Out of nowhere, when I accessed Google today, I keep getting the BelaRus 
Google home page in Cyrillic letters, and am unable to bring up the 
regular US Google. I have tried everywhich way to get back to Google, 
but am unable to. What in the world could be wrong? I am totally lost 
without Google. A virus? I have an iMacG4, use Safari as the browser, 
and am running System 10.4.11. Please someone enlighten me.

Thank you so much.

Jack

Jack Ricci <jritch53@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Out of nowhere, when I accessed Google today, I keep getting the BelaRus
> Google home page in Cyrillic letters, and am unable to bring up the 
> regular US Google. I have tried everywhich way to get back to Google,
> but am unable to. What in the world could be wrong? I am totally lost
> without Google. A virus? I have an iMacG4, use Safari as the browser,
> and am running System 10.4.11. Please someone enlighten me.

Immediately prior to this happening, did you by any chance click on
Preferences on the Google home page and look at the Interface Language
options?  If so, you may have accidentally left it on the wrong setting
(and, I'll tell you, it would have been a lot more amusing if it got set
to Elmer Fudd or Bork, bork, bork!).

Whether or not that's what happened, if you delete your Google-related
cookies you'll be good to go.

(And note that I've intentionally not responded to your mention of a
virus.)

-- 
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In article <1i854fr.1431j28hh9bkuN%mikePOST@TOGROUPmacconsult.com>,
 mikePOST@TOGROUPmacconsult.com (Mike Rosenberg) wrote:

> Jack Ricci <jritch53@hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > Out of nowhere, when I accessed Google today, I keep getting the BelaRus
> > Google home page in Cyrillic letters, and am unable to bring up the 
> > regular US Google. I have tried everywhich way to get back to Google,
> > but am unable to. What in the world could be wrong? I am totally lost
> > without Google. A virus? I have an iMacG4, use Safari as the browser,
> > and am running System 10.4.11. Please someone enlighten me.
> 
> Immediately prior to this happening, did you by any chance click on
> Preferences on the Google home page and look at the Interface Language
> options?  If so, you may have accidentally left it on the wrong setting
> (and, I'll tell you, it would have been a lot more amusing if it got set
> to Elmer Fudd or Bork, bork, bork!).
> 
> Whether or not that's what happened, if you delete your Google-related
> cookies you'll be good to go.
> 
> (And note that I've intentionally not responded to your mention of a
> virus.)

Mike,

You're a genius! That did it. I followed both your suggestions, deleted 
all the Google related cookies, and then accessed the "Preferences" on 
the Google page, which were in such small letters, I didn't even know 
they existed. And I am back in business. Thank you so much.

Also, humor me--why did you intentionally not respond to my question 
about the possibility of a virus? Too horrendous to contemplate?

Jack Ricci <jritch53@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Also, humor me--why did you intentionally not respond to my question 
> about the possibility of a virus? Too horrendous to contemplate?

No, because it's a waste of effort even typing "virus" on a Mac unless
you're writing a medical or biological treatise.

So, did you try setting your Interface Language to Elmer Fudd just for
the fun of it?

-- 
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<http://designsbymike.info/shop/musings.cgi> Muckraking T-shirts
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Jack Ricci <jritch53@hotmail.com> wrote:

> In article <1i854fr.1431j28hh9bkuN%mikePOST@TOGROUPmacconsult.com>,
>  mikePOST@TOGROUPmacconsult.com (Mike Rosenberg) wrote:
> 
> > Jack Ricci <jritch53@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > 
> > > Out of nowhere, when I accessed Google today, I keep getting the BelaRus
> > > Google home page in Cyrillic letters, and am unable to bring up the
> > > regular US Google. I have tried everywhich way to get back to Google,
> > > but am unable to. What in the world could be wrong? I am totally lost
> > > without Google. A virus? I have an iMacG4, use Safari as the browser,
> > > and am running System 10.4.11. Please someone enlighten me.
> > 
> > Immediately prior to this happening, did you by any chance click on
> > Preferences on the Google home page and look at the Interface Language
> > options?  If so, you may have accidentally left it on the wrong setting
> > (and, I'll tell you, it would have been a lot more amusing if it got set
> > to Elmer Fudd or Bork, bork, bork!).
> > 
> > Whether or not that's what happened, if you delete your Google-related
> > cookies you'll be good to go.
> > 
> > (And note that I've intentionally not responded to your mention of a
> > virus.)
> 
> Mike,
> 
> You're a genius! That did it. I followed both your suggestions, deleted
> all the Google related cookies, and then accessed the "Preferences" on
> the Google page, which were in such small letters, I didn't even know
> they existed. And I am back in business. Thank you so much.
> 
> Also, humor me--why did you intentionally not respond to my question 
> about the possibility of a virus? Too horrendous to contemplate?

Because you would need psychological counseling first :-)

(The real answer is because, as of yet, there ain't no stinkin' OS X
viruses.)
-- 
Never believe anything until it's officially denied.

Jack Ricci <jritch53@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Also, humor me--why did you intentionally not respond to my question 
> about the possibility of a virus? Too horrendous to contemplate?

Because Mac people are *ALWAYS* asking whether they have a virus - so
much so that it gets quite monotonous. And they absolutely never do have
one, as there are none in the wild. The "never" part is quite literal.
I'm not sure what it is that makes so many Mac users ask about viruses
whenever anything the least bit odd happens to their system. We've had a
bit of "discussion" about lightning protection here recently. I swear
that if a Mac stopped working after a direct lightning strike, the user
would probably ask here whether it might have been a virus.

Windows users, on the other hand, must be so used to odd things that
they don't notice the difference. :-(

-- 
Richard Maine                    | Good judgement comes from experience;
email: last name at domain . net | experience comes from bad judgement.
domain: summertriangle           |  -- Mark Twain

Richard Maine <nospam@see.signature> wrote:

> I'm not sure what it is that makes so many Mac users ask about viruses
> whenever anything the least bit odd happens to their system.

Oh, I understand it.  If someone has a Mac but associates with mostly
Windows users and doesn't read much or at all about the Mac, it's easy
to end up thinking that viruses are a universal problem.

> We've had a bit of "discussion" about lightning protection here recently.
> I swear that if a Mac stopped working after a direct lightning strike, the
> user would probably ask here whether it might have been a virus.

LOL!  That reminds me of something.  So many of my clients have called
Comcast tech support for help and have been told for no good reason that
their computer is the source of whatever problem they're having, that
I've speculated that:

1. On their on-screen list of steps to follow during a call, item 1 is
to blame the customer's computer.

2. Even if you were to tell them that your cable modem has literally
been destroyed they would still blame your computer.

-- 
<http://designsbymike.info/shop/mac.cgi> Mac and geek T-shirts & gifts
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In article <1i8560m.133cd0v5hgueiN%mikePOST@TOGROUPmacconsult.com>,
 mikePOST@TOGROUPmacconsult.com (Mike Rosenberg) wrote:

> Jack Ricci <jritch53@hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > Also, humor me--why did you intentionally not respond to my question 
> > about the possibility of a virus? Too horrendous to contemplate?
> 
> No, because it's a waste of effort even typing "virus" on a Mac unless
> you're writing a medical or biological treatise.
> 
> So, did you try setting your Interface Language to Elmer Fudd just for
> the fun of it?

No, I am too frazzled. I also thought I may have to tell my "PC 
demented" friends that I had a virus, although I have told them for 
years that Macs don't get viruses. I am so relieved..Thanks again Mike.

Mike Rosenberg wrote:
> Richard Maine <nospam@see.signature> wrote:
> 
>> I'm not sure what it is that makes so many Mac users ask about viruses
>> whenever anything the least bit odd happens to their system.
> 
> Oh, I understand it.  If someone has a Mac but associates with mostly
> Windows users and doesn't read much or at all about the Mac, it's easy
> to end up thinking that viruses are a universal problem.

Another probably reason is that Mac users tend not to be techies with
a real understanding of computer terminology.  Instead of reading the
tech press, they follow the MSM (Main Stream Media), where all computer
problems are described as a "virus" that "infects" "computers".  There
is almost never a mention of the make or model of computer, because to
journalists and TV news people, there are only "computers".  So your
typical non-geek Mac user hears no brand name, and naturally thinks
they're talking about his/her computer.

I've sorta been watching such news stories, and out of a few hundred,
I've seen exactly one that mentioned Microsoft.  But it wasn't saying
that only Microsoft computers were infected; it was just quoting a
"Microsoft" spokesman" about the problem, who spoke reassuringly about
how hard they were working on the problem, and customers shouldn't be
worried.

Most professional journalists, even the ones doing scientific news,
tend to go along with the idea that there are just "computers", and
they come from IBM/Microsoft (who are probably the same company ;-).
So anything bad that happens with IBM or MS computers is reported as
a problem with "computers", and computers are all alike, y'know.

In article 
<jritch53-3FB8EC.12254925112007@news.phx.highwinds-media.com>,
 Jack  Ricci <jritch53@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Out of nowhere, when I accessed Google today, I keep getting the BelaRus 
> Google home page in Cyrillic letters, and am unable to bring up the 
> regular US Google. I have tried everywhich way to get back to Google, 
> but am unable to. What in the world could be wrong? I am totally lost 
> without Google. 

Try clearing your web browser cookies, then restarting your browser.

> A virus? 

*sigh* NO.  Now repeat this 1000 times in your head:

1. Minor, even major, malfunctions do not automatically equate to 
viruses.

2. There are ZERO Mac OS X viruses in the wild, and that has been the 
case for the past SEVEN YEARS.

-- 
Note: Please send all responses to the relevant news group. If you 
must contact me through e-mail, let me know when you send email to 
this address so that your email doesn't get eaten by my SPAM filter.

JR

In article <1i84xt9.6mecx02adikdN%nospam@see.signature>,
 nospam@see.signature (Richard Maine) wrote:

> I swear
> that if a Mac stopped working after a direct lightning strike, the user
> would probably ask here whether it might have been a virus.
> 
> Windows users, on the other hand, must be so used to odd things that
> they don't notice the difference. :-(

I believe we are getting a bit more crossover from ex-Windows users 
lately. They grew up in a virus environment and can't imagine computers 
that don't have them. I've used a Mac for twenty-two years almost 
exclusively, although I've run Linux on a couple. I have never had a 
virus on the Mac side. I don't even know if I'd recognize one.
Good Lord! Maybe I'm infected!

leo

In article <1i854fr.1431j28hh9bkuN%mikePOST@TOGROUPmacconsult.com>,
 mikePOST@TOGROUPmacconsult.com (Mike Rosenberg) wrote:

> (and, I'll tell you, it would have been a lot more amusing if it got set
> to Elmer Fudd or Bork, bork, bork!).

Now that's fun. "Sine ing" indeed.
-- 
W. Oates