Watch out for those search results!

Having "Street Smarts" while browsing the Internet is very important.

Just as knowing the ropes when it comes to the city streets and the various areas within the city, so too one must keep in mind that there are many perils to be found on the Internet.

I am to be one of the Groom's Men at a good friend of mine's wedding in July.

The tuxedos for the wedding are being provided by a company called Moores Clothing for Men.

When searching for the business' phone number to inquire about timing for checking in with the tuxedo folks for measurements, Live Search brought up the following search results:

Moores Suit Live Search

The first number of search results seemingly have the right information that I am looking for without the phone number.

The very first link in the search results takes one to a page that indicates the computer is infected with a virus and that I should be downloading the site's antivirus tool.

So, what do we do when faced with this question? We close the prompt ... which leads to an IE Security Bar indicating a file wants to be installed (I am running Vista), and from there the IE Tab gets closed.

Since the information that is being searched for is not readily available via Live Search, we flip over to Google and we get:

Moores Suit Google Search

All links are pretty much legitimate. Not only that, we get the required information 4 search results down.

The Live Search results illustrate why one needs to be aware of what could possibly be lurking around the proverbial Internet Corner. In this case, if one decided to accept the invitation to download and install the "antivirus" software, one would surely be short on cash and possibly an identity in the not so distant future. This situation seems to arise on the other search engines too ... Live Search just happens to be the first place we will search for something here in the Shop.

And, as was indicated in a previous blog post about the Live Search Cashback situation, the Live Search folks still have a long way to go in fine tuning their search results into significant relevancy. :(

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.