I've been saying this for years on this forum. People need to chill out. It costs Google more to read your mail than it does for your annual accidental click.

>the odor of abandonware

And the stench of dead cows too..

I resigned myself to the fact that Google does not want me to really see who my advertisers are the day my dead cows tool stopped opening the sites when I click the ads in it, and when it is impossible to get it to show an advertiser I am seeing on my pages no matter how geo locations I try.

Maybe they think if they make it too cool, friendly, and actually working (Grrrr) our visitors might start installing them and use them instead of clicking ads, imagine the AdSense Preview Tool with cool black and white cow skins becoming the top installed browser gadget, even better, Microsoft including it preinstalled in its next browser, I'll raise you one, Yahoo promoting it in PPC campaigns and rewarding visitors that install it like Google is doing with Firefox :-)

You would think a Preview Tool for Firefox would be available.

But Google has ways to check for invalid clicks and can probably recognize 1, 2, or 3 accidental clicks from the same source. Not really sure how you can accidentally click an ad 3 times, but...

Maybe they've become inundated with emails from newbie publishers trying to keep themselves in the Adsense network.

You would think a Preview Tool for Firefox would be available.

There is, in Firefox extensions, but not Google approved.It's basic but works OK.

a tool that only works with Windows and IE 6

The preview tool also works in IE7.

I can't swear to it, but I have a feeling that Google compares the IP numbers of where you log in to your AdSense account to the click IPs to determine whether or not to discount the accidental click. Only thing I can think of, because I've had stray accidental clicks over the years, and I have one IP number at home and two at work that are fairly static, and they NEVER have counted any earnings to a one of my accidental clicks - and I have logged in to the AdSense console from all three places at different times.

How that works for people with dialup and AOL, I have no idea. All I know what I've seen myself.

I can't swear to it, but I have a feeling that Google compares the IP numbers of where you log in to your AdSense account

That's what I think they do also. FWIW, I've had accidental clicks over the years and never told Google and the clicks as far as I could tell never were counted.

That's what I think they do also. FWIW, I've had accidental clicks over the years and never told Google and the clicks as far as I could tell never were counted.

I would be willing to bet that any clicks from IPs that had logged into AdSense within a specific amount of time would be removed.

added: I guess I was beaten by others :-)

Your computer has a specific ID also. Regardless of your IP, you can be tracked if you use the same computers.

Yes, I laughed at this latest blog post. I find it hysterical how many people frantically report that they have accidentally clicked on their own adsense panel and are told solemnly by others that the first thing they should do is report their inadvertent misdemeanour to Google.

Like Google didn't already know automatically one picosecond after the click.

Google is not some irrational, vengeful sky-god who bans on a single click. In fact, I have never met a single person who has ever been banned from Adsense.

They can track you if you use a different IP also and a different computer. I don't know how they managed it but they did (I hadn't meant to click on those ads anyway as I just wanted to copy the URL.)

I also got spammed by someone on behalf of another website online the lines of "please click on my ads as I am only $10 away from getting a cheque", letting it slide for now, but I will not hesitate to report the site if it happens again.

"They can track you if you use a different IP also and a different computer. I don't know how..."

Yes "they see you when you're sleeping. They know when you're awake. They know if you've been bad or good. So be good for goodness sake!"

Didn't you know all computers sold since 1995 have an integral camera which looks at who is typing and transmits it back to G and they use massive image comparison software to determine if the person typing is the same one who ever set up an Adsense account... So if you're going to attempt this make sure your computer is older than 1995 ;)

ronburk, thanks for posting that. As a techy, I was aware that Google probably knew it was me when I accidentally clicked an ad, but I felt the safest bet would be to let them know it was unintentional and that there was no attempt to defraud. I'm always careful about this, but at least now I don't need to worry about sending them a note...