diff --git a/make_html.sh b/make_html.sh
index 40e7b66..0c8df87 100755
--- a/make_html.sh
+++ b/make_html.sh
@@ -8,9 +8,10 @@ mkdir html
 cp report.html html
 
 DATE=`date +"%D"`
+FILECOUNT=`ls *.md | wc -l`
 FILELIST="filelist.html"
-HEADER="<html><head><link rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"style.css\"><title>LRS Wiki</title></head><body><h1>less_retarded_wiki</h1><a href=\"main.html\">main page</a>, <a href=\"$FILELIST\">file list</a>, <a href=\"lrs_wiki_full.html\">single page HTML</a>, <a href="https://repo.or.cz/less_retarded_wiki.git/snapshot/HEAD.tar.gz">source</a>, <a href="report.html">report</a>, wiki last updated on $DATE<hr />"
-FOOTER="<hr/><p>All content available under <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/\">CC0 1.0</a> (public domain). Send comments and corrections to drummyfish at disroot dot org. </p></body></html>"
+HEADER="<html><head><link rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"style.css\"><title>LRS Wiki</title></head><body><h1>less_retarded_wiki</h1><a href=\"main.html\">main page</a>, <a class=\"notdead\" href=\"$FILELIST\">file list ($FILECOUNT)</a>, <a class=\"notdead\" href=\"lrs_wiki_full.html\">single page HTML</a>, <a class=\"notdead\" href=\"https://repo.or.cz/less_retarded_wiki.git/snapshot/HEAD.tar.gz\">source</a>, <a class=\"notdead\" href="report.html">report</a>, wiki last updated on $DATE<hr />"
+FOOTER="<hr/><p>All content available under <a class=\"notdead\" href=\"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/\">CC0 1.0</a> (public domain). Send comments and corrections to drummyfish at disroot dot org. </p></body></html>"
 
 echo "$HEADER <ul>" > html/$FILELIST
 
@@ -26,6 +27,20 @@ for f in *.md; do
   echo $FOOTER >> $f2
 done
 
+# this uses a C program to mark dead links, you can optionally remove this
+gcc -O3 mark_dead_links.c -o mark_dead_links
+cd html
+cp ../mark_dead_links .
+
+for f in *.html; do
+  cat $f | ./mark_dead_links > tmp
+  mv tmp $f
+done
+
+rm mark_dead_links
+cd ..
+# mark dead links end
+
 echo "$HEADER<a href="main.html">Go to main page.</a>$FOOTER" >> html/index.html
 
 echo "</ul> $FOOTER" >> html/$FILELIST
