Actaully I have done this with my script to "Send Me an EMail" so that
rather than the email address showing, the status bar shows: "Send Me an
EMail".
This may not help prevent spam, but that was my idea
As Steve said, look for a JavaScript to change Status Bar text. But
note that the latest browsers (including IE7, Firefox1.5, Opera 9) block
scripts that change status bar text, so your script will not work.
When I am browsing on a site that I don't trust without question, I will
look at those URLs, and if they don't match what I expect, I click the
"close" button on my trackball.
If you are serious about being a stand-up sort of person, don't do it. If
you job is to plant malware on folks computers, I hope that you don't really
find out how...