02) Links - on webpages and in emails

Links - a quick glance

Goal: learn to check where a link will actually take you before you click on it.


Link (a Simple English Wikipedia article) - "The person who makes the web page can tell the computer to show a word or a picture on the Web page as a link. This means that when we click on the link with our computer mouse, the computer will show us the new page we want to see. Most links are blue, but they can be any color."


Notice that the word "Link" above is actually a link. If you click on it, you will be sent to the page to which the link points. In this case, it will send you to an article titled "Link" in the Simple English Wikipedia.

The question arises, how do you know where a link will send you? Is there a way to tell before clicking on the link above that it will take you to the stated destination? The answer is yes.

Put your mouse over the linked word "Link" above. Don't click it, just put your mouse over it. While your mouse is over it, look at the bottom left or right of your screen. What do you see? You should see the actual address of the page to which you will be sent (It should be this: https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link). Does the address at the bottom of the screen suggest to you that you will in fact be sent to the Wikipedia article I said? (Yes, it should suggest it to you.)

Why are we even considering this matter? It is easy for someone to send you to a malicious site from what appears to be a friendly link. For example: Check out this Friendly Link. With a label like "Friendly Link" it should be a nice friendly site. However, when you put your mouse over it, what URL (another name for a web address) actually appears? The URL http://www.internetbadguys.com/ is actually a demo phishing site (not a real phishing site, in this case).


I want to send you to the homepage of an alternative DNS service provider named OpenDNS. Which of the two following links do you think will take you there, and which one will take you somewhere else? The first link - OpenDNS, or the second link - OpenDNS. If you put your mouse over the first link, you will see by the URL at the bottom of the screen that it would take you to a webpage by SimplyNoise called Simply Rain. If you check the second link, you will see by the URL that it would take you to the OpenDNS homepage. You can now click on each link. The label for each is the same, but they take you to two different sites.


Again, knowing and using this can be helpful on webpages and in emails. This is more important if you are on a site you are unfamiliar with, or if you receive an email with links you are not sure of.