Is that really the URL to your bank, or are you about to be scammed? For your own protection it is important to be able to recognize the parts of a web address and where it might take you before you go there. Here are some basic instructions to get you started:

      Let's take a look at a URL:

http://www.bestbuy.com/reports.html

      That is the way you would enter the BestBuy web address to go to their website. if you copied and pasted it into the address bar of your browser, that is indeed where it would take you.

      let's break it into segments:

http://www.

      Nearly all web links start with that, or something like it. A secure site (that encrypts the information you are sending) will be https://, but generally, this part of the address can be ignored. Some will or won't have the www as well.

      At the end of the address is:

.html

      It can vary, and you might see all sorts of things there depending on how the website works.

      Near the beginning of what is left of the address, after the www. and before the first "/" you see:

bestbuy.com

      That does indeed look like the best buy website URL. But what about the part that follows the "bestbuy.com/"?

reports.html

      That is an actual webpage file that the address is calling up.

      Let's take a look at another example. Here's the address of the current webpage you are now reading (http://www.quiknet.com/~frcn/security.realhtml.html) color coded for your convenience:

http://www. - the standard opening segment of most web addresses. Nothing suspicious here.

quiknet.com/ - the quiknet server for all of ChoiceNet

~frcn - the tilde (~ - pronounced till-duh) designates a "homepage" website. These are generally non-commercial and part of an ISPs package to its customers.

/security/ - a single word between two slashes designates a sub folder in the users website whee other files are located, just like on your computer's hard drive.

realhtml.html - this is the actual file which is being currently displayed on your screen. RIght click on the screen and choose "VIew Source" and you will see the text of the code that is in the file.