Fix Url Links Redirect Google Chrome extension (1) removes the URL link redirect and takes you direct to destination. Remove the middle man and tracking. Second feature is (2) remove link Referrer.
Two Modes
- Work on All redirect links (except ones in ‘disable’ list).
- OR work Only on specific links/sites that you added to its ‘enable’ list. This is default setting.
Try both methods and see which suites you. You train it by adding links to it as you use it.
Install or Download
Google Chrome : Google Web Store https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fix-url-links-redirect/ngcknmhpnonbbekommfpihpddphgiojd - Safari : will work on it.
Features:
- Fixes URL links redirect. Allows selectively disabling/enabling fix URL redirect on particular websites.
- Removes link ‘Referrer‘. Its a totally separate feature than fix redirect. It can be disabled in extension Options.
Positive side-effects:
- Removes middle-man / tracking as side effect.
- Quicker page load.
How to use it:
If webpage didn’t behaved or loaded as expected and there is a fix-url icon in Address Bar then click that icon and add the suggested URL to the disable list. As you use the extension more the need to add sites to disable list will get less. Manage list of URLs for which this extension is disabled in extension Options.
- Dark/black icon in Address Bar => extension is disabled.
- Dull Brownish icon in Address Bar => extension detects redirect but it didn’t fix as site is not in its list. Click on icon to add/remove site.
- Red-black icon in Address Bar => extension fixed redirect link.
Why remove HTTP Referrer
When visiting a webpage, the referrer or referring page is the URL of the previous webpage from which a link was followed. Most web servers maintain logs of all traffic, and record the HTTP referer sent by the web browser for each request. Technically the effect of this extension’s ‘remove Referrer’ feature is similar to attribute rel=’noreferrer‘.
For example, if you are looking at BBC.com website and in there you click a link to another website say cocacola.com. Now cocacola site will know that you were viewing BBC website. With this extensions ‘remove referrer’ feature the cocacola company won’t know what website you were viewing.
Note (Sept, 2013), Yahoo changed its website design. So the scenario shown below in screenshot no longer works on Yahoo. Later on, I will update screenshot to a site where you can test the extension.
Fix URL Links Redirect – Google Chrome Extension
Tech4computer's Blog 
Hello, you shold put a option to enable some refers cus some https requires refer to secure that the login is from inside the site. Othervise nice adon!
Sorry for my bad English.
Thanks for feedback. Done! In new version on Options page you can add websites where Referrer will be allowed.
hey，after the update now i can’t find the enabled list.
There was one recent update that worked in one new version of Chrome. Then Chrome changed its API again which caused extension to fail (not showing your old list). I fixed that in extension version 0.123 few days ago.
If that is not the case then it could be that Chrome failed to pick up extension settings from your Chrome profile.
thanks
I added more fix in new version. Also added ability to white-list some sites where Referrer information can be allowed.
It never showed up in my adress bar so I can’t use it! ugh
Yahoo and Google has changed the workings of their page. So the scenarios shown in my screenshots won’t work on Yahoo. It does work on other sites where a http://www.example.com&url=www.test.com , type of pattern is used.
I have also updated the version. The latest Chrome was putting some extensions to inactive/sleep mode. The updated version of extension solves that.
Hi, will you fix it to also support https, please? Thank you.
Thanks for feedback. It works on some https sites. I do need to update it to add some additional scenarios.
I would like to have working app in all situations.
There is also a bug when I enable it only for specified sites.
for example http://centrum.cz/http://www.seznam.cz does not even load
I have fixed the https bug on my own, but I would like to see the neversion soon, if it is possible 🙂
if(inf.url.lastIndexOf(“http://”)>10||inf.url.lastIndexOf(“https://”)>10){*
if(inf.url.lastIndexOf(“http://”)>inf.url.lastIndexOf(“https://”)){
var rgH=/(.)((http%3A)|(http:))/gim;
}else{
var rgH=/(.)((https%3A)|(https:))/gim;
}
It works, but we really need a new version.
Btw, great job!
I will look into it later in the day.
I did a quick check on link validation and it was giving 404 here http://validator.w3.org/checklink
Where have you seen this link pattern, so I can test it out.
http://centrum.cz/http://www.seznam.cz
^^ it gives 404, but it still loads without your plugin, with it, it does not even load
http://adf.ly/http://destinationlink –> this won’t load
I am sorry, I meant http://adf.ly/https://destinationlink –> this won’t load
one bug https://www.enelenergia.it/mercato/libero/it-IT/clienti it lock my login, without this extension it work
Thanks for reporting it.
Can you try disabling the feature on that link. Go to chrome://extensions and open Options of Fix URL Link extension.
First un-check the ‘Remove Referrer’ box, close and open browser again and then try login. If it fixes the issue then add the domain name or url to ‘disable Remove referrer on’ list and ‘check’ mark ‘Remove Referrer’.
If that doesn’t fix it then try disabling ‘Fix-URL’ part for this domain/url by adding it to ‘disable Fix-URL on’ list.
You might have to close and re-open the browser for the change to take effect.
Ok, I have set https://login.enel.com as disable remove refferrer and it work 😉
In this site I don’t see the icon because is hide….it is a bug?
It doesn’t show icon for referrers. Works silently.
Hello, I have an error with another extension, you can see this image http://prntscr.com/36ubzd how to set exclusion for this?
Thanks for the screenshot. It looks odd that the error/warning is shown under another extension. I don’t know the language or what exactly the error means. If that streaming extension not working then try these:
1. Disable Fix Url Link Redirect extension. Restart browser and see if that stream extension is working fine. If it’s working fine then try below steps.
2. Enable extension. Go to Options from extensions screen. Un-check/un-tick ‘remove Referrer’. Restart browser and see if warning is gone, that would confirm its the referrer in Fix Url Link affecting it.
3. Re-enable referrer in Fix Url Links. In Options under Referrer section add youtube.com and click ‘disable remove Referrer on:’ button.
It’s odd that YouTube is relying on Referrer field for streaming of video in apps.
I have another bug, when I share on Google+ with goo.gl URL Shortener it skip share’s page to the page that I share, for example you try this link https://plusone.google.com/_/+1/confirm?url=http%3A%2F%2Fgoo.gl%2F5NVEr0
Sorry for my insistence.
Can you add the website to “disable on” sites list from the extensions Options.
I haven’t tested this so can’t answer as to what exactly is happening. Though I have plusone.google.com hardcoded in extension where it should not try to remove redirect. Maybe add goo.gl to disable list.
I haven’t used google+ in a long while so I’m not familiar with the scenario. Personally I would prefer to use long-form of URL for sharing, that way it’s transparent to the other person.
All settled, this is what I could do http://prntscr.com/37474p
Why do not we create a database of exclusions? We can save a lot of time if we share the exclusions, for example, you can set exclusions that you see in my photos, so if you happen on one of these links, you already have the problem solved.
Thanks for the screenshot. That’s a good idea to have a common db of exclusions list. Maybe I can list the common ones right here and later add a site with a simple page listing all exclusion URLs. Below I listed the URLs from your screenshot.
Use Chrome://extensions -> Fix Url Link Remove -> Options -> “disable Remove Referrer on:”
Referrer exclusion list:
https:plusone.google.com/_/+1/confirm?url=http
https://www.virustotal.com
https://www.stackexchange.com
youtube.com
Hi, when will you release a new version?
The following links do not work:
https://adf.ly/1409766/https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2180qqLJxWCRG1vVUpTd0ZfS3c/edit?pli=1 –> does not redirect
http://centrum.cz/http://www.seznam.cz –> does nothing
Thank you.
I have updated extension. See if it works fine for your use case. Extension is internally disabled on some popular sites, example google accounts etc. It should recognize https within URL. I intentionally didn’t implement it earlier as https is usually used within legit web applications (emails, online docs etc.). Anyway, if any site gives problem because of this update then people should add the site to extensions disable list (from Options in extensions page).
Hi, thanks for update.
this is the link I’m gonna talk about: https://adf.ly/1409766/https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2180qqLJxWCRG1vVUpTd0ZfS3c/edit?pli=1
When I use enable work on all redirect links, it works, although then it does not show 404, which should normally open – maybe a bug?
There’s a problem if I enable work only on specific links/sites options.
Then the link is not stripped.
Thank you. Your plugin is great. It’s really the one and only plugin available in the store. This is a real life saver if you are on forums which do shorten links with $ link locking sites.
Thanks, that’s interesting one.
I tested with ‘enable on specific links/sites option’.
In test I made a mistake of copy-pasting URL in address bar. The extension works (or it doesn’t) differently when you copy-paste a URL in Address Bar (omni bar) and press go(enter). In that case I assume that the user is intentionally trying to load a URL with redirect link. So I cancel the redirect removal.
So when testing, click on the link where (the website) it was found.
The https://adf.ly redirects to http://ay.gy, through some intermediate links. The brown/rusty color icon of Fix Url Links did showed up one time, indicating that it detected a redirect and user can add that host to the ‘enable Fix Url’ for that domain list.
I added following to ‘enable Fix Url Link on:’ list.
adf.ly
ay.gy
The google doc page gave message that the file does not exist.
I will test it bit more..
Thank you for you reply. But when I enable redirect for http(s)://adf.ly, why it is being still redirected to ay.gy?
Hi, I think that the problem is with the error pages, for example 400, 404, 405 and so. When server’s response is the error code. Could you please further investigate this issue and fix it? Thank you in advance!
I have updated the version to 0.171. The problem was that extension was ignoring URLs that contained words docs.google. I have changed that code to now ignore only if it’s from google. See if it solves the issue.
Yeah it works now. Thank you!
Hi again!
http://www.centrum.cz/http://seznam.cz still does not work. If the landing pages gives the error code (404, 500, etc.) – the landing page is either: the one with after the first “http://” or blank.
This problem happens probably only if I use
“Work Only on specific links/sites that you added to its ‘enable’ list.” option without specifying the “http://www.centrum.cz/” domain.
Could you please fix this problem, so it is okay with the custom domains as well?
Thank you in advance!
It seemed to work for me. The landing page is missing www. It gives site has ‘moved’ message and then browser automatically adds ‘www’ to URL, which works.
The first time I clicked on the link in your post, the address bar showed me black/white Fix Url icon. I clicked the icon and added the site to ‘enable Fix Url on:’ list. Refreshed the browser and tried the test again, this time it took me to the destination site, skipping the centrum.
Thanks for your reply.
It sometimes works and sometimes does not.
If I have a custom list with domains and http://www.centrum.cz/ is not in that list, it just get into the loop and the page will never load.
This is what I get (dev tools):
Remote Address:46.255.224.60:80
Request URL:http://www.centrum.cz/http://seznam.cz
Request Method:GET
Status Code:404 NOT FOUND
So when there is an error and I do not specify it in the “enable only for specific domains list”, the page will never load and the browser will lag.
If you need a video proof, I will send you one so that you can further investigate this issue.
Thank you in advance for any further replies.
Thanks for more details. Can you tell me the section or where these particular links are present on centrum site. I did saw that they link to different sites from their portal.
I think lot of servers handle page-not-found (404) errors differently or have some custom redirection.
What happens if you enable Referrer on centrum and click on one of those links?
I have referer enabled all the time. When I try to open that link, the Chrome just lags and is slowed until I close the link.
I see that your extension sometimes works and sometimes does not. If it works everytime, I would even donate. I think that many other people would donate as well, since this plugin is a real life saver.
If you have multiple extensions installed and have another one also touching similar functionality. Then there is a chance that the other extension might overwrite the fix done by this extension or it doesn’t even gets called.
I added the centrum domain to the enable list and then clicked on the link from your earlier comment. The extension worked fine and took me direct to seznam site.
I did view source on centrum site but couldn’t find any seznam link so was not able to test it on their site.
Thank you for your reply.
Maybe it is another plugin coexistence problem, but I really doubt it.
Yeah, as I have told you. There is no coexistence problem.
1. enable url strip only for specified domains
2. specify http://adf.ly & https://adf.ly
3. open any link with any error code (404, etc.)
4. the tab/ window will get stuck/ lag
You can try the following link: https://adf.ly/1409766/http://uploaded.net/file/vosuq3un/signed_Boeing.Flight.Simulator.2014.apk.txt
Btw I am using Chrome Beta (v35.0.1916.86 beta-m)
google.ru redirects doesn’t works
Thanks for feedback. What particular pages of google.ru redirects are not working. Did it used to work before.
Google (.com) has changed how they redirect or click track links. The simple url pattern based redirects can be fixed by the extension. I believe now they use multiple (mouse click events, google analytics, etc) ways to track.
Lately the plugin has stopped working properly for me. I have it set to enabled except for two websites, and now websites that are not on the whitelist are suffering from redirects. I have a deeply embedded rootkit problem that cannot be picked up by any of my antivirus/antirootkit tools and need this to be fixed.
If your computer has rootkit issue or some other virus then the extensions in browser cannot protect your internet use.
Check some online forums specific which are specific to virus and rootkit issues.
Well it worked for the majority of the time!
Hi there
Unfortunately this extensions seems to be troublesome with reCAPTCHA. When I enable it, then reCAPTCHA will show really hard captchas… so I had to disable it as I wasn’t able to solve them anymore.
Thanks, for feedback.
Which site it had this issue on?
If you know the URL that the reCaptcha is using then in extension options add that URL to exceptions or disable extension for that particular website.
it was on the xda developers forum (forum.xda-developers.com). It seems reCAPTCHA has multiple modes. With this activated, I always got images like that: http://images.sjau.ch/img/c7302ec7.png and could hardly ever get it right. However disabling this, made it better again to easier captchas.
The redirect from the “view page” / “view image” buttons in the Google “Images search results page” are not removed.
Windows 7 Home Premium x64 EN Retail (fully patched)
Chrome Version 40.0.2214.115 m x64
Google has changed, how their link works on google image page.
I hope Fixurl will fix this.
It doesn’t work for links that have unicode chinese/japanese characters in the link. Example: stupidredirect.com/?s=otherwebsite.com/%E9%87%8E%E7%90%83/
Please fix it.
Thanks. I will look into it. Any popular site using that type of links?
I have installed this extension from Google Store. It is in “active” state in my Chrome now. But I have no fix-url icon in Address Bar.
It shows icon only on pages where it has fixed the redirect or it detects that it can fix the redirect. It removes referrer info for all links, icon is not shown for that.
Please add support to Opera Browser. Now I can use “Fix URL” with manul install. But I want to see this addon on Opera Addons site.
Thanks this http://redirect.viglink.com was driving me mad until I found your extension