It's easy to forget that DOS is still lurking behind Windows 95, 98 and Me. But there are a couple of DOS utilities that can provide fascinating information about your Internet connections. You can also use these utilities in Windows XP via the Command Prompt. Note that in Windows XP the two utilities are located in the \Windows\System32 folder, so you may first need to log on to that folder via the Command Prompt (CD \windows\system32) and then use the utility.
ping: Use the ping command to find out if a site's server is down or responding very slowly:
- Connect to the Internet.
- Open a DOS/Command Prompt window.
- In Windows XP, you may first need to log on to your System32 folder. To do so, type CD \windows\system32 and press Enter in the Command Prompt window.
Type ping www.sitename.com (substituting the correct URL in place of www.sitename.com) and press Enter. - If the server is down or very slow, you'll receive a Request Timed Out message. Otherwise, you'll see a series of numbers showing how long it took for the server to respond to your command.
tracert: This is the trace route command, and that's just what it does: it traces the route you take to access a particular server. The tracert command will give you a listing of all the servers you pass through on your way to your final destination (up to a maximum of 30 hops – if your route is longer than that, you're likely to give up waiting for the connection), and the time it takes for each segment of the journey. You use tracert in the same way as you use ping:
- Connect to the Internet.
- Open a DOS/Command Prompt window. (In XP, log onto the \windows\system32 folder if needed.)
- Type tracert www.sitename.com, substituting the correct URL in the command.
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