If you are a frequent reader of my blog, you know that I am a big fan of Google AdWords and the other varieties of pay per click advertising. In fact, some of you reading this blog right now came to my site from such an internet advertisement.
While internet advertising is the rage right now, it is not without its problems. Mostly, it is because of the internet pirates out there known as scammers, spammers, crooks and thieves who prey on the websites like yours and mine. The bad guys have many tools.
One such tool is “malware” or malicious software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner’s informed consent. The expression is a general term used by computer professionals to mean a variety of forms of hostile, intrusive, or annoying software or program code. Malware includes computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, dishonest adware, and other malicious and unwanted software.
My AdWord campaign was infiltrated with malware and Google caught the problem and shut down my account. The bad news is that I have to prove to Google that my website is clean. They provided me with links to software tools to clean things up. So, my campaign is shut down for 48 hours.
Additionally, my site is considered suspect for Google users for the same reasons. When I do a search for my blog, Google posts a warning that my site may not be safe. It kind of feels like the health department did an inspection and shut me down until I get rid of the cockroaches. I fully understand Google wanting to protect its customers, but this really sucks for an internet based business.
Prior to this event I routinely ran Norton Internet Security and Webroot Spyware, which apparently is not enough to avoid this type of problem since the bad guys keep on inventing new ways to get around the protective software. At Google’s suggestion I loaded a software program by Trend Micro called HijackThis. It is used to identify and purge the malware.
With that done, I contacted Google via live chat and they said that they would be back to me—-you see, they think that I am part of the problem. Let’s see how this goes over the next day or so. Stay tuned.
John Bradley Jackson
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Hi John
I’m a little confused as to how malware would be used to steal AdWords money – or did you mean to say AdSense?
Cheers
Chris
Sorry to hear of the trouble, John. Your writing about the experience will undoubtedly be useful to others, however. Hang in there!
Liz,
Trouble is the right word.
I am learning more and more about what it means to be a web based business. On the surface it seems so easy but there are many pitfalls and challenges.
More to come.
JBJ