I don't know if there is a setting that determines whether you see the underlying link by floating over it but in Firefox you can right click/copy link location or in IE, right click/properties to get the link information.

One of the annoyances in life is you never know where that different underlying link takes you. In some cases, they are absolutely legitimate and intentional. For instance, if a newsletter goes out using Constant Contact, the link will always be different than what is shown. Other times, it is an attempt to provide a shorter link that will not be broken up due to formatting. And, as you point out, some are placed by evil doers attempting to send you to inappropriate sites or worse.

In some cases you can determine the target site. For instance, if you get a tinyurl you can discover the underlying link using the information towards the bottom of this page. (There I go with those unknown links!) For other such sites, you can do an internet search for preview options, for instance "preview bit.ly" to determine how to determine the underlying link.

For a little more information you can check out here. Or http://security.thejoshmeister.com/2009/04/how-to-preview-shortened-urls-tinyurl.html if you prefer. As for the other sites, you might want to ask the sender if they really sent the email and it is a legitimate link, and of course, always keep your anti-virus software up to date.

Bruce

--- On Sat, 3/19/11, Robert Lendrim <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

From: Robert Lendrim <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [PCBUILD] Misleading links
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Saturday, March 19, 2011, 10:58 AM

Sometimes when I am browsing and place the cursor on a link, I see the
target URL underneath the browser before I click on it. The target URL is
not always the same as the link the cursor is on. Sometimes the link looks
like a reputable site, while the target site below looks like a bad place,
causing me to suspect deceit and malware. I believe, over the years, this
has prevented me from visiting many "bad" web sites. I seem to see this in
MSIE but not all the time. Does anybody know why I see this sometimes, but
not always, and are there settings available so I can see it all the time?
Thanks

                         PCBUILD's List Owners:
                      Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]>
                        Mark Rode<[log in to unmask]>