# Seen this? Google pissing me off on its homepage simple search **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 16, 2012, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seen-this-google-pissing-me-off-on-its-homepage-simple-search/625321 "2012-06-16T05:46:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seen-this-google-pissing-me-off-on-its-homepage-simple-search/625321/1 "2012-06-16T05:46:17Z")
This has happened to me at least three times in as many days, and it’s annoying. I do a simple search at [google.com](http://google.com), this time it was Penn Jillette. Results come up, at the top of everything is exactly what I was looking for, the simple non-ad-related number one result, his own site: [www.pennandteller.com](http://www.pennandteller.com). So I immediately go to click it, my finger is already in motion, and a tenth of a second before I click, it changes. A peach colored box appears, with two ads in it, in this case #1 was Showtime, and #2 was Vegas tickets for their show. That’s all fine, the ads make sense, but what pisses me off, is that I see the #1 result, I go to click it, and \*then \*this ad shows up, pushing the real result down, and I accidentally click a Showtime ad. It just doesn’t seem fitting with their supposed “don’t be evil” philosophy. It feels like they just have it timed precisely as to invite misclicks. ---
**Author:** ![mister\_nyx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@mister\_nyx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mister_nyx)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seen-this-google-pissing-me-off-on-its-homepage-simple-search/625321/2 "2012-06-16T05:49:11Z")
Sounds like it’s time to run Spybot and MalwareBytes. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seen-this-google-pissing-me-off-on-its-homepage-simple-search/625321/3 "2012-06-16T05:59:29Z")
I don’t think it’s a Google thing, it’s just a page loading thing. Happens more often on mobile browsers since they’re so small. I thought it could be solved by loading the page so the link under your mouse stays the same ([Stop browsers jumping when loading! - Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=628602)) but people said it would be too hard to do. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seen-this-google-pissing-me-off-on-its-homepage-simple-search/625321/4 "2012-06-16T11:47:12Z")
> [@Eleusis](#): > > A peach colored box appears, with two ads in it, in this case #1 was Showtime, and #2 was Vegas tickets for their show. Google doesn’t do peach-coloured, pop-up ads. A program on your computer is intercepting your Google results and showing those ads. As **mister nyx** said, you need to scan your computer. ---
**Author:** ![SubaRhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@SubaRhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SubaRhubarb)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seen-this-google-pissing-me-off-on-its-homepage-simple-search/625321/5 "2012-06-16T13:31:43Z")
OP didn’t say it was a popup. The background of google ads at the top of the screen is beige/pink. At least it is when I use my desktop running firefox. ---
**Author:** ![oreally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7ab992/32.png) [@oreally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oreally)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seen-this-google-pissing-me-off-on-its-homepage-simple-search/625321/6 "2012-06-16T13:37:17Z")
I gave up on google for other reasons - mainly the privacy issues, but also how it keeps resetting my preferences. Also I know it’s trivial but I got weary of these “artsy” google graphics celebrating Joe Artist nobody has ever heard of’s 193d birthday. Results aren’t as comprehensive, but I like [Goduckgo.com](http://Goduckgo.com). ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seen-this-google-pissing-me-off-on-its-homepage-simple-search/625321/7 "2012-06-16T13:44:53Z")
Are you using Firefox? Remove the IE Tabs Plus extension. I was having the same issue and just looked into it due to this thread. The links all have a “[Google-co.com](http://Google-co.com)” domain and looking that up pointed me to it being IE Tabs Plus. I just overarmed that, tested a search I did minutes ago and got the ad box (“grapefruit”) and now it’s clean. IE Tabs Plus is inserting the ads. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seen-this-google-pissing-me-off-on-its-homepage-simple-search/625321/8 "2012-06-16T13:56:39Z")
I have no idea what “overarmed” was supposed to be. I removed it. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seen-this-google-pissing-me-off-on-its-homepage-simple-search/625321/9 "2012-06-16T14:52:14Z")
My iPad does it if I don’t wait until the page has fully loaded. I see what I want and go to click it, but the page is still moving things around. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seen-this-google-pissing-me-off-on-its-homepage-simple-search/625321/10 "2012-06-16T15:41:47Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Are you using Firefox? Remove the IE Tabs Plus extension. > > I was having the same issue and just looked into it due to this thread. The links all have a “[Google-co.com](http://Google-co.com)” domain and looking that up pointed me to it being IE Tabs Plus. I just overarmed that, tested a search I did minutes ago and got the ad box (“grapefruit”) and now it’s clean. IE Tabs Plus is inserting the ads. Thank you! That was it. The ads did have the [google-co.com](http://google-co.com) domain, and removing IE Tabs Plus got rid of them. Woot! ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seen-this-google-pissing-me-off-on-its-homepage-simple-search/625321/11 "2012-06-16T15:51:40Z")
You’re welcome. You indirectly helped me as well since I also assumed it was just Google until your thread inspired me to look into it deeper. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seen-this-google-pissing-me-off-on-its-homepage-simple-search/625321/12 "2012-06-17T05:01:25Z")
You, Sir, are a gentleman and scholar. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seen-this-google-pissing-me-off-on-its-homepage-simple-search/625321/13 "2012-06-19T16:46:03Z")
For what it’s worth, I’m using IE Tab 2…Google results look normal when the tab is inactive, but I do get a small ad on a peach background if I search with the tab active. The ad appears to be Google based though. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seen-this-google-pissing-me-off-on-its-homepage-simple-search/625321/14 "2012-06-19T22:51:53Z")
Huh…just tried this on my home computer, and the ad I’m getting is actually generated by Google. There’s a little link in the upper right corner labeled “Why this ad?”; when clicked, a box pops up explaining that the ad is based on your search terms. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seen-this-google-pissing-me-off-on-its-homepage-simple-search/625321/15 "2012-06-20T17:35:18Z")
This sort of thing is actually a security issue. There is a minimum reaction time for people, and browsers should be set up to ignore new screen information that has come in during that time. It is easy to set up a page that does this on purpose. Heck, it’s even the reason why there’s a default delay when downloading plugins in Firefox. The concept of fixing it is simple, as stated above, but actually implementing it is a completely different paradigm to how applications work. At the very lease, you should be unable to click on a link that has only been active for less than the minimum time of perception (somewhere around 150ms, just less than 1/8 a second).