Can you attach a screenshot?

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenshot
• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/how-do-i-create-screenshot-my-problem

Use a compressed image type like PNG or JPG to save the screenshot.

Clear the cache and the cookies from websites that cause problems.

"Clear the Cache":

• Firefox/Tools > Options > Advanced > Network > Cached Web Content: "Clear Now"

"Remove Cookies" from sites causing problems:

• Firefox/Tools > Options > Privacy > Cookies: "Show Cookies"

Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance).

• Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window or otherwise make changes.

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Safe+Mode
• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes

Thanks for the quick response cor-el.

Here is a screenshot of what I am talking about:

I have cleared the cache and removed cookies as mentioned earlier.

I am using Firefox default theme.

I have not yet looked at safe mode.

I noticed after posting that when I tried to reproduce the same thing again in Internet Explorer it was witnessed there as well so it doesn't seem to be browser related.

This seems quite strange to me - why would the link be showing as Outlook dot com one minute and then as witnessed in the screenshot the next AND in both browsers at random times?

Could this be a Microsoft website problem instead do you think?

Sorry for double posting but further to the previous post:

Here is what I have done and the results I am getting:

If I simply type "outlook" into Google sometimes I get the link which appears in the image from my previous post and other times I get the following link as seen in the screenshot in this post.

If I type "outlook email" as the search term I get the Sign In link as witnessed in the image from this post.

Another couple of things I have noticed is that using only "outlook" as the search term will have the top listing in IE as the Sign In link and in Firefox the other link OR vice versa.

I have gone to Control Panel -> Performance Information and Tools and run Disk cleanup - sometimes straight after when using only "outlook" as the search term it will show the Sign In link other times it will show the link with the leading "O".

I also noted that after doing nothing but opening Google and searching "outlook" search term only and getting either listing that an offline webpage file is being stored with a size of 5.30 KB.

I have cleared this using Disk cleanup but there is still no consistent result when only "outlook" is used as the search term to navigate to the login page.

I am starting to think that this may be poor link programming on Microsoft's part - what are your thoughts?

Apologies if this post is worded such that it might cause confusion - I am trying to be as clear as possible about an issue which to me seems very strange indeed.

I look forward to any helpful responses.

Do a malware check with some malware scanning programs on the Windows computer.
Please scan with all programs because each program detects different malware.

Make sure that you update each program to get the latest version of their databases before doing a scan.

• Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware:
  http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php
• SuperAntispyware:
  http://www.superantispyware.com/
• Microsoft Safety Scanner:
  http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx
• Windows Defender: Home Page:
  http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/defender/default.mspx
• Spybot Search & Destroy:
  http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
• AdwCleaner:
  http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/
  http://www.softpedia.com/get/Antivirus/Removal-Tools/AdwCleaner.shtml
• Kasperky Free Security Scan:
  http://www.kaspersky.com/security-scan

You can also do a check for a rootkit infection with TDSSKiller.

• Anti-rootkit utility TDSSKiller:
  http://support.kaspersky.com/5350?el=88446

See also:

• "Spyware on Windows": http://kb.mozillazine.org/Popups_not_blocked

When a browser hits outlook.com, the server sends a redirect to a page on www.outlook.com. In this situation, where it's not just a normal web page, Google may "improvise" the result headline from the next page or based on other information.

That said, I do not get the same result as you for your first screen shot. It could be based in part on your search history (personalized results). If you are logged in to your Google account when this happens, if you click the "globe" icon next to the "person" icon, near the "gear" button, does that have any effect?

Thanks for the responses all and apologies for not posting back sooner.

Am currently going through the list of scanners etc - I do already use MalwareBytes Free version along with Microsoft Security Essentials which I scan with/ update regularly.

I think that running all of the scanners may be a bit of overkill but I guess it can't hurt - I just hope that remnants of the scanner programs don't start butting heads after I uninstall them post scan and cause me issues.

jscher2000 - I am thinking along the same lines as you in regard to the improvised result heading - I guess I'm just unsure as to why it is not emulated on your system also.

I don't log in to Google unless I want to check a Gmail account that I have or when I use Webmaster Tools. I do have Goggle set as my home page both in Firefox and IE.

I have to be honest and say that I don't delve right in to all the options and features that Google make available to it's users and I know there are many .

I was wondering however if you could tell me if there may be a Preference setting of some sort which at a previous stage I may have set and forgotten about which could cause this - I am only thinking along these lines now due to the fact that I was able to witness this in both Firefox and Internet Explorer meaning that it is not browser related.

Thanks again and will keep you both posted after I gather all results from scanning the system.

Cheers

Have now scanned and here are some results:

MSE full scan: clean

MalwareBytes free full scan: clean

Microsoft Security Scanner full scan: clean

Windows Defender: didn't bother with this due to running MSE anyway

AdwCleaner: Reported that IE registry and Firefox file are clean ( I often check Programs and Features anyway to make sure there have been no un-wanted toolbar installations and know that when installing a program to look out for Conduit and other nasties which come packaged with the wanted software)

Kaspersky Free Security Scan: I disabled MSE and ran a quick scan which came up clean for malware and vulnerabilities

TDSSKiller: Didn't run in safe mode as the program info said it was not required. Normal mode clean result when objects to scan selected were System Memory, services and drivers, boot sectors (did not scan the following as they were not selected by default: Additional options being Verify digital signatures and detect TDFLS file system).

I ran these regardless of the fact that I have not been able to replicate the same weird link to outlook all of yesterday in either browser.

As I have said previously, maybe it was a problem with the link programming for the website itself. Not sure but at least I'm not getting the problem for now.

Thought I'd post this info back in case anyone is actually interested and will again post if the issue resurfaces.

Thanks for the assistance.

Did you try to select this text and checked View Selection Source in the right-click context menu for anything unusual?

Maybe this is a problem with the font that is used to display the text.

You can use this extension to see which fonts are used for text that is selected (right-click: "Show fonts in selection").

• fontinfo: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/fontinfo/

You can try different default fonts and temporarily disable website fonts to test the selected default font.

• Tools > Options > Content : Fonts & Colors > Advanced
• [ ] "Allow pages to choose their own fonts, instead of my selections above"

cor-el - haven't tried View source or Inspect element or anything like that.

Have still not had the problem re-occur as of the time of writing this post which is promising and I do quite often check the email account. At the moment I am only seeing the one link which is the Sign In link as per my second posted image.

I have not changed any default Firefox settings in regard to fonts anyway so I really don't see this being the cause of the problem (if in fact it is a problem at all I guess).

I should also mention that as part of my own testing I have deleted a custom Desktop shortcut which I created to open the Sign In page for Outlook dot com in Firefox and it is since then that the issue seems to have disappeared.

I created the shortcut because I'm pretty sure at the time I was checking in to it, there was no way of creating a desktop shortcut for the Firefox browser which would open outlook Sign In page directly as you are able to with Internet Explorer (which as I mentioned I don't like using).

Maybe this could have been causing the problem - I will re-create the custom shortcut as a test to see if the issue starts again and if so I will post back results for anyone interested.

Maybe if anyone else is using a 64 bit Windows Home Premium system they could create the shortcut themselves and try to replicate the error IF in fact it is the cause. If anyone is willing to try this, or if anyone just wants to know how to create a shortcut which can be used with Firefox to navigate directly to the outlook sign in page, I don't believe it will damage your system or anything, so if you do could you please post back if the weird link raises it's head - cheers.

Here is the path I used in the custom shortcut:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" http://www.outlook.com

Thanks for the response cor-el - hope to hear some more feedback soon.

No takers for testing this and replying - no problem.

Just thought I'd drop back in here and tell any interested parties that this issue is no longer present even after I recreated my custom shortcut.

Have had zero issues for roughly 1 week now and the listing appears as the regular sign in link for Outlook when Googled in both browsers.