Think Before You Click That Link

Viruses, malware, attacks - all designed to take you away from where you thought you were going. That is not to say that every link you see is unsafe, but if you're browsing on an unfamiliar website, it's always better to play it safe before you click any links. The link has code that directs you to another location, usually continuing from the sentence you were reading or it may take you somewhere completely different.  Say for example you 'thought' you were on a banking site that you found in a search. Clicking a link could take you to a mirror site that looks exactly like the real thing but is known as a phishing site because the deception is to 'fish' your money out of your device!

Is there a virus or malware in that link? Instead of clicking on the link, highlight, copy and paste the link into the browser's address bar and tap enter on the keyboard. Clicking the link will activate the link with the potential for a direct attack, while copy/paste will take you to the target page with more safety, but it could still be a trap.

If you're really concerned with safety from getting a virus infection but really want to see where the link will take you, follow these steps for maximum security:

1. highlight the link and only the link. Even an additional increment of white space counts as a character on the web.
2. copy the link to the 'imaginary clipboard'
3. go to the website https://www.virustotal.com/
4. click the middle option URL (URL is short for website address) and PASTE the link you just copied
5. tap enter on the keyboard

All of the world's leading malware, virus and phishing scanners will scan the link for safety and let you know if you can trust the link and overload you with too much information!

Need help with this? Contact us and we can remotely log in and show you how to safely surf online.

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