I couldn’t remember a bit of dev information, so I went to google it up for some quick reference. To my immediate surprise was a Google web Page with a virus warning!

Of course, at first I thought it was a querry processing problem, so I hit it up again. After deciding to actually examine and read the warning, it was stating that I was infected or trying to do a nono.

I tried to google the google error, and didn’t find much other than other confused users with the same question. Most of which, in a nutshell, claimed that their antivirus was up to date, and thier machines were clean. So I Began to investigate and here’s what I found…

Runnning Firefox 1.5 (of which I just upgraded last week), and using the querry phrase:
textarea line break -javascript php I would receive the error.

In my searching I came across 2 items of interest. First I found a link http://www.google/ie. This link DID allow me to use that querry, but it just listed the results without a summary. Kind of interesting.

Secondly, when I tried the querry in the google home page using Internet Explorer version 7.05.112.0 the querry was sent right through.

This leads me to believe that Firefox is the ‘culprit’ in this. But is it? Does firefox have some type of embeded wicked code? OR is it possible that Google is playing favorites? OR is it simply that firefox has some new technology that is triggering the alarm from google?

You are definately welcome to provide feedback, suggestions, or any other similar findings you have regarding this topic!

Technorati Tags: Google 403, Firefox, Google and Firefox, google

9 Responses to “Google 403 and Firefox”

1. Anton Olsen Says:
   December 13th, 2005 at 10:33 am

   Try clearing your google cookies. The problem seems to be anyone who has display set to something other than 10 results.

2. Marco Pacchiarini Says:
   December 13th, 2005 at 3:32 pm

   It’s not related to a browser[1], but to the search string containing a specific keyword (AND, in my cases, a numeric value in another parameter, mostly > 10). So I think it’s just some Google filter working improperly. (Interestingly, the 2 words I found causing the error are both forum-related.) Then I ran some tests with the following strings which will result in the 403:

   www.google.ch/search?q=forum&num=11
   www.google.ch/search?q=viewtopic.php%2010

   …while these will work as expected:

   www.google.ch/search?q=forum
   www.google.ch/search?q=foobar&num=20
   www.google.ch/search?q=forum&num=0
   www.google.ch/search?q=forum&foobar=12

   Strange anyway.

   BTW the TLD (.ch) does not affect the results.
   [1] Tested with FF 1.5, IE 6 and Opera 8.5

3. Malcolm White Says:
   December 14th, 2005 at 1:46 am

   I’m not sure it is a firefox problem. I get it with both Firefox and IE but only when I’m using the company’s network. If I use my home computer it doesn’t happen. I also notice that it only occurs after about midday.

4. Duncan Says:
   January 7th, 2006 at 5:34 am

   I just saw this for the first time using Safari so it’s not Firefox-specific:

   http://www.google.com/search?q=inurl:domain.co.uk&num=50

   I imagine they’re trying to cut down what must be millions of requests from virii, worms and other automated scripts.

5. Header Says:
   February 2nd, 2006 at 8:11 am

   Hi - got the same problem on a mac network using Safari today - it is not keyword specific as I tried ant and evry word, the most banal (banana) to pieces of code and tags.

   It seems to be a cookie thing… try this.

   Remove all cookies, then try to search again.

   On the first attempt, you will be refused, type in the letters to continue, and then check your cookies.

   You’ll probably find two new google cookies set to expire in 2038. remove them, and you’ll have the error 403 problem again.

   This does seem to be linked to network access, as my home machine, (same ISP as my employer’s network), does not give the same problem.

   What do these particular cookies do that is different from previous ones?

6. ^Lestat Says:
   February 3rd, 2006 at 10:12 am

   Well, I haven’t had this happen since the day I posted this. Not quite sure why. I do suspect that Marco was correct in the fact that it is triggered by particular search terms.

7. LouCypher Says:
   February 20th, 2006 at 10:54 am

   Try search for Powered by Phpbb 2.0.6..10.

8. Beginnercode.com Says:
   May 10th, 2006 at 1:30 pm

   Google captcha ?

   I was playing the very last puzzle in the google Da Vinic Quest game. When I logged into my personalized google home page I saw this warning and captcha request:

   Of course my first attempt failed, can you tell if thats a zero or an ‘O’ …

9. Arun Saba Says:
   December 23rd, 2008 at 4:09 pm

   Firefox - 403 Forbidden Error in google search- How to remove.

   1. This is due to cookies / some tracking cookies. First of all Clear all cookies & Try.

   2. If you use Google chrome also in your computer:
   Go to File search in your computer & Search for “cookie” - in your computer
   (This may be related to Google chrome)
   Delete it.

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