Good ol' DOS utilities

It's easy to forget that DOS is still lurking behind Windows 95. But there are a few DOS utilities that can provide fascinating information about your Internet connections. Try these:

ping: Use the ping command to find out if a site's server is down or responding very slowly. Connect to the Internet and then open a DOS window and type ping www.sitename.com (substituting the correct URL in place of www.sitename.com). If the server is down or very slow, you'll receive a Request Timed Outmessage. 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: 1. Connect to the Internet. 2. Open a DOS window. 3. Type tracert www.sitename.com, substituting the correct URL in the command.