There seems to be a widely reported problem concerning AVG and the Google Link Scanner when using IE8. This may also affect Firefox and Yahoo and possible more.

The symptoms, in my case, are as follows:

I can use the Google search facility from within IE8 and the first results page appears with no problem. I can open the links from that first page. If I try to proceed to Page 2, or subsequent pages, a warning box pops up, telling me that the page that I'm trying to access is a phishing site and that I should not proceed. If I try to link to a link on the first page, e.g to a link marked 'similar', the same thing happens.

I don't know what's going on but the consensus seems to be that a wide-scale attack on certain sites has taken place. Different users report different but similar problems, depending on what browser and search engine they are using (as reported on the AVG.com site).

Anyone having similar problems? Hopefully the issues will get resolved but, meanwhile, perhaps we should take care and treat the warning messages as genuine.

DM

I've had the same thing happening today with Firefox.

Wonder if it has anything to do with this > AVG Upgrades Free Security Tool to Scan Shortened URLs

Dated October 13, 2009

Wonder if it has anything to do with this > AVG Upgrades Free Security Tool to Scan Shortened URLs

Dated October 13, 2009

I don't know - I suppose that it's possible. Updates to AVG Free appear frequently - so many of them in fact that it's hard to keep track. I update daily so it may be that it's a link scanner update that is causing the problem as it's only started happening today. The problem has been widely reported but whether it's an AVG problem or the result of a malicious attack on browser sites doesn't seem to be clear. Not to me, at least.

DM

Same problems here using Firefox - I disconnected the Link Scanner and all works fine.

I'd be more worried about AVG's poor detection rates. I spend lots of time cleaning up after it. If you MUST use a freebie, go with Avira.

UPDATE:

This problem seems to have been fixed. AVG released a program update today that seems to have done the trick. Just need to download the update (2.5MB), restart the browser and everything should be back to normal.

DM