URL Expander Facts

Questions and answers on what the URL Expander really is

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The URL Expander is a tool that can examine a link and tries to determine the content of a URL. It informs the user on the content of that link. For specific questions on the URL Expander, this is where the answers are.

URL Expander Facts:

What types of URL can it examine?

The URL Expander Tool can examine shortened URLs created by URL shortening services or URL shorteners like bit.ly, tinyurl, digg, is.gd, tr.im, 3.ly and a whole lot more URL shortening services out there. It can also examine any ordinary URL be it a website or just a link.

Can it detect malware sites?

Yes. It can warn you of suspected malware sites.

Can it detect phishing sites?

Yes.

Can it detect porn sites?

Yes. It can warn you of suspected porn sites. It helps you detect porn online just basing on a shortened URL.
Try this link:

1. pure18.com
2. tinyurl.com/i-am-not-porn

Can it detect spam?

Yes. It checks the IP of the site and determines if site is in the DNS-based Blackhole List. It cannot remove the ip from the list though.

Is it 100% accurate in detecting malware, phishing, porn sites?

No. It's not a perfect tool. A lot of people use different schemes in hiding the content of a landing page. I only fine tune the algorithm when I get tired playing the violin. It's more of having 9 out of 10 average for correct detection for ordinary-no-scheme-sites. You can contact me for wrong results so that I can have it fixed.

Can it expand a URL created using a combination of different URL shortening services?

Yes. It doesn't matter if the short URL was created using different URL shortening services.
You can try it using this link:

1. digg.com/u1dwX

Will it display the different redirect paths?

Yes. All redirection paths will be displayed.

Will it warn me of URLs not redirecting properly, like a redirect loop?

Yes. It can warn you of URLs not redirecting properly and detect up to what path number the redirect went wrong.

Are there any thumbnail previews?

Yes. There will be thumbnail previews for the original URL.

Are there any sample sites to test phishing, malware, and porn sites? How about loop redirects?

Try these links and see what results you get:

1. Lambo Vs Jet
2. clybs.com/x/Lo0p1
3. tinyurl.com/unicycles
4. Batman
5. clybs.com/x/clybs
6. clybs.com/x/burn
7. tinyurl.com/trust-this-link

Is there an API for this which I can use in my own application?

Yes there is but I haven’t opened it up for public use. I will make it available in the near future. In the meantime you could just use the direct link in the results of the expanded URL. You could just scrape the data. No problem for me. An attribution is welcome though!! :p

Format for direct URL access is: clybs.com/urlexpander/x/ + link

eg: clybs.com/urlexpander/x/http://www.youtube.com/user/CLYBS

Will there be plugin for browsers like chrome, firefox, etc also?

Yes there will be also in the near future.