Barbara McLeod <1brown1blue@gmail.com> wrote: > > [ For those who can't or don't want to follow those links, the > > executive summary is that The Generations Network (the parent > > company of Ancestry.com and Genealogy.com, publisher of FTM) > > is not owned or related to the LDS Church. On the other hand, > > TGN is based in Provo and pretty much inherently there's some > > degree of interaction between TGN and the LDS Church. - Mod ] > > Dear Mod: > > A number of times I have read that one should not open/follow > links. Your reference above causes me now to seek an answer to that > troubling question: why not? What is inherently dangerous (to one's > computer) in so doing? It depends on the context in which that advice is given. If you get e-mail from a spammer which gives web links, it could be dangerous to follow them. If you get an e-mail from someone you know and trust with a reference to a web site, then it would be OK to follow the link. But generally it is safest to trun off HTML code in e-mail messages altogether. It isn't necessary for communication, and wastes a lot of bandwidth, because it sends two copies of a message, and the HTML version can be ten times as long as the original because of the fancy formatting codes. But Web surfing depends on following links from one site to another, and that is the main purpose of the Web, and why it is a web, so you can follow links. So it's generally OK to follow Web links on the Web, but not in unsolicited e-mail messages you receive from strangers. If you get an e-mail message (or a newsgroup posting) which consists only of a URL, with no description, it is best not to follow it. -- Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk Steve Hayes <hayesmstw@hotmail.com>