McG -

Just noting that there are cases where the target doesn't show when you hover over it. The Google ads do have long URLs, but other cases - some of which are legitimate and probably as "safe" as the Google Ads - may also fail to give you the reading, even if they're short ones.

It's a good idea to look, if there's any question about a link. It's just not a fail-proof method. You need to keep the other defenses warm and working, even if you do (as you should) look for the identity for any link that could be faked*.

* "Any link that could be faked" pretty much includes all of them; but you don't want to be paranoid about it.

John