how can you verify that the site you get is not a fake?

[Bruno Wolff III]

On Mon, Jun 06, 2005 at 06:05:58 -0700,
  bruce <bedouglas at earthlink.net> wrote:
> but you still haven't addressed my problem/issue/question...
> 
> and that's how do i as a user (not an app) know that this is the right site
> for the url i entered... my fear is that a malicious site, could simply fake
> the information he's providing, to 'look' like the actual/real site...

There is more to it than that. How do you know the URL you typed is really
the URL for the site you want? You could make a typo. You could have made
a mistake such as mixing up two company names  when looking up the URL
in the first place.

You also might not be working on protecting the weaklest leak. I don't think
that traffic sniffing on the network is a big threat unless you are a
target of a national law enforcement or intelligence agency. You are more
likely to be compromised at one of the end points.