Link Advisor Support: Frequently Asked Questions
If you'd like to learn about Internet Fraud, Phishing and ID Theft please click
here.
What is Link Advisor?
Link Advisor is a simple tool designed to keep you safe and
informed while using the internet. It shows you vital information about the
sites behind the links you intend to visit before you even click on them. It
evaluates every link and provides you with the following information:
- Which site will you really visit
- Which company stands behind the site
- Is it safe to deal with the site
- Are there any known risks visiting the site
You don't have to be an expert to be safe. CallingID Link Advisor is your
bodyguard. It automatically scouts the sites you intend to visit and provides
you with all the information you need to make an informed decision – Can I
follow the link or should I ignore it because there are risks I don't want to
take.
Who needs Link Advisor?
Every Internet user needs Link Advisor. Without it you need to
be an expert and spend a lot of time to determine if the link you are about to
click will take you to a safe site. With Link Advisor you immediately see
exactly where you will go and if it is safe.
With the steady rise in identity theft, phishing and other crimes online
CallingID Link Advisor has become a must for every Internet user.
It is estimated that over 2,000 Internet users fall victim to Internet crime
every day. Victims range from Internet novices to online security
professionals. Every day new ways to swindle and steal are thought up, and
there simply is no way for users to keep an eye out for fraud while using the
Internet efficiently.
Users often respond to emails and other solicitations or search results
thinking they are accessing a company and/or responding to a reasonable
request. The exposure is as simple as signing up for a newsletter and providing
a standard user ID and password. It can be as easy as responding to information
verification. It can be as confusing as trying to handle an apparent billing
problem and identifying yourself. All these are potential devices scammers and
identity thieves employ to get the information they need to overtake your
identity.
Many attempts have been made to protect users from the criminals who try to
take advantage of the anonymity provided by the Internet. However, most of the
tools currently available react slowly when a new scam or phishing site is
launched and often block sites you actually wish to do business with because of
arbitrary access rules.
Here is where CallingID Link Advisor comes into the picture. Link Advisor
evaluates all the information about the sites hiding behind the links you see
and displays that information when you point to the corresponding link. Now
users don't need to investigate every link they receive - simply placing the
mouse over a link is enough to judge if a site is trustworthy or fraudulent. At
the user's request Link Advisor can show a summary of all the information used
to make the assessment of the site, thus allowing users to gauge the site for
themselves without running complex tests and queries about the site owner.
For more information about who's in danger of falling prey to Phishing
scams please read the 
article:
"Research reveals phishing hooks"
What applications does Link Advisor support?
CallingID currently supports the following applications:
| Web Browsers |
Email Clients |
Instant Messengers |
MS Office |
 |
Internet Explorer |
 |
Firefox |
 |
AOL Browser |
 |
Avant |
|
 |
Outlook |
 |
Outlook Express |
 |
Thunderbird |
 |
Incredimail |
 |
Eudora |
 |
Windows Mail |
|
|
 |
Word |
|
Outlook |
|
What does the term CallingID mean?
- "Caller-ID" is a service that provides the name and telephone number of a caller, which appear on a display as the
call is being received.
- "CallingID" is a service that displays the name of the person you are calling.
- CallingID Link Advisor is a service that displays the name, address, server location, etc. of the sites you recieve links to.
How does Link Advisor work?
CallingID Link Advisor uses many different sources to find site
owners, to verify that the owner is a real organization and to ;deliver the
most accurate information to all users. Running complex verification tests on
the CallingID servers, Cross-Searching several international information
databases, Advanced Risk Assessment conducted by Link Advisor when the page is
loaded and by the CallingID team are all pooled together to give you the most
informed and accurate assessment available.
Why doesn't Link Advisor appear when I place my mouse over certain links?
Some special links do not display Link Advisor, such as links
generated by hidden code. This problem is typical to links in pages built with
Flash or JavaScript. In such cases Link Advisor will not display anything.
Avoid following such links and if you must follow them, proceed with caution.
Why does Link Advisor periodically connect to the Internet even when I'm not browsing?
CallingID Link Advisor runs several tests on the link you
receive to make sure they're safe. Most of these tests are done by our servers.
In an effort to insure your privacy, some of these tests are performed by your
Link Advisor, without sending any requests to the CallingID servers.
To conduct these tests your CallingID Link Advisor needs access to up-to-date
internal tables, such as lists of known phishing sites.
To make sure your Link Advisor provides you with the best possible information,
these tables are periodically updated. This keeps your Link Advisor running
smoothly, your information safe, your privacy protected and minimizes
communication with CallingID's servers while you browse the Internet.
While some other solutions send every URL you visit to their servers to check
for phishing, Link Advisor stores some tables on your computer. Keeping tables
locally also means that when you visit different pages within the same site
Link Advisor doesn't need to communicate with the servers, giving you a faster,
safer browsing experience.