gun search using google

[akodo]

lately I have been including firearms links in some posts, and I do that by opening up google and doing a quick search for the page I want.

However, the last 3 times I did this, I didn't go to the right page, I instead went to ebay and my search term was plopped in their search. Now, I know google is generating revenue by putting the first few links on the page to paying people, yet the link listed looks like a company link to me

example, put in sturm ruger got

STURM, RUGER & CO., INC.Offers specifications and safety instructions for the extensive line of firearms and accessories made in the US by this firm.
www.ruger-firearms.com/ - 5k

as my first result. I clicked on it, and as said, got sent to ebay. Second time I click on it I get sent to sturm ruger homepage, as expected.

Now, I just had norton check, no viruses, and I have spyware blaster, but maybe I need a new spyware program, any suggestions? *But if spyware rather than google is redirecting me, why is it only redirecting me on the first click not subsiquent clicks of the same page, and why redirect me to some other search or sale sight like ebay, rather than to viagra.com etc.*?

It also may be some arrangement google has with ebay or something, This pisses me off because of ebay's antigun policy, I try and avoid them, not to mention the frustation of gettign sent somewhere I don't desire.

Note, once I get away from google and am following links, i never get redirected.


And for the mods, this is gun related because #1, gun info searches, #2, ebay antigun conflicts

 

['Card]

It's not you, and it's not Google. Sleazy marketing companies are constantly coming up with ways to juggle Google's search algorithms and insert their crap into your search results - it's a huge business, because essentially what they're doing is using Google to advertise for them without paying Google's advertising rates. That kind of nonsense is what kills search engines. AltaVista, for example, was eventually so swamped by ads in search results that it simply wasn't usable. One of the reasons why Google has been on top for as long as they have is that they actively track this kind of thing and never stop fighting it.

Do the same search a week from now, and I'll bet those odd results won't be there.

 

[AndyC]

Now, I just had norton check, no viruses, and I have spyware blaster, but maybe I need a new spyware program, any suggestions? *But if spyware rather than google is redirecting me, why is it only redirecting me on the first click not subsiquent clicks of the same page, and why redirect me to some other search or sale sight like ebay, rather than to viagra.com etc.*?

I've just done the same search via Google and try as I might, I can't replicate your results, so I'm becoming a tad suspicious about what's happening.

Spyware Blaster is great at preventing spyware from getting in but it can only block what it recognises - so update it regularly. It's not a spyware cleaner per se, so try a free online scan (just in case) at HouseCall - it's very good for both viruses and spyware.

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

I tried the same search and found that if I clicked the sponsored link on the right, it took me to ebay with the search term filled-in as you mentioned. If I clicked the search result link on the left, it worked as expected.

 

[lastcavalier]

I wouldn't blame Google

Sorry, but I'm going to have to put on my IT-guy hat for this one (been doing IT work for 4 years, and I'm currently a CS major so that's what I go to in these situations).

First of all, if this was Google, they probably wouldn't do it with just one search term (seems like a lot of work to engineer this sort of behavior on such a limited scale), but if they were doing it on more search terms, someone would have noticed and complained and investigated and it would have hit /. (Slashdot, for the un-initiated) or Wired or something. Plus, given their (pretty much unimpeachable) ethical track record, this would be very unlike them. Not to say it can't happen, but it seems highly unlikely.

Secondly, I tried and could not re-create this, however, I have an account with Google and I use a few other tools that already mess with my Google results (in a good way. For example, if anyone cares, I use the "GooglePreview" extension in Firefox which shows a thumbnail shot of the page beside each result. Very useful) That said, I'm not a good tester to try to prove or disprove the results you got. On second thought, I just went and tried on my Linux box which doesn't have anything fancy on it and got normal results.

With all that said, I'm going to suggest one of two possibilities (not an exclusive list, I admit I don't know everything):
1) You accidentaly clicked on the advertising link. It happens, and (as much as I'm ashamed to admit it) I've clicked on those links a time or two on accident because I wasn't really paying attention.
2) Something sneaky (i.e. bad) on your system redirected the click. This wouldn't be very hard to do, but I can't understand why someone would. It's too subtle to have 1337 / hax0r / ftw value, and there's no monetary value as no one can benefit from tricking you into buying a gun on ebay, since ebay doesn't allow gun sales.
3) Something else I'm not thinking of. It happens.

If it's option (2), I'd recommend a cocktail of options: AVG (free antivirus, highly recommended), Windows Defender (anti-spyware, Windows only, free, though caveat emptor because it's beta). The following I haven't used in a while, but I remember them being good: Spybot Search & Destroy, Ad-Aware, Bazooka Spyware Scanner (a little more advanced to use). I'm too lazy to give links so just Google those names (yes, I realize the irony here) to find them.

And to keep this post on-topic with guns: I wouldn't take this experience to mean Google has an anti-gun bias. I have no idea if they have a bias either way. Their agenda is far different (and very cool to a geek).



Disclaimer: I'm not paid to give you IT advice, so I'm not giving you IT advice, I'm giving you theoretical ramblings. If you take my advice you assume all risks (it's possible to mess stuff up with some of the aforementioned tools if you don't know what you're doing). Oh, and I have no association with any company or product mentioned above.

 

[silicon wolverine]

After getting 'malwared" bad off internet explorer and google i started using firefox too. +1 on the page preview that really saves time when youre digging for somehting obscure.

SW

 

[akodo]

I downloaded the updated version of spyware blaster, as mine was pretty old and apparently not compatable with the latest updates, so hopefully no more spyware will be getting on.

I did that housecall thingie, and it found some junk which got removed.

I then added spybot search and destroy, and that found 2 things that the housecall scan did not.

well, I stuck browning into my google toolbar (gun related refrence, to keep it legal, and true too!) and AGAIN got redirected to another site, but if I click back to my google results and click on the same link again (and yes, it wasn't the side ad stuff) then it goes where it is supposed to go.

so I am going to add a few more of those products.

Now, I did not reboot since the scan, is that necessary?

 

[AndyC]

A reboot isn't necessary unless the anti-spyware software tells you that it needs to reboot your system in order to get rid of files that are locked or in use.

There is no perfect antispyware software at the moment, just as there is no perfect antivirus - another one you can try in the meantime is to download HijackThis - if you PM me the logfile it generates, I can help you go through it (if it helps, I've been working against viruses and related malware since mid-90's and currently work for an AV company, so I'm quite familiar with this stuff).

Edit: Be careful what tools you install - there's a lot of purported antispyware software out there which actually install spyware themselves, so do your homework first.

 

[akodo]

just for more info these are the type of sights I am being redirected to. As noted, it only happens from google, that I have noticed, not following other links. Also, it is only on the first time I follow a link google gives me, once I go back to the list of links, the link works fine, as do all other links on google's list

http://robogold.biz/marlin guide gun.cfm?nft=1&t=4&p=4

http://oldhetaira.com/beretta rifle.cfm?nft=1&t=4&p=4

http://rpicamps.com/smith wesson 460.cfm?nft=1&t=4&p=4

 

[sithanas]

Do you use Internet Explorer or Firefox? It sounds like you have some sort of helper app installed that's "helping" you with your links. Yay for spyware - one of the many reasons I still use Macs.

I'd try the same search in Firefox and see what happens.

 

[gudel]

I clicked on it, and as said, got sent to ebay

I did what you did, cannot duplicate the problem. Looks like you've got something else in your computer.

 

[DunedinDragon]

I would definately say you have some form Browser Helper Object (BHO) in your IE. Use the following link to understand what they do and use the link inside that page to download BHODemon which will allow you to disable the BHO and keep your system clean:

http://www.spywareinfo.com/articles/bho/

 

[Creeping Incrementalism]

I wouldn't take this experience to mean Google has an anti-gun bias. I have no idea if they have a bias either way. Their agenda is far different (and very cool to a geek).

Google doesn't allow gun sellers to advertise with them, so I'd say that's a pretty definite sign of where their bias is.

Regarding Goggle's "agenda"--I'm sure you are not talking about how they censor their Chinese search engine.

 

[akodo]

i tried the bho thingie, it found a few, but all were linked to relatively reputable companies, like google, spybot, adobeacrobat, etc.

So I disabled them all and tested it, the google toolbar still showed up and still allowed me to put terms in it, etcso I am suspicious this blocker is working, but anyways, the problem persists

 

[lastcavalier]

@creeping incrementalism:

I wasn't aware of the restriction on advertising. As I said I had no idea if they had an bias or what it was, but a quick look at the AdWords policy seems to confirm what you said. By "agenda", I meant their stated mission to catalog the world's information.

Even given the apparent anti-gun bias, I still find it highly unlikely that they would use false links.

As for the China thing, I disagree with you. However, this point is pretty much non-gun-related so I'd be happy to continue this discussion over PM's if you would like.

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

My apologies for dredging this back up, but yesterday I found something that might be related while working on another machine and I thought it might be useful/interesting to more than the original poster.

In this case, the DNS settings had actually been hijacked and was causing google search results to be redirected via DNS.

Check your DNS settings, to do this you can open a command prompt (Start, run, type "cmd", hit enter) and type "ipconfig /all".

One of the entries will say DNS servers. The correct value of these number will depend on your ISP, so you'll want to contact your ISP and find out what they should be.

In yesterday's case, they had been set to 85.255.113.197 and 85.255.112.128, which are servers located in the Ukraine, rather than the local ISP's servers. This caused some misdirected links to ads.

Good luck!

And for a gun related info, I did this troubleshooting after taking my new rifle out on its maiden voyage. Here's a picture of the rifle.

 

[akodo]

AKK! that is it!

I have tried a ton of stuff, all my scans are coming up clean, but when I tried that, I found a pair of 85.225's at the end too.

Now, I'd be very grateful for instructions on how to remove or overcome them.

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

Call your ISP and tell them that your DNS settings were hijacked and you need help resetting them.

Or, if you are more technically inclined...

Go to your ISP's support page and locate the DNS servers they recommend. Jot those numbers down. Then hit "Start, Control Panel" Open up Network Connections (or Network and Internet connections, depending on how you are configured). Then double click on your connection (you may need need to click on "network connections" a second time if you had Network and Internet connections on the first screen.) Doubleclick on your connection (probably called "Local Area Connection", assuming you have broadband.) Choose properties, and in the box that says "This connection uses the following items:" find "Internet protocol (TCP/IP)" and double click on it. There should be a box in the part that says "Obtain DNS server addresses automatically" or "Use the the following DNS server addresses" (this one is probably checked). Either check the automatic option or enter the correct values per your ISP. Click ok until you close all the boxes and give it a spin.


If you have any more questions, feel free to PM me.