Anyone else getting locked out of Google?

This is weird, and it's never happened to me before. I recently switched from Explorer to Firefox and wonder if that has anything to do with it? But I made the switch several days ago, and this just started.

It seems to think I'm some kind of spammer or virus. I get this message:

Google
Error

We're sorry...

... but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application. To protect our users, we can't process your request right now.

We'll restore your access as quickly as possible, so try again soon. In the meantime, if you suspect that your computer or network has been infected, you might want to run a virus checker or spyware remover to make sure that your systems are free of viruses and other spurious software.

If you're continually receiving this error, you may be able to resolve the problem by deleting your Google cookie and revisiting Google. For browser-specific instructions, please consult your browser's online support center.

If your entire network is affected, more information is available in the Google Web Search Help Center.

We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope we'll see you again on Google.
To continue searching, please type the characters you see below:
If you can read this, you do not have images enabled. Please enable images in order to proceed.

<end message>

Then to top it off, there are no characters in the box for me to verify I'm human. Apparently I need to enable images somehow, but images from other websites like DU are fine?

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

That's the only thing I can think of, I've never seen that before.

But I see what you mean. Like if they had billions of searches from Nigeria for bank account numbers or some such.

What anti-virus and anti-spyware utilities are you running? That just might be a helpful warning if your protections are not adequate.

I have Norton Anti-Virus. I think I figured it out. See below.

it may be possible they are putting everyone in your area through an invisible proxy.

I am using AOL dialup. When I was able to get back into google, I googled this message. Apparently, Google will shut down access to an isp or portions of an isp if there is an attack from any one computer in that portion (if that makes sense).

I am in Queens, New York, and the New York area AOL access servers have been buggy for weeks. I often have to dial up to Long Island, just to get online. Maybe that was it.

But it doesn't seem to have been anything related to my individual computer.

I think I finally used malwarebytes anti malware to find and fix my problem.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php