Filed under: World wide web, Security, Utilities, Web services
If you’ve spent more than a few minutes on the internet, you probably know that it’s not usually a good idea to click on a link if you don’t know where it takes you. The last thing you need is to visit a site that wants to install malware on your PC. Or nearly as bad, a link that takes you to a site with explicit contact while you’re at work, or perhaps using your mother’s personal.
But popular URL-shortening services like TinyURL ask you to do exactly that: click on a link without really knowing where it will take you. Fortunately, TinyURL also offers a way to preview links before visiting them. All you’ve to do is visit TinyURL’s preview page and click “enable previews.” The service will add a cookie to your browser so that each time you click on a TinyURL link you’ll first be taken to a page showing the complete URL. You can click “disable previews” to remove the cookie if you don’t feel like going through a two step process each time you click on an abbreviated link in the future.
If you want to share a shortened link with others but make sure they always see the preview page, just add preview to the URL. For example, http://tinyurl.com/by8fm will take you to the Download Squad home page, while http://preview.tinyurl.com/by8fm will take you to a page letting you know that you’re about to visit the Download Squad home page.
[via the How-To Geek]
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