Over the past couple of months, URL shortener services such as bit.ly, is.gd and tinyurl recorded some impressive growth. Part of the growth was fuelled by services such as Twitter and with Google (goo.gl) and FaceBook (fb.me) set to enter the competition, this space is only going to get more heated up. There are definitely lots of advantages to using shortened links (save space, track trends, etc) but let’s not forget that scammers and other scum can exploit these to their advantage as well. Most of the time, you cannot see where a shortened URL points to without clicking it – this can be a godsend for those who want to trick visitors into opening harmful web pages, malware, etc. ExpandMyURL is a service that lets you see where a masked link really points to, without having to click on it.
ExpandMyURL is an online service. It’s able to expand shortened links from popular services such as bit.ly and display the actual web address the link will take you to. It’s basically a one click process – just visit the service homepage and paste the link you want expanded in the box. If that’s too much, ExpandURL recently introduced their ‘One Click Expander’ which integrates the service into your browser for better accessibility and ease of use. More information about the one click expander can be found here.
It’s actually a pretty useful service – next time you stumble across that bit.ly link which looks downright suspicious – check with ExpandURL. It’ll tell you whether the link is actually what it claims to be.
[Click Here] to visit ExpandMyURL Homepage
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there's an easier way, get the 'long url please' firefox addon