How to open a link safely
Un link (also called ipertestuale collegamento) can be presented both in the form of text that in form graphics (i.e. image) and, if clicked, refers to external content. Such contents can be among the most disparate, even unsafe: this is why we must be careful with those that open.
But how to do it open a link safely? First, the sender situation and context where the link is sent: if a link has been sent to you by a trusted person, in a message that describes its content well or in any case following communications announcing its sending, you can be reasonably sure that it is a secure link; or in any case sent intentionally by the sender.
Otherwise, if you receive a message from a friend that says "" Look here! "," "Incredible!" "Or other in-depth / personal comments, it could be a self-sent message via viruses present on the sender's device, therefore dangerous and NOT to be opened, unless you have first asked the sender for confirmation of authenticity.
my advice is to always keep the antivirus active and updated which, in cases like this, does its job very well. Furthermore, you could rely on a site like VirusTotal, owned by Google, which allows you to scan files and web addresses with the engines of all the main antivirus, all without installing anything on your PC, smartphone or tablet.
Once you arrive on the site, a screen will open where you will have to choose between Fillet, to upload a document that you think is suspicious, and URL, to enter a web address to check. Once you have uploaded the file or entered the URL, a screen with the section will open Detection; here you will find many items with the outcome next to them Undetected o Chub (in green) in case the file or URL are not considered dangerous. In the case of threats, however, there will be red writings with the description of the threat found (also keep in mind that if only some antivirus reports a file, it could be a false positive),
Much attention should then be paid to emails that come from institutions, private entities and companies. It happens, in fact, that some emails apparently sent from websites, banks, companies providing services, etc., impeccable from a graphic point of view, are actually fakes that refer to Web pages (also apparently the same as those of official sites of the companies in question) designed to steal credit card information and / or other user information.
This threat is called Phishing and to defend against it you have to follow some fairly simple rules: first of all always check that the sender is really trustworthy, so do not read only the name of whoever sends you the email but also take a look at his address and the composition of the link in the message which, in the case of a scam, will never be identical to the official one (it could also change only one character, so be very careful).
In all cases, when you have doubts, you should Google the email and / or part of the message you received and see if there are known cases of phishing. Furthermore, remember that all institutions or private entities can certainly send you emails but that they do so by contacting name and surname, and not with a simple "Dear Customer" or similar formulas. And in any case they would never do it for delicate operations, for which instead you have to go to the office. For any operation, start from the official website by visiting it in person from the browser and not using links received via email.
In general, then, I advise you to always be careful to open links in which you ask for money, promise donations after you have sent sensitive data, propose meetings and somehow want to extort information and things like that.
How to open a link in Word
You have recently started using it and you don't know how to open a link in Word? Don't worry: in this case, the procedure is very simple because if you are on a computer, all you have to do is hold down the key Ctrl on the keyboard and click on the link, as directed. You will certainly have noticed that pressing Ctrl and positioning the cursor on the link, the arrow changes into a semi-closed hand with the index pointing towards the link; once clicked you will be right on the landing page. Alternatively, you can also right-click on a link and select the entry Open hyperlink give the menu check if you press.
How do you say? Did you type a link in Word but it is not clickable? Then do this: go to the menu File> Options> Proofing Toolsclick on your button Auto correction options, select the scheda Formatted. autom. while typing, check the box Internet and network paths with hyperlinks and by OK. From now on, the links typed in Word will be automatically transformed into hyperlinks.
With one smartphone or tablet, the operation of opening the link is even more intuitive: all you need to do is tap on the underlined word or phrase (also in this case in a different color from the text) and you will be taken to the landing page. This applies to both Android and iOS / iPadOS.
How to open a link with Chrome
There are various types of web browsers, i.e. applications that allow you to browse the Internet: Google Chrome is one of the most famous and widespread, so you may want to open links in the latter and have doubts about it.
Opening a link on the current page is very simple: just click or tap on it. If, however, you also want to know how to open a link in another tab with chrome, you just need to right click or long tap (from mobile) on the link and select the item Open in another tab from the menu that opens. Alternatively, from PC, you can press the combination Ctrl + Click (Windows) o cmd + click (macOS) to open the link automatically in another tab.
From the context menu, you can also select options to open links in one new window or incognito mode, so as not to leave traces on your device.
If you are interested in open a file type with Chrome and not a link, just set it as the default browser on your device by following the tutorial I dedicated to the topic.
How to open a link on WhatsApp
If you don't know how to open a link on WhatsApp, know that it is nothing different than what I have told you so far: from a smartphone you simply have to tap with your finger on the link, on WhatsApp for PC you have to click on the link with the mouse.
However, problems could arise: maybe you have always opened WhatsApp links with a particular browser but for some time you can no longer succeed, because the app does not ask you which browser you want to use. At this point, I recommend that you restore the default app preferences through the smartphone settings (this can only be done on Android).
Then go to the menu Settings> Apps> Default applications Android, tap the ⋮ button located at the top right and select the item Default applications from the menu that opens, to choose which browser to use as default.
Please note: WhatsApp has invested heavily in security, so it is able to tell you even when the link is suspicious (perhaps because it has a strange combination of characters); when you want to open it, it will notify you, but without preventing you from continuing: it will be up to you to choose whether to continue by opening the link or not.
How to open a Google Drive link
You would like to download a file from a link pointing to Google Drive but you don't know how? Don't worry, in this case you don't need to log in with your account or download software on your devices. For open a Google Drive link just visit it and view or download the file it contains. As usual, before downloading any file, make sure it's safe by using an antivirus and asking whoever sent you the link for confirmation.
You received a share link of a file or folder on Google Drive? In this case, I recommend that you contact the sender and ask him to confirm this. If so, you just have to connect to the link received via browser, log in to your Google account (if necessary) and thus accept the sharing. You will then find the elements shared in the appropriate section of Drive (in the left sidebar on the web, in the client for PC and in the app for Android and iOS / iPadOS)
How to open a Dropbox link
dropbox the same goes for Google Drive. If you want to view or download a file from a Dropbox link, you can access the latter from your browser, without installing anything on your PC, and view or download the content. If you log in (you can ignore the request by closing the box using the x located at the top right), among the available buttons you will also find one to add the displayed item to your Dropbox.
In case of a request for sharing a folderInstead, I recommend that you ask the sender for confirmation and, if successful, accept the request via the Dropbox client on your PC, app for Android or iOS / iPadOS or web panel, logging in with your account and selecting the appropriate notification from notification menu, top right.
How to open a link
