Even the best protection software won’t save you from the problems that come with clicking on a dangerous link. Unsafe links may appear to be shortcuts to humorous videos, frightening news stories, great offers, or “Like” buttons, but they are actually designed to steal your personal information or take over your computer. In emails, Facebook posts, and instant chats, your pals may unwittingly pass on dangerous links. You’ll also come across dangerous links in website advertisements and search results. Check questionable links with these link-scanning tips. All of these options are free, quick, and do not require any downloads.
Hover over the link
A link can sometimes hide the website to which it points. If you hover your mouse over a link without clicking it, the complete URL of the link’s destination will appear in the lower right corner of your browser. . For example, both of these links connect you to Intelecis’ homepage, but you wouldn’t know that without hovering.
Use a link scanner
Websites and plug-ins that allow you to enter the URL of a suspicious link and check it for safety are known as link scanners. There are a variety of free and reliable link scanners available; I recommend starting with URLVoid. URLVoid analyzes a link using a variety of services, including Google, MyWOT, and Norton SafeWeb, and rapidly reports the results.
Checkout shortened links
URLVoid can’t support abbreviated URLs from services like bitly, Ow.ly, or TinyURL correctly (URLVoid will scan the shortening service website instead of the link to which it points). Sucuri can be used to scan the strange short links that are frequently found on Twitter and Facebook. Sucuri extends the shortlink automatically and checks it against a number of services, including Google, Norton SafeWeb, and PhishTank, to see if the true link is safe. While Sucuri may be used to scan non-shortened links, URLVoid scans additional sources.
Copy Link Safely
URLVoid and Sucuri both need you to write or paste a suspicious link, so how do you get the URL quickly and safely without opening anything? Easy. Simply right-click the link to open a context menu, and then select Copy shortcut (in Internet Explorer), Copy Link Location (in Firefox), or Copy Link Address (in Safari) (in Chrome). You can now paste the URL into any search form because it has been transferred to your clipboard.
