen Arnold, February 1, 2009

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