When first opened, the Validate Links dialog displays the links to be validated in the "Not Validated" tab. The panel at the top of the dialog gives instructions regarding how to proceed. The instructions will change as the user moves from step to step (tab to tab) in the link validation process. The instructions are also included below.
The Validate Links feature uses multiple simultaneous threads for increased validation speed. The maximum number of simultaneous threads to be used is controlled by the "Maximum number of simultaneous thumbnail threads" setting on the "Advanced" tab in Preferences.
Not Validated tab
The links listed in the Not Validated tab have not yet been validated. To begin the validation process, first select each of the links you want to validate, or click Select All if you want to validate all of them. Then click the Validate button. After the links have been validated, click on the tab labeled Invalid to continue, or click the Next button.
Invalid tab
The links listed in the Invalid tab have been tested and found to be invalid. In most cases the server that previously hosted the page has been contacted and has responded with a 404 Not Found error, which means that the page has been moved or removed. If any of the pages are important and you suspect that they have been moved rather than removed, you can try opening the home page of the site and looking for a site search option, which might help you find the page if it is still available. Otherwise, select the links you want to remove from your file and click the Delete button. Then click on the tab labeled Unresolvable to continue, or click the Next button.
Unresolvable tab
The links listed in the Unresolvable tab have failed the name resolution process. This means that an attempt to translate the site domain name to an IP address through a DNS (Domain Name System) server has failed. Most likely the domains are no longer valid. To continue, select the links you want to remove from your file and click the Delete button. Then click on the tab labeled Unreachable, or click the Next button.
Unreachable tab
The links listed in the Unreachable tab have been successfully translated from domain names to host IP addresses through DNS (Domain Name System) server requests. However, subsequent attempts to contact the resolved IP addresses have failed. This could mean that the sites are permanently down, temporarily down, or temporarily unavailable due to network or Internet routing problems. If any of the pages are important, it is recommended that you try validating them again later. If you want to delete some or all of the links now, select the links you want to delete and click the Delete button. Then click on the tab labeled Unknown, or click the Next button.
Unknown tab
The links listed in the Unknown tab must be validated manually. They are either links of a type that NetVisualize cannot automatically validate, or the sites have been automatically contacted and have responded with an HTTP status code that NetVisualize cannot clearly categorize as either valid or invalid. You should manually validate each link by double-clicking on it to open it in a browser window. If you want to delete some or all of the links, select the links you want to delete and click the Delete button. Then click on the tab labeled Redirected, or click the Next button.
Redirected tab
The links listed in the Redirected tab have been redirected by the servers hosting the pages to new locations. To view the new URL to which a link has been directed, select the link and then look at the blue Redirected URL field below the list of links. Some of the redirected pages are likely to be correct, while others may be general pages stating that the requested page is no longer available. You can manually validate a link by double-clicking to open it in a browser window. If you want to automatically replace old URLs with the new redirected URLs, first selected the links you want to automatically replace, and then click on the Replace button. Click on the tab labeled Valid to continue, or click the Next button.
Valid tab
The links listed in the Valid tab have been tested and found to be valid. In most cases the server hosting each page has responded with a 200 OK status code, which means that the page is available. In some cases the server may have returned a page different from what was there previously, such as a general page stating that the requested page is no longer available, while still returning a 200 OK status code. If you want to manually check any of the links, you can double-click any link to open it in a browser window. This is the last step in the link validation process, so after you are done reviewing the links, click on the Close button to close this dialog.
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