[Swordmaker]

Biggilrl, one of our fellow Freepers, had a question which it appears has been answered by our ever helpful group of Mac users. However her question has general interest so I thought I should ping the list with her question and also provide an explanation.

Biggirl was essentially asking why she could not see the full URL on the address bar in Safari. This is actually a safety and security measure for all of us. When we connect to a CERTIFIED Website, meaning one where there is a CERTIFICATE on file that the website is actually the REAL website to which we actually wished to connect, we will see only the NAME of the website.

However, if there is NO CERTIFICATE on file, or the CERTIFICATE has lapsed, you will see the entire URL of the website.

How is this helpful to us? If we are attempting to connect to a bank, it WILL have a CERTIFICATE on file. If we see a full URL, we are connected to a FAKE site, without a CERTIFICATE and an address that has somehow intercepted our attempt to connect to the bank! DO NOT PUT IN YOUR USER NAME AND PASSWORD! If we see only the name of the bank website, we are OK to proceed.

For many websites, there may not be a certificate. These are your cousin's Jim's website, or the website of the auto repair site down the street, or a restaurant where you are thinking about eating tonight. . . but they are unimportant in the scheme of internet security. However, those that will require memberships such as FreeRepublic.com will usually have a certificate assuring that you are on the correct website.

Apple has designed the Address Bar to assist us in knowing when we are where we are supposed to be. — PING!

Apple Safari's Built in Security Ping!

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

[cynwoody]

Biggirl was essentially asking why she could not see the full URL on the address bar in Safari. This is actually a safety and security measure for all of us. When we connect to a CERTIFIED Website, meaning one where there is a CERTIFICATE on file that the website is actually the REAL website to which we actually wished to connect, we will see only the NAME of the website.

That advice applies to HTTPS sites. FR does not use HTTPS. Attempting to connect to FR via HTTPS fails with ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED, meaning it heard you knock on port 443 but it doesn't want to talk.

The more common scenario is, you connect to your bank on port 80, but it immediately redirects your browser to a secure connection on port 443.

[generally]

I’d much prefer some other visual cue to let me know there is no certificate. I like seeing the URL and dislike having to click it to get it.

[CurlyDave]

To see the full website address in the new Safari (8.0.4), under “Safari” in the menu bar, open “Preferences”, choose “Advanced” and then check the first item “Smart Search Field: Show full website address” in the “Advanced” tab.

[Biggirl]

Thank-you for that information because this is the first time I see just a name and not the URL.

In other words, this version of OS X was set up to insure the security of the Apple products.