Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Did you know? - Why do some of my search results say 'This site may harm your computer?'

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

Malware warning

If you click the title of the result, you'll be shown the following warning rather than being taken immediately to the webpage in question:

Malware warning page

You can choose to continue to the site at your own risk. However, please be aware that malicious software is often installed without your knowledge or permission when you visit these sites, and can include programs that delete data on your computer, steal personal information such as passwords and credit card numbers, or alter your search results. For more information on these types of sites, please visit StopBadware.org

If one of these sites downloads malicious software onto your computer, please read our additional information about reporting these sites and removing the software from your system.

If you're the administrator of a site we've identified with this warning message, please visit the instructions found in our Webmaster Help Center to resolve the problem. Note that in some cases, third parties can add malicious code to legitimate sites, which would cause us to show the warning message.