Find Out What's Behind Those Shortened Links

Has this ever happened to you? You're about to click one of those shortened links (you know, of the bit.ly or TinyURL variety) on someone's Facebook or Twitter, when suddenly you stop. Who knows where that link will take you? Someplace NSFW, perhaps, or maybe even a phishing site.

What you need is a way to peek behind the curtain of those abbreviated URLs. That's exactly the idea behind Long URL Please, a free tool that lengthens shortened links.

Long URL Please is available as a bookmarklet (meaning you drag it to your browser's toolbar and click it when faced with shortened links) and a Firefox extension. Even though I'm a Firefox user, I'm perfectly happy with the former. (It's one less add-on slowing down the browser.)

The tool supports a whopping 80 link shorteners, everything from bit.ly to goo.gl to zi.ma. I've been using it for a couple weeks, and it works like a charm. Definitely a must-have for anyone concerned about browser security (that means you).

While you're at it, grab Web of Trust, the one tool I rely on to steer me clear of unsafe Web sites.