my $new_url = '';

    eval{
	my $u = URI->new_abs($link_string, $last_url);
	$new_url = $u->canonical;
    };

    if($@){
	$self->log_message("clean_link Error: $@", 20);
	return undef;
    }

    return undef unless(length($new_url));

    $new_url =~ s!\.\./!!g;	
    $new_url =~ s!\./!!g;	
    $new_url =~ s!//$!/!g;