Whoopee!

We here at Tomwilkowske.com are happy to report that those typing the URL “tomwilkowske.com” into their browsers will no longer be interrupted by the scary red MALWARE warning page.

In a related story, those searching on my name will no longer see the “this site may harm your computer” warning above the link.

Google confirms it: we’re clean. We’re having an extra dollop of cream in our coffee to celebrate.

If you’re reading this, congratulations and don’t worry. You’re safe.

On Dec. 3, I got news that my personal website, tomwilkowske.com, a) had been infected by malware and b) put on a “suspicious” list by Google as a possible “attack” site. I’ve spent much of my time since then working on these two problems.

Until my website is rebuilt, please see my online profile at eLance to see some of my writing and design work, and visit my LinkedIn profile to connect.

As for this site, no visitors were affected and no attacks were distributed, according to Google. But it the code was there — in 248 or more files, waiting to do damage.

I removed what malware I could find and promptly asked Google for a review. Then, without waiting for a reply, I decided to take down my site, scrub my web hosting account, and start with a fresh installation of WordPress, which I use to manage the content. (It was a Flash-based WordPress plugin, 1 Flash Gallery, that caused the intitial security breach on June 2, 2011.  Bad Flash. Boo, hiss, Flash.)

Although the malware problem itself was corrected fairly quickly, getting off of Google’s “suspicious” list is a much more involved process.

I will be working on that as I continue rebuilding this website, which serves as an online portfolio of my work and professional interests, a personal publishing platform and a hub for my other online activity.

Thanks!