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You like downloading videos and episodes of your favorite TV shows very often. However, you might not be aware of the legitimate links and websites that you are accessing. You still are not aware if it is safe to download it from that website and if it is not infecting your system with malware. You need to be aware of what is legitimate. Let us discover through this article which download websites are dangerous for your system.

Watch out for the tell tale signs about a dangerous website:

Random ads and pop-Ups

While looking for a download website you come across a website that is not put together in a good taste. Let us say a bad design that is not pleasing. You might think that this is indicative of malware but for a fact, it is not. If you access a website and you immediately encounter various Pop-ups and ads instead of relevant info, then you need to beware. These are responsible for consuming the RAM of your system and gradually bring down the speed.

Peer to Peer

The most essential thing that you need to remember is that not every download site is based on a peer to peer sharing. A P2P enables in downloading and uploading files for all the users. This is what enables in connecting to thousands of users at the time of downloading; trusting each one for authentic file is questionable. Another thing to remember is that if one member uploads an infected file then it will spread the malware to your system as soon as you are connected.

The safe bet is to download music and files from original source or original artist's website.

Risky URL

The URL of a website says a lot about it. Here are some essential pointers that will help you identify real from fake:

• Observe the URL if it has errors like ebay.com.phishy.biz instead of ebay.com. One more thing to observe is the placement of.com; if it appears as a sub domain then you are being lead to a malicious website. 

• If the domain name is too long then they are a potential risk to your system. It is better not to access the web link and stray past it. 

• If you find many delimiters or symbols such as dash, question marks or underscore then you need to beware. 

• Observe if the website has a repeated keyword after each paragraph. For example, you are on a website for downloading music, now if each paragraph has download music in-between then it can be potential harmful for your system.

Security check by browser

Browsers like, Google Chrome, Firefox and Safari have the capability to secure you against surfing a harmful page. You will be given a forewarning prior to visiting a harmful page. This is possible due to the inbuilt security within the browser that keeps updated list of websites that are blacklisted and harmful. Chrome is one such browser that keeps checking every website for potential malware that poses threat to system. You will be warned with a Red color warning on the bar near URL. If it flashes Yellow then it is neutral and if it flashes Green then it is safe to surf. This is the reason why you need to keep your browser updated. This helps in employing latest browser security features that are again beneficial for safe browsing.

Check for authenticity

If you are not sure if a website is legit or not then it is advisable to do some online research about the URL. It works either by scanning the website for malware or by checking the past performance of the website for any such reports against it. Often you will stumble upon the reviews of the website and the reputation of the performance of the website. The best way is to stick to known and well-established websites like PC Magazine, Tech Crunch, Mac World and the likes of this. These websites often give you the updated information upon legit downloads and which websites are safe. One more thing that you need to keep in mind is to avoid randomly going by the search results of Google for downloads.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7689629