Xenu Link Sleuth For Mac



Find broken links on web sites

  • Xenu s link sleuth free download - Xenu's Link Sleuth, US-Browser, G4S The Link, and many more programs.
  • 24 Alternatives To Xenu’s Link Sleuth. Screaming Frog SEO Spider. The Screaming Frog SEO Spider is a small desktop program (PC or Mac) which crawls websites.

Wikipedia article about Xenu's Link Sleuth

Nov 28, 2019 Select “Xenu’s Link Sleuth” and right click, then select Uninstall/Change. Click “Yes” to confirm the uninstallation. Disclaimer Xenu’s Link Sleuth for windows 10 pc. Xenu’s Link Sleuth is a product developed by null. This site is not directly affiliated with Xenu’s Link Sleuth. Xenu's Link Sleuth (TM) checks Web sites for broken links. Link verification is done on 'normal' links, images, frames, plug-ins, backgrounds, local image maps, style sheets, scripts and java applets. It displays a continously updated list of URLs which you can sort by different criteria.

Description

Xenu'sLink Sleuth (TM) checks Web sites for broken links.Link verification is done on 'normal' links, images, frames, plug-ins,backgrounds, local image maps, style sheets, scripts and java applets.It displays a continously updated list of URLs which you can sort by differentcriteria. A report can be produced at any time.

Additional features:

  • Simple, no-frills user-interface
  • Can re-check broken links (useful for temporary network errors)
  • Simple report format, can also be e-mailed
  • Executable file smaller than 1MB
  • Supports SSL websites ('https:// ')
  • Partial testing of ftp, gopher and mail URLs
  • Detects and reports redirected URLs
  • Site Map

Download

System requirements: Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista/7/8/10, WININET.DLLrequired (included with Internet Explorer). No, it won't work on Windows 3.11, noteven with Win32s. No, I won't make a Java, MacOS, Linux, Knoppix, Ubuntu, Beos, Palm,C64, SAP, AmigaOS, Blackberry, Symbian, iPhone or Android version. Don't even ask! (However I have been told that it runsfaultlessly under Fedora 13, Red Hat 8, Ubuntu, Kubuntu 14.04 and OS X via wine or WineBottler, and under Crossover on a Mac :-))Xenu

To have peace of mind, I recommend that you are using an up-to-date anti-virus software on your computer (so do I!).

Ok, I have read all that, I wantto download! (current version: 1.3.8 from September 4th, 2010) or try a beta version

Getting started:
Unzip it and install it wherever you want. Tocheck a site, click the toolbar icon on the left and enter a WWW address.If the address finishes with a directory name, don't forget to put a /at the end or you will possibly get the whole parent directory spidered.

Incorrect:
http://www.host.com/user

Correct:
http://www.host.com/user/

You can also click the 'browse' button to checka local HTML file. If you do not already use IE for browsing and are sittingbehind a company firewall, don't forget to configureyour proxy before you start. If you are using a personal firewall(like ZoneAlarm or Outpost) you must enable Microsoft Internet Explorerby starting it, entering a URL and then 'allowing' the application (youmay also have to enable Xenu - see example for Norton IntenetSecurity). To find out what the software can do, simply try out themenu choices, the toolbar and the right mouse key. Or read this third-party manual, a biggerthird-party manual with many pictures, a third-party report (HowI check over 6,000 links every seven to ten days), a blog post by a SEO guy, or deutsche Beschreibung und noch eine, guide en français, nederlandse beschrijving, descripción en español, русское описание, Український опис, Beskrivelse på dansk, opis w języku polskim,opis na Srpsko-Hrvatskom jeziku.

Good luck! If you find the software useful, pleaseclickhere.

Test everything. Hold on to thegood.
(1 Thessalonians 5:21)
Join the UpdateAnnouncements mailing list at Yahoo Groups! To subscribe, send an emptye-mail to linksleuthupdates-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

You can also join the usergroup by sending an e-mail to xenu-usergroup-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
If you like to use a button for Xenu's Link Sleuth on your web page,link to this page with these buttons:
If you like to use a banner for Xenu's Link Sleuth on your web page,link to this page with this banner:

The address of this web page is http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. Who is Xenu?

See here.

2. Is Xenu's Link Sleuth (TM) better than Incontext WebAnalyzer?

Incontext WebAnalyzer is no longer available since February 2002 and hadn't been updated for years, so this is more a historical note.

The answer to the question: Yes and No. Xenu's Link Sleuth (TM) does not havethe graphic capabilities of Incontext WebAnalyzer 2.0 ('Wavefront view'). But hereare some of the advantages of Xenu's Link Sleuth (TM):

  • It is free
  • Simple user-interface
  • Better error reports (not just 'network error')
  • 'Save' works also while the software is busy
  • The 'broken links view' shows only broken links; In WebAnalyzer you'd haveto press the button again and again as the window fills with crap.
  • While Xenu does not offer an 'update' facility (which doesn't work anyway),it has a 'recheck broken links' function that works fine.
  • It is small, written by one person experienced in Windows software developmentsince 1993 and who works as a professional software developer since 1983.This means that bugs will be corrected quickly. This is a matter of honour.
  • The report can be viewed easily, even when you have long URLs.
  • Uses much less disk space for intermediate files, executable file muchsmaller
  • Loading of saved files much faster (WebAnalyzer loses time by displayingthe extra graphics)
  • Supports SSL websites ('https:// ')
  • Partial testing of ftp and gopher sites
  • Search for local orphan files
  • Special handling of redirected URLs
  • Site Map
  • Partial randomization of checking order, means less concurrent requests on a singleserver
Check your website both withthis product and with another product (Linkbot, LinkScan, LinkAlarm, Web Link Validator, Screaming Frog and InSpyder offertrial versions, LinkExaminer is free and seems to be pretty good for SEO oriented tasks), and decide what you need and what youare willing to pay. If you do find something better in a different tool, tell me, even if it hurts :-)

3. Is Xenu better than a web-based service?

There's a free WWW based service called 'LinkTiger' which looks pretty nice, although it isn't free, except for a 100 links (As of October 2010). Their web page is very nicely designed and made me think about whether (in general, not related to LinkTiger or Xenu) such a solution is better or not.

Audisto.com (as of June 2013 it was known as strucr.com) is also interesting (One of the founders invited me into a restaurant and we had a very nice talk). Audisto.com focuses on 'the big picture' with websites. Not so much just finding broken links (it does not check external links), but find URLs that could be a problem for SEO, or find certain common HTML problems. Their target are big, really big websites (several millions of urls), where the web team has lost the understanding about what is going on. Sadly they no longer have free subscriptions (see pricing).

Server solution advantages:

  • No need to install anything
  • Independent of user OS
  • No use of client bandwith
  • Might be able to do more URLs, because servers will usually not keep all URLs in memory
  • Features can be updated without the user having to update his own system
Server solution disadvantages:
  • Dependent of server bandwidth
  • Cannot always be free, due to costs for hosting
  • Passwords must be uploaded to server
  • Cannot check intranets or local sites on HDD
  • Security risk if server gets hacked
  • Some server solutions insist on uploading an authorization file; might be difficult for companies with long decision delays
  • Legal risk if service is used to analyse competition
Client solution advantages:
  • Can run a check at any time
  • Passwords can be kept locally
  • Can check intranets or local sites on http://localhost or HDD (before they get uploaded!)
  • Tailored versions can be made
  • Would still be usable if I suddenly get hit by a safe
  • Check can be done without asking
Client solution disadvantages:
  • Security risk if software developer moves over to the dark side
  • Client bandwith is used
  • Dependent of having a computer that can run downloaded software
  • Dependent of having the correct OS (unless the client is written in Java)
  • Dependent of the RAM amount
Any more ideas pro or contra one of the two solutions? Contact me. (If you want to report a bug, click here).

4. Can I support the author?

Don't send me your money - I still have my day job and survived the 2008 financial crisis :-)If you feel that my work is useful to you (maybe it helped with your job, maybe you were able to impress your boss?), please donate money to causes I support, or send me gifts.
  • In Germany: please support Netzpolitik.org.
  • in the UK: make a donation or subscribe to the Guardian.
  • in France: please support La Quadrature du Net.
  • elsewhere: please support wikileaks, independent press (good journalism is not free) or civil rights NGOs.
  • or send me a T-Shirt of your city, university, employer in XL size. Take into consideration that I'll be wearing your T-Shirt at work. USPS 'airmail letter post' is fast, reliable and unexpensive.
  • You can also send me objects that are cultural icons, i.e. a product that your country is famous for.
  • You can also send me packaged food (no meat or fish, this is likely forbidden by customs). If you are in Belgium, send beer. If you're not sure, ask.
  • Mention the product and my name in your blog.
  • Send me a 'thank you' letter on company paper, if you work for a well-known company. Make sure that you are authorized to send such a letter. This is my street address:
    Tilman Hausherr
    Poschingerstrasse 14
    12157 Berlin
    Germany

If you are on facebook, you can also click 'like' here and here to increase the statistic near my name or near the product :-)

Other things I need help with: if you're an english native speaking person who understands german and knows the lingo of recipes, please check the third-party translation of thisrecipe of a Xenu cake by Ilse Hruby (you might try it, too! It tastes great!)

5. Why does Xenu's Link Sleuth (TM) report http://www.site.com/../page/index.htmlas broken?

The key is the '../' part. It meansyou have e.g. a top level page that links to a page in a directory above,which doesn't exist. It is true that Mozilla will not have any problemswith such a page; but I am less tolerant.

6. How can I configure a proxy?

You can configure a proxy in the control application of Windows. Double-Clickon the 'internet' symbol, then click on the 'card' of the dialog box thatis named 'Connection'. You may need a proxy if you are sitting 'behinda firewall'. This is usually so in big corporate networks.

One user with Windows 2000 always had a timeout, he solved it by checking'Use HTTP 1.1' and also 'Use HTTP 1.1 through proxy connections'in the 'Advanced' tab of the Internet Options in the control panel. However,this may not work for everyone, because some web servers do not supportHTTP 1.1.

7. Why does Xenu's Link Sleuth(TM) report a URL witha space in it?

Either because you do have a space in the URL, or because you have a carriagereturn / newline in it. Although Mozilla tolerates this, I do not.

8. I use Mozilla 3.0 Gold and can't get rid of file:URLs for images. What can I do?

Re-edit the page, double-click on the picture, remove file:from the picture location and take care to uncheck 'copy image to document'slocation' in the 'properties' dialog box (at the bottom left) before yousave and exit the dialog box.

9. What is the maximum number of URLs that can be checked?

There is no fixed number, but it seems to be above one million. The problem is that Windows XP applications have a size of 2GB max.

A 64 bit beta version is available which may or may not allow more URLs. Just unpack the ZIP file and move the XENU.EXE and ZLIBWAPI.DLL files at the place where you have the XENU.EXE file currently (rename the old XENU.EXE file first to save it). The new one is based on Microsoft Visual Studio 2010. The 64 bit EXE file is about 10 times as big as the 32 bit version that is based on the good old Visual Studio 1998. Microsoft has confirmed the problem.

10. Can the software check my site locally?

Since september 1998 (1.0n), you can do so without a local web server (youraddress would then be http://127.0.0.1).Use the 'Browse' button in the 'New' dialog box.

The results will not always be the same as a 'remote' check:

Cached
  • Sometimes you'll get 'error 3'. It happens because the WININET.DLL is unableto handle directories, i.e. links that end with '/'. You can avoid thisby linking to the actual 'main file', usuallyindex.html or default.html.That your browser can handle local directories and display them nicely,is because he does additional work, which I do not.
  • Mixups of higher/lower case characters in links won't be found, since Windowsdoes not make a difference. But UNIX does!
  • The main reason that you still need to make occasional 'remote' checksis because you might have forgotten to upload your files to your WWW server.
A user of IE 4.0 reported that when not online, the software checks every'remote' URL like a local file. This is a problem of the newer versionof the WININET.DLL; the version with IE 3.0 reports 'no connection' or'no such host' instead, which is more logical.

11. Does it work on Windows NT 3.51?

One user said it worked fine after he copied a version of WININET.DLL froma Windows 95 system standing nearby, and put it into the directory whereXenu's Link Sleuth(TM) was installed.

12. How is it so damn fast?

Because it uses a (possiblypatented, see patents hereand here)technique known as preemptive multithreading. It means that thelink checking software retrieves several web pages at the same time; thecompetition uses the same technique. The maximum count of threads is initiallyset to 30, but you can configure it to any number between 1 and 100. Anumber that is too high might result in failed connections or in timeouts,which means you will have to recheck the broken links. At the time I hada dial-up connection, I got good results with 70. Now I have a DSL connection,and I have to set the number to 1-5. I suspect that my DSL provider hasinstalled a brake somewhere to prevent 'commercial' customers from usingthe unexpensive 'private' service.

13. Can I have the source code?

Hahahahahaha!

14. Can I buy the source code?

Sure, make me 'an offer I can't refuse'.

15. Just for fun, I checked Tilman's web site, and found many broken links.Why?

I check my own web site every week on friday. Nevertheless there are alwaysbroken links:
  • Links that I know to be broken: I keep them like that to remind me to findthese people some day. The web page itself has a notice that the link isbroken.
  • Temporary unreachable hosts: these are temporary routing errors.
  • Really broken links: I will usually correct the link or remove it withinthe next few days.

16. How do I correct broken links?

Repairing broken links (i.e. getting the correct ones) is a difficult taskthat takes time, but with experience, you'll get it done faster and faster.
  • if you have the e-mail address of the site owner (because you know him),try an e-mail. Sometimes the address still works, even if the web siteis gone.
  • find the home page of the site you link to, to see if the site has a 'sorrywe moved' message. If you linked to http://www.host.com/user/page888.htmland this is broken, look at http://www.host.com/user/ to see ifthere is a message, or to see if the site has been reorganized. Some sitesreorganize their user pages differently, e.g. http://www.host.com/homepages/users/page888.html.Sometimes the web switches changes between the two methods. Other sitesare owned by the user himself, e.g. www.user.com, so the homepage is the root page. If the site exists but you cannot find your page,send an e-mail to the owner.
  • use search engines to find the site or the name of the site owner (if youknow). To find where the site is, use web search engines (like Googleor the Internet Archive) and usenetsearch engines (like Google Groups).
    • You find the site you searched for
    • You find a site that links to the site you searched for
    • You find the site in the Google Cache or the Internet Archive (simply enterthe URL in the search box!), and can use the contents to search for thename of the owner
    • You find a site that links to the site you searched for, but is also broken.E-mail the site owner, and tell him that the link is broken. Bookmark thesite and revisit it in a week, to see if the other person has found it.If not, you have nevertheless succeeded in making the other person feelas bad as you, which brings some relief :-)
    • You find the new e-mail address of the user. Either e-mail him, or tryto construct the URL yourself (user@host.com leads to http://www.host.com/user/)
  • post a message in a newsgroup that deals with the topic. Hopefully thesite owner or one of his friends reads the messages there.
  • if you are still unsuccessful, either delete your link to the site or repeatyour attempts after a month (some sites might reappear in a search engineafter some time). Sometimes it happens that a host is reorganizing itshard disk, and all user pages get back within a few days.

17. What about ftp and gopher sites?

Starting with version 1.0k I have implemented a new ftp checking methodthat is 100% reliable. Sadly, this method doesnot work with proxies. The previous method I used (and still use forgopher) was unreliable, as it did not detect certain errors.

The method for checking gopher sites is still unreliable. When an ftpor gopher site is accessed through a proxy, this proxy builds up a webpage. Sadly, it doesn't always bring up the information whether the URLexists or not. When you access a gopher site without a proxy, it bringsan error message, but not an error code. This seems to be a bugof the OpenURL() function of WININET.DLL.

The output lists ftp and gopher sites as links, which allows you tomake a manual check of these sites.

18. Why can't I launch URLs?

Starting with version 1.0g (Christmas 1997), URLs are launched with DDE('dynamic data exchange', a windows method of communication between applications),to open many browser windows but to prevent the opening of several Netscapeapplications. This is done with the help of the Registry, by searchingfor HKEY_CLASSES_ROOThttpshellopen. This has the path for thebrowser, the DDE application name (e.g. 'Netscape', 'IExplore'), the DDEtopic (usually 'WWW_OpenURL'), and a template for the DDE item(usually '%1'). If you cannot launch a URL, do not panic - exportand e-mail me the segment of your registry (start REGEDIT.EXE, and searchfor 'http'). Additionally, send me the file XENULOG.TXT which you will find in your %TEMP% directory.

The cause is usually that you have not installed your browser properly(maybe you just transferred the files from another computer). Solution:update or reinstall your browser.

Starting with version 1.1b, I have stopped displaying an error messagewhen the registry is incomplete, because there were too many complaints.Instead, the browser will simply be launched with the page. This has thedisadvantage that the page won't be displayed in an extra window of thecurrent active browser application.

One user with Microsoft Vista 64 (UAC disabled) was unable to launch URLs (message box: 'Unable to open browser for 'URL': error 5: Access is denied').The cause was COMODO Firewall Pro 3.0.25.378. Without the firewall, it worked fine.Please remember that 'Personal Firewalls' are mostly snake-oil. Set up an external firewall box instead - this is usually included in your router.

18a. Why does the browser not open a new window?

This is a problem with Microsoft Internet Explorer. Open your registryand search for HKEY_CLASSES_ROOThttpshellopenddeexec. If thekey value is '%1',-1,0, then change it to '%1',0,0,(i.e. you change the -1 to 0).

18b. Why does Link Sleuth freeze when launching the report?

If Link Sleuth freezes when launching the report, but not when double-clickingon a URL, the reason might be the site map. A site map can be HUGE ifthe site goes very 'deep' (high level, see the 'level' column in the LinkSleuth window). A very 'deep' site can happen if you have a forum.

Solution: disable the site map in the options dialog, or exclude the'deep' parts of your website (e.g. a forum) in the initial dialog box.

Version 1.3 has an abort dialog.

18c. Why does Link Sleuth freeze when launching the report or a URL?

I do not know why this happens, but I have experienced this myself withWindows ME (but not with Windows XP), and have received similar reportsfrom users. The problem goes away by rebooting Windows, but comes backlater. You can also get rid of the problem by making a change in the XENU.INIfile below the line with [Options], enter this:
UseDDE=0
The only disadvantage is that it will not open a new window in thebrowser.

19. What about cookies?

By default, cookies are disabled, and Xenu rejects all cookies.

If you need cookies because

  • you have used Internet Explorer to authenticate yourself before startinga run
  • to prevent the server from delivering URLs with a session ID
then you can enable the cookies in the advanced options dialog.
(This has been available since Version 1.2g)

Warning:
You should not use this option if you have links that deletedata, e.g. a database or a shop - you are risking data loss!!!

20. Why are some links reported as 'broken' by Xenu, that can be displayedwithin my browser?

Some servers read the 'User Agent', i.e. the name of the software thattries to access a website. Some websites allow only browsers, some even only Microsoft Internet Explorer, and refuse everything else. Some may even specificallyrefuse Xenu because of past misuse. Andi has a listof websites that deny access to Xenu. Tom Boutell has an extendedexplanation of how wikipedia denies access.A user-configurable 'User Agent'would be the solution, but this would make abuse possible.

21. Why can't I connect to 'secure' (https) sites ?

If you have set your proxy correctly, try to connectwith IE. If this doesn't work, readthis usenet post for help. If this still doesn't work and you use WindowsNT 4.0, install the latestNT service packs (up to SP5).

22. Any known problems with Windows 95?

Some people have reported crashes. These problems were usually solved byinstalling IE 3.0 (or higher) or the following service packs:
  • Windows95 Kernel 32 Update (29.7.1997)
  • WindowsSocket 2 Update (19.2.1998)
  • Patchfor 'File Access URL' Vulnerability (12.11.1999)
One guy had problems with the WININET.DLL (v. 4.70.1300) installed withOEM Windows 95 (v. 95 4.00.950 C). Changing to version 4.70.1335 solvedthe problem.

A simpler solution is to go to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.comand install whatever they tell you (you need to have IE 4.0 or higher onyour system)

23. Any known problems with Windows 2000?

Although I received many reports that it runs fine, one user reported aproblem and a solution:

Windows 2000 automatically sets a configuration option to use HTTP 1.1for connecting to web sites. Many, many web sites do not use that versionbut continue to use HTTP 1.0, so the automatic setting may prevent connections.This is the reason why Xenu would not run for me. When I disabled thatsetting, Xenu performed properly.

To disable that setting: Control Panel -> Internet Options -> Advanced(tab) -> HTTP 1.1 settings (list heading) -> Use HTTP 1.1 (checkbox: uncheckit)

24. Can I configure the timeout?

Enter the number of seconds in the [Options] segment in XENU.INI,e.g. as timeout=120. The default value is 60. Note that this isn't'perfect'. Microsoft Windows has a bugso that the timeout can't be set the way it should. I am using a workaroundadvice from Microsoft. However I have observed that it doesn't workif the timeout 'hits' while trying to find out if a host name exists.

Alternatively, try this:

  • Start the Registry Editor (REGEDIT.EXE)
  • Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion InternetSettings
  • Select New > DWORD from the Edit menu
  • Call it ReceiveTimeout with a value of <number of seconds> * 1000
    (The 'hidden' default is 300000, i.e. five minutes, which is too long)
  • Restart your system

Some users have complained that if one URL hits a timeout or a failed connection, all URLs from that host also do. Starting with version 1.2h, this behaviour can be disabled by unchecking 'fail all URLs with same failed host' in the advanced options dialog. (The default behaviour is 'checked')

25. What about JavaScript?

JavaScript is a programming language, not a formatting language. This makesweb pages dynamic; they might depend on the mouse type, the screen size,etc... I have been begged to check simple JavaScript links that have theform javascript:function('address',param1,param2,...,paramN)

My solution, which was first announcedin the user group, requires a change in the XENU.INI file. You needa basic understanding of regular expressions (regexp). You must put yourregexp in the INI file, like this:

[Options]
Javascript=javascript:.*(['](.*(/|s?html?|gif|jpe?g|png|jsp|cfm|zip|exe|aspx?|pl|pdf|xml|ra|asx|ram|swf|php)(?.*)?)['](.*)

In the example above, the substring within the first (....) must containthe valid URL.

Frank Visser suggestedan improved regexp:

[Options]
Javascript=[j|J]avascript:[_a-zA-Z0-9]+ *( *[']([^']+)[']

Frank Visser has also written a betterdescription on his site.

Note: there may be no blank between within 'javascript:function', becausethe regexp wouldn't work.

26. What about passwords entered in a FORM?

The software is not able to enter passwords in a FORM. I just don't seea way to acomplish this easily. I assume it is possible if one combinesa set of variable names, values, and a web page that would accept themwith a http POST command. But some alternatives might work:
  • Log in with Internet Explorer, start Xenu, then enable cookies in the advanced options dialog (read the details), then start the check
  • If the server accepts authentication with GET (might work with the Tomcat server), try sending such a URL. However, you might still have to activate cookies.
I came up with a new solution for this problem, please give me feedback if it works or if it doesn't. It was first presented in the user group in April 2009.

Submitting a FORM was never a technical problem for me; I have tested this years ago already, but without any user interface. My mistake was to look for a general way to catch FORMs in HTML pages, instead of just using the login FORM url as a start. I found a somewhat practicable solution at a competing site (WLV).

A test version of Xenu (this may not be the most current version) with login FORMs can be found here

The initial dialogbox has a new checkbox for POST and a POST query string. Note that the query string won't be stored in the INI file.

Imagine you'd want to check the (imaginary) password protected websitehttps://www.host.com. Look at the HTML for the FORM:

<FORM METHOD='POST' ACTION='https://www.host.com/scripts/login.php'>
<INPUT TYPE='text' NAME='User'>
<INPUT TYPE='password' NAME='Password'>
<INPUT TYPE='submit' NAME='Submit' VALUE='Login'>
</FORM>

Thus, the start URL would be https://www.host.com/scripts/login.php

and if the username is 'Xenu', and the password is 'Secret', the POSTquery string would be

User=Xenu&Password=Secret&Submit=Login

(The POST query string gets tricky if there are spaces or specialcharacters in the parameters. It must be URL-encoded)

Important:

  1. You must add https://www.host.com to the inclusion list. If you don't,only URLs beginning with https://www.host.com/scripts/ will be checked;
  2. Don't let Xenu hit the logout link! To avoid this, add the logout URL tothe exclusion list:
    https://www.host.com/scripts/logout.php
  3. If your server doesn't do proper URL-rewriting when sessions are disabled, then you must enable cookies in the advanced options dialog;
  4. Don't let Xenu hit any URLs that delete or change something!

27. How about a WAP version?

Xenu does check .wml files since February 2001.

28. What about these error codes?

I identify only a subset of all possible error codes in the 'Status' column.If you get an unknown error code in the Xenu application window, you canscroll to the right for an explanation text.

More information:

  • HTTP statuscodes (100 through 505)
  • WinIneterror codes (12001 through 12156), also here

29. Why do I get broken links with filelist.xml, editdata.msoand oledata.mso?

Because Microsoft creates these broken links :-( Don't bother with them,or read Knowledge Base article Q219694: SavingOffice HTML File to a FrontPage Web Results in a Broken Hyperlink.Or try this tool: Office2000 HTML Filter 2.0

You can also get rid of the problem by excluding them in the advanced options dialog.
Xenu will exclude URLs that end with /filelist.xml, /editdata.msoand /oledata.mso. (This feature has been available since Version1.2g)

30. Why do I get 'file not found' on remote checks?

There may be several causes for this:
  • Your Internet Explorer isn't working properly, or is in offline mode, oris blocked by your firewall. Enter the URL you want to check into IE andsee if it works.
  • One user got it working by starting Internet Explorer first, and then startingXenu. I believe that the cause is a broken setup of Windows, or of InternetExplorer.
  • Your temporary directory is full: enter %TEMP% (not 'c:temp' !) into theWindows Explorer, check if there are many TGH*.* files, and delete them.

31. Can I make a foreign language version?

No, please don't. There's no guarantee that any of the message texts willbe kept in the next version. The other problem is that I didn't write thesoftware in a way to be language-independent. I could have done it - butI think most people on the web do understand english.

32. Why isn't Xenu detecting missing URLs?

A web server should return HTTP error 404 for non-existant URLs. Some serversare poorly configured: some redirect to an existing URL with an error message(bad!), others do show an error page, but the server doesn't return the404 error (very bad!).

One user had the problem that his Microsoft IIS server didn't returnthe 404 error. He found help on thispage, and then sent me his solution, which only works in .ASP underIIS:The Apache web server has a different (and better) method of doing thesame thing using native HTML code for the webpage. You simply set the correctconfig items in the http.conf file on your box.

Another user with Apache attributed the unwanted redirection to this line in the .htaccess file:

ErrorDocument 404 http://www.host.com/404.html
and he solved it by making this change:
ErrorDocument 404 /404.html
Now he gets a correct 404 error code which includes a tailored error page and no redirection. He read about it here.

33. Running Xenu with Norton Internet Security

A user had trouble to use Xenu with Norton Internet Security 7, and goterror 12007 (no such host). After he added Xenu, it worked. This is whathe did:
  • added Xenu by opening Norton Internet Security by double clicking the Norton'Globe' Icon
  • In right side panel, 'Personal Firewall', Click CONFIGURE
  • In the Personal Firewall pop-up, Click PROGRAMS
  • In PROGRAM CONTROLS MENU
    • Settings for - 'Home (Active)'
    • click 'Turn on Automatic Program Control' box
    • Under 'Manual Program Controls'
    • Scroll to 'Xenu.exe'
    • Click Xenu once to Highlight it
    • Click MODIFY
  • in the pop-up:
    • Click PERMIT
    • Click OK
    • Click Ok again
  • Run Xenu

34. Why timeouts?

This is difficult to answer. The cause might be network overload; it might help to set a lower amount of threads, or to fine-tune the DoS detection of your firewall. Check your firewall logs to see whether it detected a 'SYN flood' DoS attack by you. SYN is the first data packet that is sent to a host when starting a connection. Theoretically, Xenu might send up to 100 SYN packets that are not immediately answered, so a firewall (that counts 'unanswered' SYN packets) might think something 'evil' is going on. My firewall box once claimed to have detected a SYN flood when I opened many newspaper articles in background browser windows.

35. Any Spyware, Adware, Malware?

This software exists since 1997 and never had any type of malware. It does not 'phone home' or return any statistics to me. There are random 'ads' in the HTML report for causes I support; however I don't get paid for this. Any passwords that you enter in the software (e.g. for orphan search) are not 'remembered' after you close Xenu, nor are they passed to me.

Some debug output is stored in the file XENULOG.TXT which you will find in your %TEMP% directory. That file does not contain any passwords and it is used for support (I will sometimes ask you to attach it to an e-mail to me), primarly for problems with the launch of URLs in your browser (especially the report). The file is human-readable, so feel free to have a look. The file is not sent to me by Xenu, it just remains there and you can delete it if you wish.

Here's a green review by McAfee Siteadvisor about Xenu's Link Sleuth. Note that until before July 11 2008, Yahoo Search (which uses input from McAfee SiteAdvisor) was redflagging every URL of the whole snafu.de domain, including my user site (this seems to have been corrected now). McAfee SiteAdvisor has redflagged the snafu.de domain, but not the user pages. This was related to three downloads (CuteFTP, GoZilla and Nok2Phone) on the customer support ftp site of snafu.de, who has been my ISP for over a decade. These downloads have been removed since then and both Yahoo and McAfee have been notified. On July 30 2008, I noticed that the snafu.de domain has been greenflagged.

As of 22.8.2009, I was told by a user that Trend Micro Internet Security was redflagging this web page as 'Dangerous', because Xenu is a 'generic trojan'. Such false positives are not an isolated problem, other people have had the same complaint. On August 27 I talked on the phone with a very friendly human from Trend Micro. He explained to me that his software wrongly considers mine to be 'another antivirus software' because 'it searches' (sure it does!), and that he installed the software on a test machine and understand it is harmless. He promised to 'contact the lab'. But after that, I was asked to make another support message on another web page, and nothing happened after that, but I haven't had complaints from any more Trend Micro users since then.

As of 30.10.2009, a McAfee Antivirus product claimed that my product is a 'Trojan - Artemis'. (McAfee describes this problem: 'Artemis' & Other Possibly False Detections) After several complaints, it seemed that the problem had been solved with version 5836 (tested 18.12.2009).As of 21.6.2010, McAfee did it again with the new version 1.3.7, and later with 1.3.8. Despite contacting them, there was no reaction. After finding a different contact page for false alarms, McAfee contacted me the next day (on 14.10.2010) and told me that the false Artemis detection had been removed.

On 21.11.2010, a user of Avira Webguard told me that my download URL was blocked. I found out that it was not blocked by the free antivurus product. After a complaint, it was unblocked two days later.

To put any such 'alerts' into the correct perspective, upload any Xenu.exe file to www.virustotal.com, which will check the file against 30 antivirus products.

I'm not the only one 'suffering' from this type of libel. Read this blog post by nirsoft.net Antivirus companies cause a big headache to small developers, or this blog by Bill Pytlovany McAfee Continues to Harm WinPatrol Users. This SARVAM blog entry shows that many AV products consider windows system files to be malware when packed.

If you have any more questions about security, don't hesitate to contact me. If you want to report a bug, click here.

36. How about wildcards in the inclusion and exclusion lists?

This is available but not in the general version. Download it here, however, this may not always be the latest version. Just enter something with a '*' instead of an URL, e.g. '*print*' to exclude an 'easy print' version of a web page. Note that only '*' is supported; '?' is not, nor are 'regular expressions' (because an average user won't understand the concept). Also, don't forget the '*' at the beginning and the end of the URL, unless you want the expression to be a prefix or a suffix.

37. What about CSS?

Styles and CSS files has been supported since version 1.3.8.

Attention: Similar to HTML URLs, the CSS URLs must be 'internal' to the root URL, or be added to the inclusion list in the initial dialogbox. For example, if your root URL is http://www.host.com/stuff/ and your CSS URL is http://www.host.com/css/standard.css, then it won't work - you should then add http://www.host.com/css to the inclusion list.

38. Running Xenu with Norton Security Scan

One user complained that the software was using up all windows handles (32000) on Windows 7 32 bit, and after that he kept getting 'no connection'. The same happened with browser access.The user told me that it was a new PC. I warned him that new PCs often have some stuff pre-installed.The cause was Norton Security Scan. After deinstalling it, Xenu ran smoothly with 300-600 handles. Apparently,this product isn't just a scanner, but also a 'live watcher', and the product doesn't free its resources properly.

39. Why are there changing Session-IDs?

Xenu has cookies disabled by default. Thus, if the web server tracks sessions, this would have to be done through the URL. If the session ID constantly changes, then it means your application or your server software is buggy. A properly programmed server does URL rewriting automatically when needed.

To prevent having a new session generated for each new URL, all internal links must be generated dynamically.

In Java servlets, this is done with HttpServletResponse.encodeURL(), which will either change the URL or leave it as it is, depending on wether cookies are enabled or not.

In JSP, you should use the JSP Standard Tag Library (JSTL):

<a href='<c:url value='fun.jsp'/>'>Click here for fun</a>

of course you can still do it the hard way, with a scriptlet:

<a href='<%=response.encodeURL('fun.jsp')%>'>Click here for fun</a>

Download

In JSF, you should use the HTML tag library:

<h:outputLink value='fun.jsf'>Click here for fun</h:outputLink>
or
<h:link value='Click here for fun' outcome='fun.jsf' />

If you use .php, you should use the SID constant. The manual explains how.

40. Problems in Israel

There is a problem with hebrew websites that happens only on computers with hebrew windows, if the character ת (tav - looks somewhat like PI) is used in URLs. This should be converted to %D7%AA, but is converted into %D7%D7 instead, and only in Israel and not 'here' (in Germany).

A fix will be in version 1.3.9. If you can't wait, use the current beta. Thanks, Yosi!

41. Using an external authentication server

If you are using an external authentication server (e.g. 'Sun Access Manager'), make sure that when successful, it doesn't redirect to an URL that has already been checked by Xenu (and is the one that redirected to the authentication server URL in the first place!).

Alternatively, use the authentication URL (e.g. http://auth.host.com/blah/blahRedirect_WL.jsp?goto=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.host.com%2F.wlforward) as the root URL, and include the 'real' root URL (here: http://www.host.com) in the initial dialog box.

42. Running Xenu against the Tomcat server can cause it to hang

I experienced this myself - the cause was a deadlock in log4j. Log4j is usually great, but deadlocks can happen 'by design', see this long running ticket and this blog post. The proof that log4j was the cause is that it didn't happen when logging was set to OFF.

One cause were two JSF Beans that were not serializable. Another was an error message by tomcat about an aborted GET access on /Context/faces/javax.faces.resource/jsf.js?ln=javax.faces'. The later cause has been removed in 1.3.9.

43. Why does my page not have any outgoing links?

The following reasons have been observed:
  • The URL is considered external. Note that http://www.host.com is external to http://host.com and vice-versa.
  • A page contains javascript only. You can use the excellent software Fiddler to see what your server delivers to you.
  • A page is delivered to Xenu differently than to a browser. That, too, can be investigated with Fiddler.
  • A page is in 16 bit Unicode (utf-16, which has 2 bytes per character). Xenu does not support this. It is highly unusual, but not illegal. In firefox, you can click on a page with the right mouse key and choose 'view page info'. If it mentions utf-16, use NOTEPAD to save your page to a different charset (ansi or utf-8). Your page will also have about half the size than before.

Bug List

The software works pretty well, but here the list of things that shouldn'tbe.
  • the thread count is sometimes incorrect if the maximum is changed whileactive
  • the thread count is sometimes incorrect at the end of the session
  • The </A> closing tag must not have spaces or newlines inside
  • leftover TGH*.* files in the %TEMP% directory
  • weird effects when INI file >64K (happens on Windows XP, but works fine on Windows 7 64 bit)
If you find another bug, e-mailme a description, please include the URL you are checking, and ifpossible try to save your work in a .XEN file and attach it (If it is larger than 1 MB, ZIP it first). Also checkhttp://windowsupdate.microsoft.comto make sure that your system has all the updates. If you want to e-maila suggestion, click here. You can also join the usergroup by sending an e-mail to xenu-usergroup-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Future feature List

Things I will do in the future (maybe when hell freezes over!):
  • ROBOTS.TXTsupport
  • Detect remoteloading of images (geocitiessabotages this)
  • Solution for leftover TGH*.* files in temp directory
  • Command-line parameters (actually, this has already been done, for a clientwho agreed to pay my development time to two people I support. If you needsomething similar, e-mail me, the price is a $300 donation to be sent toa person I support)
  • Names of last checked URLs in also file menu
  • Automatic saving every minute
  • A correctly working 'Update' feature that rechecks changed sites (tricky,so I will never do it)
  • Ideas from Chris:
    • What about identifying how many steps it takes to reach a particular pagefrom the home page and how much kb had to be downloaded before one couldreach there.

      • [TH: useful e.g. to which steps a user must take to reach the pageof a particular product]
  • Yoursuggestions: e-mail me also if there is something of the above you'dlike to have, and persuade me to do it. If you want to report a bug,clickhere.

The Story of Xenu's Link Sleuth(TM)

(for fellow software developers)

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

In April and May 1997 my employer assigned me on an out-of-town job, becauseanother department needed a guy with MFC experience. So from monday tofriday I was away, and on the evenings I was bored to death. Every week-endI was back home, and I usually checked my web site for broken links withWebAnalyzer.Sadly the software had a lot of bugs, and their support was ignoring mye-mails, and I was mad as hell, as I had spent quite a lot of money ona product that wasn't worth it. My job was also the first contact withVC++ 4.2 (previously I had only worked with VC++ 1.5, because our customershave a lot of 16bit systems), which had some easy-to-use Internet accessclasses. I had already experience with WINSOCK programming, but these classeswould spare me a lot of time evaluating HTTP result headers and other annoyingstuff. On an evening after an excellent italian food with a good chiantiI took some hotel letter paper and wrote down a concept for checking links.A month later I took some time to install the development software on mycomputer and started working, with the help of that hotel-room concept.The work was done on some evenings, but mostly on week-ends, when I hadmore time.

My philosophy on software development has always been 'smaller,simpler, cheaper', long before the NASA realized this (in May 2002 I wastold that the actual NASA philosophy was Faster, Better, Cheaper- oops!) Because of that, I need no fancy (but totally useless) graphicslike in WebAnalyzer. Just results. And they'd better be 100% correct orI'd have to kill myself :-)

Theapplication is written in Visual C++, and uses the MFC classes as muchas possible: CDocument, CView, CListView, CObArray, CMapStringToOb, CArchive,CInternetSession, CHttpFile, etc, etc. That saved me a lot of time!

Credits

Original icons in EXE file: Martin Hunt and Paul Campbell; Icon on web page: ErikPlummer; Idea to use banners in report: Marc Cross; Xenu logo button: FredC.; second Xenu logo button: Charles A.Upsdell; Volcano animated cursor: Juan C. Pradas-Bergnes; Idea & help with SMTP integration: Mark Findlay;SMTPclass: P.J. Naughter; Xenu artwork: William C. Chenoweth; WinHelp version of documentation: Andrew Schoenhofer; Regular Expressions:HenrySpencer and Guy Gascoigne; Install and deinstall: InnoSetupNSIS with help from Andrey Aleksanyants; help with Xenu banner: BrunoZacke; wildcards: Jack Handy; sort icons for list columns: Thomas Holte; new Xenu icon in May 2008: Dominic Raths of Hitflip.de;Idea and code for GraphViz: Kevin Niehage; Current HTML Help (CHM) version of documentation: Andrey Aleksanyants; .jar listing: Arcangelo Bruna;Resize Dialog: Torben B. Haagh; Help with 'the Hebrew problem': Yosi; Internationalising Domain Name conversion: Gisle Vanem and Adam M. Costello;duplicate content detection: RSA Data Security, Inc. MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm;gzip content decompression: zlib;sitemap tree css: Ross Angus.

Links for further reading

  • Wired article: RottenLinks Hamper Learning
  • The study: BrokenLinks: Just How Rapidly Do Science Education Hyperlinks Go Extinct?
  • Another study: Digitallibraries and World Wide Web sites and page persistence

Trademarks

Xenu, Xenu's Link Sleuth and Link Sleuth are trademarks usedby Tilman Hausherr for software products and services. These products arenot associated in any way with services licensed by RTC, CoST, BPI, CSI,etc.

Home | $cientology| Magic | Mozilla| Tilman | Deutsch| Bookstore

tilman at snafu dot de

Xenu's Link Sleuth
Developer(s)Tilman Hausherr
Stable release
1.3.8 / September 4, 2010; 10 years ago
Written inC++
Operating systemMicrosoft Windows
Available inEnglish
Websitehome.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html

Xenu, or Xenu's Link Sleuth, is a computer program that checks websites for brokenhyperlinks.[1] It is written by Tilman Hausherr and is proprietary software available at no charge. The program is named after Xenu, the Galactic Ruler from Scientologyscripture.

Format[edit]

Link Sleuth runs on Microsoft Windows. Link verification is performed on links which appear in <a> tags, as well as images, frames, plug-ins, backgrounds, local image maps, style sheets, scripts and Java applets. The program follows links to other pages, and checks the links on those pages also, so it is possible to check an entire site for broken links in one session. Xenu displays a continuously updated list of URLs which can be sorted according to different criteria.[2] The program uses a 'simple, no-frills user-interface',[3] and can help users understand how certain Web sites are structured.[4] The program has support for SSL Web sites.[5]

Reception[edit]

Xenu's Link Sleuth software was called the 'fastest link-checking software' by PC Magazine,[6] and 'amazingly fast, very accurate' by a University of Wyoming newsletter.[7] The software was used as a testing tool in a usability study at Grand Valley State University.[8]

Xenu's Link Sleuth has also been cited by Rossett's The ASTD E-Learning Handbook,[9] Zhong's Intelligent Technologies for Information Analysis,[10] Gerrard's Risk-Based E-Business Testing,[11] Reynolds' The Complete E-Commerce Book,[12] Slocombe's Max Hits: Websites that Work,[13] George's The ABC of SEO,[14] as well as the German books Homepage-Erfolg,[15] and Einführung in XHTML CSS und Webdesign,[16] and Italian books, Plasmare il web,[17] and Il check-up dei siti Web.[18]

References[edit]

  1. ^'Looking for link validator.', New Straits Times, May 1, 2000.
  2. ^Gunther, D., Recommendation on Quality Assurance and Selection of resources for the ETB networkArchived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, European Treasury Browser, P. 48., 2002, retrieved 3/7/07[clarify].
  3. ^McCoy, Linda., Link Sleuth, Deccan Herald, August 24, 2005, Retrieved 23 May 2014
  4. ^Mruck, Katja., Qualitative Research Networking: FQS as an Example, Qualitative Social Research, Volume 1, No. 3, December 2000.
  5. ^Mickiewicz, Matt., Download of the Week, SitePoint Tribune, Issue 279., SitePoint, February 5, 2004.
  6. ^'70 assists for a winning site. (Web Builder's Toolkit)', PC Magazine, April 23, 2002.
  7. ^Visual Communications eNews, University of Wyoming, June 2005., retrieved 3/7/07[clarify].
  8. ^Grissom, Scott., The Trials and Tribulations of Usability Testing, Grand Valley State University, October 8, 2003.
  9. ^Rossett, Allison (2002). The ASTD E-Learning Handbook. McGraw-Hill Professional. p. 500. ISBN0-07-138796-X.
  10. ^Zhong, Ning; Jiming Liu (2004). Intelligent Technologies for Information Analysis. Springer. p. 200. ISBN3-540-40677-8.
  11. ^Gerrard, Paul (2002). Risk-Based E-Business Testing. Artech House. p. 155. ISBN1-58053-314-0.
  12. ^Reynolds, Janice (2004). The Complete E-Commerce Book: Design, Build, and Maintain a Successful Web-Based Business. CMP Books. p. 189. ISBN1-57820-312-0.
  13. ^Slocombe, Mike (2002). Max Hits: Websites that Work. Rotovision. p. 121. ISBN2-88046-543-5.
  14. ^George, David (2005). The ABC of Seo: search engine optimization strategies. ISBN1-4116-2251-0.
  15. ^Rüttinger, Stefan (2003). Homepage-Erfolg: Wie Sie im Internet mehr Geld verdienen (in German). Books on Demand. p. 140. ISBN3-8330-0643-9.
  16. ^Jendryschik, Michael. Einführung in XHTML CSS und Webdesign (in German). Pearson Education Deutschland. p. 250. ISBN3-8273-2477-7.
  17. ^Polillo, Roberto (2006). Plasmare il web (in Italian). Apogeo Editore. p. 186. ISBN88-503-2511-8.
  18. ^Polillo, Roberto (2004). Il check-up dei siti Web (in Italian). Apogeo Editore. p. 170. ISBN88-503-2282-8.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Xenu%27s_Link_Sleuth&oldid=966001253'