Locked Out By Google: Unusual Traffic From Your Computer Network?

I’ve been using dozens google’s services for years but I got a really crazy error message last night while trying to visit my own blog. At first I thought it was some sort of accidental error that came up due to a minor failure on google’s part but I kept trying to no avail. I tried visiting other sites hosted on blogspot but got the same error:

“Our systems have detected unusual traffic from your computer network. Please try your request again later. Why did this happen?

This page appears when Google automatically detects requests coming from your computer network which appear to be in violation of the Terms of Service. The block will expire shortly after those requests stop.

This traffic may have been sent by malicious software, a browser plug-in, or a script that sends automated requests. If you share your network connection, ask your administrator for help — a different computer using the same IP address may be responsible. Learn more Sometimes you may see this page if you are using advanced terms that robots are known to use, or sending requests very quickly.

IP address: 41.203.64.13
Time: 2011-10-25T12:13:27Z“

I went ahead to clear my browser cookies, cache, history and site preferences but nothing happened. I also tried using google chrome but got the same error. Talking about unusual traffic, I realized I had been pinging lots of my backlinks that same day and that might have been the cause of the problem but I’m not so sure. That wasn’t the first time I’ve done that.

Another thing to note is that my ISP assigns the same IP address to lots of subscribers and someone on my network might be generating that unusual traffic which google thought was coming from my own computer. Anyway, I had to fix it and came up with three solutions.

1. Remove Newly Installed Softwares And Addons

If you recently installed any software, toolbar or browser add-on, you should uninstall this first. It might be the source of this unusual traffic activity. You can also run a scan for malwares and spywares but this wasn’t applicable in my own case.

2. Renewing Your IP Address

This is the quickest fix but it might not work for you. If you’re using a USB modem like I do, disconnect your modem for about 10 minutes or more and reconnect. You should have been assigned a new IP address by then but if you’re using a LAN, disconnect your router unplugg your router also for ten minutes or so.

3. Hiding Your IP Address

In case you’re in a hurry or your IP address doesn’t get renewed fast enough, go to hidemyass.com, get a working IP and it’s corresponding port. Open your browser settings and change your proxy settings from the one you got from hidemyass.com. This is the easiest fix to bypass this annoying error but if you don’t have a clue on how to change your browser settings, just check this post. this is what I did that eventually got me going.

In my quest for an answer, I also found out this same error appears for some search queries and this fix works for that as well, so far that same error is what is displayed on your screen.