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Tip of the Week: Trace the route of your Internet requests

When you type a web address into your browser and hit the Enter key, your request begins its trip across the Information Superhighway by going from network to network until it reaches the system that hosts the website that you wish to access.  Depending upon the number of networks and devices it has to go through, you request could load the website quickly or seem to take forever.

Windows has a built-in utility that allows you to trace the route it takes for you to get from your computer to any given website.  The "tracert" (trace route) command is a diagnostic tool used by Internet brainiacs to troubleshoot network traffic issues, but you can use it even if you don't understand what everything on the screen means.

If you want to see what it takes to go from your computer to your favorite website, do the following:  Click on Start, then Run and type "cmd", which will open a command line window (black background with white text).  Type "tracert datadoctors.com" (without the quotation marks) to see how many "hops" it takes to get from your computer to our web server!  (If you really want to know what it all means, go here...)