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How to Trace the Route of an Internet Connection

Ever wondered about the path your computer takes to get to a website? Or maybe why your connection to a site is slower that usual? The data your computer sends and receives may actually take a number of "hops" across a network before it actually reaches its destination. The "TRACERT" (Trace Route) command is a diagnostic utility that allows you to see the path and the amount of hops a network "packet" takes to reach its destination. The function can be used to test the path to a website (or computer on a network) to see if there are any problems making a connection.  

The first column indicates the number of hops. In the area circled in yellow, look out for errors such as "Destination net unreachable" and "Timed out". Asterisks (*) appearing in the area circled in red means that the connection has timed out (in other words, it took too long to wait any further).

How to run TRACERT

Step 1: Connect to the Internet (or network)

Step 2: Run the MS-DOS utility (see below if you don't know how)

Click Start, select Programs, select Ms-DOS prompt

Step 3: Type "TRACERT" at the command prompt followed by a website address or an IP address. See example below:

Step 4: Press the Enter key.

When the trace is completed, you will see "Trace complete" displayed.

Step 5: Type "EXIT" to return to Windows.