Hello,
If you see a link in the future, before clicking it, read what the text says and check where the link actually leads to. When people post links where the text is "Click here for...", they can hyper-link it to anywhere they want, therefore it's important for you to check prior to clicking the link. You can hover over the link and normally in most browsers, you'll be able to see where it'll lead too, or you can right click and copy the link address and paste it somewhere to read the URL you'd have been redirected to.
However, sometimes a URL can be shortened through a shortening URL service... The way this works is someone will paste their link and a new link will be generated for them to paste somewhere. Once someone clicks this shortened, new URL, they'll be redirected to the normal URL after the shortening URL service loads. Essentially, it can be used to trick someone into not knowing where it leads (without them being aware that they'll be lead to a malicious website), but then they get redirected to somewhere they don't want to be in the first place... That being said, these URL shortening services can be used for perfectly genuine reasons too, not always for bad.
In the case of URL shortening, you can try to use a service like
URL X-Ray or
CheckShortURL to find out where it will lead to (there are many other services like this).
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If you are worried about websites tracking your location through the use of your IP address (or feel that your IP may be stolen by someone and used in attacks such as DDoS) then you should use a Virtual Private Network, however make sure that it's software-based and not from a browser extension (e.g. use CyberGhost VPN as opposed to ZenMate VPN browser extension). The reason for this is simply because software-VPN will protect you properly and will not just be a proxy, whereas the browser extensions are really nothing more than a proxy for the connections - a proxy is definitely not as secure as a real Virtual Private Network - not to mention the fact that software-based VPN will protect you system-wide, meaning all running programs will be connected through the server of the VPN provider.
You can try using
CyberGhost (free version, upgrade if you like it and need the premium features).
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As an extension to the above, I recommend you make sure you're using:
1. An ad-blocker (e.g. uBlock Origin or
Adguard will do well) - adblockers have more uses than just making your browsing experience cleaner and more polite... They can actually keep you protected from malvertising and more common than not, normal malicious websites as well (they normally include a filter for these sorts of things too these days).
You don't have to use a browser extension ad-blocker, a software version will do well also.
2.
HTTPSEverywhere (this one is not really "essential" in my opinion, however it'll still keep you better protected). HTTPS connections will make sure that information transmitted between the browser client to the server is encrypted, meaning if someone is sniffing your network (e.g. if you're on a public WiFi hotspot or your home network is not properly secured) then they won't be able to steal the data submitted to websites (login credentials, messages, etc.).
3. If you are paranoid, you can use a sandbox for your web browsing (as well as VPN). Therefore, if you click on the wrong link that causes a drive-by-download/exploit attack, it'll be contained within the sandbox. A good sandbox which works via real virtualization methods would be from Comodo (within Comodo Firewall for example), however products like
Sandboxie will do just fine as well.
4. Use an extension for web URL filtering (like from Avira or Bitdefender) but this isn't realy essential either. Only if you feel you need it.
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If you read the links properly (where they are leading to), you can sometimes even identify if a link is bad or not... E.g. if you have some random URL and then it has "\paypal\" then that is an identifier right there of it being a phishing for PayPal. It doesn't always work like this, and sometimes there are no identifiers like this, but malicious links tend to be quite suspicious (bad spelling/misspelling of genuine services, random characters, many sub-directories, etc.).
I recommend you read the thread I wrote back in 2015, it might help you further:
How-to Guide - Always check your links
Stay safe and good luck,
Wave.
