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Morticia

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I signed up for Google Alerts to see when my inn is mentioned online. I've gotten a couple of alerts that were odd in that what was being alerted was something that had been posted weeks ago. So, maybe the site they were on 'refreshed' a page or something?
Today I got one that had a whole sentence, not written by me, saying guests should come here in the fall (to my place, by name) and hubs (named by name) would whip up some of his famous breakfast and I would take a picture of it...(sentence ended here).
So, I clicked the link in the alert to see who the heck was naming names and posting recipes. First off I got a page that said access was denied. So, I copied the link and the same page attempted to load and then I got a 'You have viruses and spyware on your computer, we will fix that now' message from a pop up window so I yanked the DSL line off the computer and am now running AV scan. So far one risk found and contained.
Now I'm even more curious...what site is this that purports to be recipes from my inn but is a haven for pop ups and spyware? I guess I cut and paste the sentence and search on that to see what I come up with...
 
I have been getting some of those same alerts recently and had exactly the same experience you had except for my McAfee came up with an alert. I can only imagine that these are phishing and spyware sites that somehow generate all sorts of keywords in a posting to mimic a blog posting that will set off google alerts. How they choose what to mimic, I have no idea. I am trying now to be more careful about which ones I click - if they are obvious nonsense, then I leave them alone.
 
I have been getting some of those same alerts recently and had exactly the same experience you had except for my McAfee came up with an alert. I can only imagine that these are phishing and spyware sites that somehow generate all sorts of keywords in a posting to mimic a blog posting that will set off google alerts. How they choose what to mimic, I have no idea. I am trying now to be more careful about which ones I click - if they are obvious nonsense, then I leave them alone..
It may have been an alert from my AV program, I didn't wait to see...
The country code was for Poland. And it had the name of another inn as the title of the page.
 
Most likely it is an automated scraper (bot) that scrapes content from where ever it finds it then generates pages by splicing together scraped content from different sources. They can generate thousands of pages per day this way and put advertising on them or other redirects to sales schemes. ANd of course they can also put viruses on them to see who they can infect.
 
Most likely it is an automated scraper (bot) that scrapes content from where ever it finds it then generates pages by splicing together scraped content from different sources. They can generate thousands of pages per day this way and put advertising on them or other redirects to sales schemes. ANd of course they can also put viruses on them to see who they can infect..
Is there a way to check the site's content BEFORE actually hitting 'enter' to get the page? A place to verify a URL?
 
Most likely it is an automated scraper (bot) that scrapes content from where ever it finds it then generates pages by splicing together scraped content from different sources. They can generate thousands of pages per day this way and put advertising on them or other redirects to sales schemes. ANd of course they can also put viruses on them to see who they can infect..
Is there a way to check the site's content BEFORE actually hitting 'enter' to get the page? A place to verify a URL?
.
Probably depends on what you are yusing as your email client to read the google alert. I use Thunderbird and can just hover over the link and see where the link is pointing to....sometimes you have to look beyond the google.com and see what appears after that. Beyond that there isn't really an effective way to see what lies beyond, before you get there. From there you just have to have faith in your antivirus software.
 
Most likely it is an automated scraper (bot) that scrapes content from where ever it finds it then generates pages by splicing together scraped content from different sources. They can generate thousands of pages per day this way and put advertising on them or other redirects to sales schemes. ANd of course they can also put viruses on them to see who they can infect..
Is there a way to check the site's content BEFORE actually hitting 'enter' to get the page? A place to verify a URL?
.
Probably depends on what you are yusing as your email client to read the google alert. I use Thunderbird and can just hover over the link and see where the link is pointing to....sometimes you have to look beyond the google.com and see what appears after that. Beyond that there isn't really an effective way to see what lies beyond, before you get there. From there you just have to have faith in your antivirus software.
.
I could see where the link was going, and it didn't look all that weird. It looked like some sort of travel directory listing inns and recipes. I just wondered if there was a place (and, boy, what a service this would be) I could enter the URL and have the site checked before I clicked it 'live'.
 
Most likely it is an automated scraper (bot) that scrapes content from where ever it finds it then generates pages by splicing together scraped content from different sources. They can generate thousands of pages per day this way and put advertising on them or other redirects to sales schemes. ANd of course they can also put viruses on them to see who they can infect..
Is there a way to check the site's content BEFORE actually hitting 'enter' to get the page? A place to verify a URL?
.
Probably depends on what you are yusing as your email client to read the google alert. I use Thunderbird and can just hover over the link and see where the link is pointing to....sometimes you have to look beyond the google.com and see what appears after that. Beyond that there isn't really an effective way to see what lies beyond, before you get there. From there you just have to have faith in your antivirus software.
.
I could see where the link was going, and it didn't look all that weird. It looked like some sort of travel directory listing inns and recipes. I just wondered if there was a place (and, boy, what a service this would be) I could enter the URL and have the site checked before I clicked it 'live'.
.
Bree said:
I could see where the link was going, and it didn't look all that weird. It looked like some sort of travel directory listing inns and recipes. I just wondered if there was a place (and, boy, what a service this would be) I could enter the URL and have the site checked before I clicked it 'live'.
right mouse click the email while in your inbox and click message options - it will show you info on it without opening the email. That is what I do with iffy ones that slide in past my filters.
 
Most likely it is an automated scraper (bot) that scrapes content from where ever it finds it then generates pages by splicing together scraped content from different sources. They can generate thousands of pages per day this way and put advertising on them or other redirects to sales schemes. ANd of course they can also put viruses on them to see who they can infect..
Is there a way to check the site's content BEFORE actually hitting 'enter' to get the page? A place to verify a URL?
.
Probably depends on what you are yusing as your email client to read the google alert. I use Thunderbird and can just hover over the link and see where the link is pointing to....sometimes you have to look beyond the google.com and see what appears after that. Beyond that there isn't really an effective way to see what lies beyond, before you get there. From there you just have to have faith in your antivirus software.
.
I could see where the link was going, and it didn't look all that weird. It looked like some sort of travel directory listing inns and recipes. I just wondered if there was a place (and, boy, what a service this would be) I could enter the URL and have the site checked before I clicked it 'live'.
.
Bree said:
I could see where the link was going, and it didn't look all that weird. It looked like some sort of travel directory listing inns and recipes. I just wondered if there was a place (and, boy, what a service this would be) I could enter the URL and have the site checked before I clicked it 'live'.
right mouse click the email while in your inbox and click message options - it will show you info on it without opening the email. That is what I do with iffy ones that slide in past my filters.
.
JunieBJones (JBJ) said:
Bree said:
I could see where the link was going, and it didn't look all that weird. It looked like some sort of travel directory listing inns and recipes. I just wondered if there was a place (and, boy, what a service this would be) I could enter the URL and have the site checked before I clicked it 'live'.
right mouse click the email while in your inbox and click message options - it will show you info on it without opening the email. That is what I do with iffy ones that slide in past my filters.
The email is from Google. It shows Google info. I want some way to check the page the link is associated with before I end up there with lights flashing and 'Warning, warning, danger Will Robinson,' popping up all over the place. BTW, another neat feature someone should offer...the robot popping up, arms waving and saying the whole 'warning' thing when you get to a site that is bad.
 
Right mouse or hover over the title of the google alert and it will show the URL. ie INYORK.com for that York google alert I posted.
I have never had a google alert with anything other than a verifiable source for the article.
 
Right mouse or hover over the title of the google alert and it will show the URL. ie INYORK.com for that York google alert I posted.
I have never had a google alert with anything other than a verifiable source for the article..
JunieBJones (JBJ) said:
Right mouse or hover over the title of the google alert and it will show the URL. ie INYORK.com for that York google alert I posted.
I have never had a google alert with anything other than a verifiable source for the article.
It does show the URL. The URL looks 'ok' but when I click on it, it either doesn't open the page or I get all this pop up crap with warnings about Spyware and viruses on my computer.
I may try again. Glutton for punishment that I am...
 
Right mouse or hover over the title of the google alert and it will show the URL. ie INYORK.com for that York google alert I posted.
I have never had a google alert with anything other than a verifiable source for the article..
OK, tried it again. Got the same problem...click the link in the email page gets an error 'server disconnected while page trying to load'. Copy link and paste and I get the following page instead...and it runs thru this scan thing that says I have 500+ viruses on my computer, click here to fix. So now I am doing the whole AV thing again to search for anything this program left behind. Altho, it may not do anything except 'pretend' it is searching for viruses and the damage is done when I click 'fix now'. Who knows.
www dot sys-scanner dot com/l1/index.html?ref_id=4448
Sorry, I didn't mean for this to be a live link...I've edited it to remove the link. I looked this up...the same sys-scanner dot org with the exact same rest of the URL, is a known spyware site. McAfee confirms this.
And again my AV software found a risk. Didn't stop it incoming, tho, but found it later when I ran a disk scan. So, Google doesn't check the sites before it lists them in the alerts.
 
Right mouse or hover over the title of the google alert and it will show the URL. ie INYORK.com for that York google alert I posted.
I have never had a google alert with anything other than a verifiable source for the article..
OK, tried it again. Got the same problem...click the link in the email page gets an error 'server disconnected while page trying to load'. Copy link and paste and I get the following page instead...and it runs thru this scan thing that says I have 500+ viruses on my computer, click here to fix. So now I am doing the whole AV thing again to search for anything this program left behind. Altho, it may not do anything except 'pretend' it is searching for viruses and the damage is done when I click 'fix now'. Who knows.
www dot sys-scanner dot com/l1/index.html?ref_id=4448
Sorry, I didn't mean for this to be a live link...I've edited it to remove the link. I looked this up...the same sys-scanner dot org with the exact same rest of the URL, is a known spyware site. McAfee confirms this.
And again my AV software found a risk. Didn't stop it incoming, tho, but found it later when I ran a disk scan. So, Google doesn't check the sites before it lists them in the alerts.
.
And let's not pass up today's alert...a string of words all staring with the 'color' of my inn and going from there. Anyone here need some stem cells?
And the next one where someone has 'lifted' my info and moved my inn about 30 miles inland.
I'm sort of dismayed I started doing this!
 
You have the inn name in quotes in google alert? I never get those, I get google alerts for this B&B, the words "bed and breakfast" and also one other feature near me. Trust me, when I forgot to put our B&B name in quotes I had plenty of non useful B&B stuff as our name is fairly common. Altho for some reason no one can say it or spell it correctly, go figure.
 
You have the inn name in quotes in google alert? I never get those, I get google alerts for this B&B, the words "bed and breakfast" and also one other feature near me. Trust me, when I forgot to put our B&B name in quotes I had plenty of non useful B&B stuff as our name is fairly common. Altho for some reason no one can say it or spell it correctly, go figure..
Yes, the first day I got all sorts of random things and realized I needed the quotes. Ever since then, with one or two exceptions, all of the alerts have had the actual inn name as part of the alert. That's what I mean by being sort of sorry I started this. I'm seeing my actual name in all sorts of weird places.
The one with the recipes actually used hubs' name, which is not easily available on my website. You have to look for that. But, written as it was, it was definitely a hodge podge of actual sentences pulled from the site.
The ones today were, like I said, a string of words and one of those strings was my inn name. (red blood cells, red cedar sheds, red cedar floor, red celica, red cedar b&b, etc.)
The other one was one of those vacation rental websites that had my inn pics (all of the rooms and 2 outside photos) but had the inn listed in 2 different towns. So, they were real instances of my inn name being found online.
 
You have the inn name in quotes in google alert? I never get those, I get google alerts for this B&B, the words "bed and breakfast" and also one other feature near me. Trust me, when I forgot to put our B&B name in quotes I had plenty of non useful B&B stuff as our name is fairly common. Altho for some reason no one can say it or spell it correctly, go figure..
Interesting...just got an alert on another B&B in town and they are mis-listed on that same website I am. Totally different town than the one they are in.
 
Bree, we must think a like or are at least from the same era. "lights flashing and 'Warning, warning, danger Will Robinson,'" LOL
 
Bree, we must think a like or are at least from the same era. "lights flashing and 'Warning, warning, danger Will Robinson,'" LOL.
Copperhead said:
Bree, we must think a like or are at least from the same era. "lights flashing and 'Warning, warning, danger Will Robinson,'" LOL
We do this all the time around here if someone is about to (or just has) made a big mistake...and we do the arm motions to boot! Like hubs on a ladder with a chain saw, that always gets a 'Warning, Will Robinson,' arms flailing response.
 
Got another one today. Hover over the link and it says www dot abcess-tooth dot com! This one started off purporting to be for alpaca farms. But, again, the country code is Poland. Didn't click on this one, I'm done with stuff that is off the wall...
 
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