Frequently Asked Questions

Why are the error messages on the Activation and Password Reset pages not more specific?
The reason the messages are not more specific is that we want to avoid people using the pages to check for valid emails. We do not want our users to become targets for spam-mails. If you have problems activating your account or resetting your password, please contact our support team using the contact page.

One of your ShortLinks leads to a page with malicious content or a phishing page. How can I report this?
We take abuse of our services very seriously. Please notify our support team of the abuse using the Abuse Report. We will check your report as soon as possible and take the necessary steps.

Why am I unable to change my username and/or email?
These two user items tie your ShortLinks to your account and make ownership transparent to others. If you need to change your email, please contact our support team using the contact page. They have the tools to change it. Your username can not be changed!

How can I delete my account?
To delete you account, please contact our support team using the contact page. Please note that all ShortLinks you have created will also be deleted!

How can I create a ShortLink for my link?
To create a shortCode you must have registered for an account at our site. After you have logged in you can either click on the button in the navigation bar or you can use the link in the "My Account"-menu.

Why do I have to register to create a shortlink?
ShortLinks have the potential to mask the page they are pointing to. By asking users to register before they can create a ShortLink I am making sure there is an "owner" of sorts to the ShortLink. So if a ShortLink points to malicious code we can take steps against the creator. I am well aware that requiring a valid email account is not really a very secure way to identify a user, but it is a the most reasonable requirement we can make without going totally overboard in terms of cost and effort.

What is the difference between the different redirection methods?
The different redirection methods are there to give you the user the choice of how you want to be redirected when you click on a ShortLink. The default method is set by the creator of the ShortLink. If you want to override this setting you can do so by setting your preferred method in your account settings. The methods are:

How can I delete my account?
To delete you account, please contact our support team using thecontact page. Please note that all ShortLinks you have created will also be deleted!

How can I edit my Shortlink?
You can not edit a ShortLink once it has been created. If you need to change the URL of a ShortLink you have to delete the ShortLink and create a new one.

How can I delete a ShortLink?
You can delete a ShortLink by clicking on the "Delete" button in the "My ShortLinks" section of your account page.

I am having problems logging in!
The most common problem is that cookies have been disallowed in your browser's configuration. Please check the help of your browser to find out how to enable them, if you want to use this site. Another problem could be that you are trying to login in more than one concurrent session. For security reasons we are validating your login with your current session. Logging in from a different session at the same time will automatically log you out of the other session.

What is a cookie and what information are you storing in it??
A cookie is a small textfile in your browser's cache that is associated with our site. When you first open our page in your browser, the id of your session is written into a cookie. This is then used to keep track of your login status and where you are on our site. If you looked at this cookie in a texteditor you would see a short string of random characters and numbers. This cookie is deleted when you leave our site by exiting your browser or if you are inactive for about 20 minutes. A second cookie is set when you select your preferred way of redirection when you click on a ToURL@-ShortLink. This cookie holds a number between 1 and 99 by which our redirection script determines how to redirect you. It does not hold any information we can use to identify you by. You do not even have to be a registered member of our site to set this preference since it is only stored locally on your computer.

I would like to create a ShortLink, but the form tells me that the URL is not allowed to shortlinked
If you get that message the URL was probably matched to an entry in our blacklist. We are not allowing ShortLinks to shortlinked URLs from other ShortLink-services for security reasons. Also URLs on sites known to contain inappropriate content, that violates our terms of service, will be blocked. If you think your URL is wrongly blocked, please send us the url, and we check it and adjust our filters.

How can I change my password?
You can change your password by clicking on the "Change Password" button in the "My Account" section of your account page.

What is new in ToURL@ V2
The new version of ToURL@ has been updated to be compatible with newer PHP versions and to be more secure. Also Bootstrap was updated to version 5. All supporting libraries have been updated to the latest versions or replaced by new ones.

Can I have the code of your site?
Depends what you intend to do with it. If you want to sell it, my answer is definately no! If you want to contribute to the site, we can talk about it.