Hide in the (Network) Neighborhood in Windows PC

Don't want your XP computer to show up in the network browse list (Network Neighborhood/My Network Places) to other users on your network? One way to accomplish that is to disable file sharing. To do this, click Start, right click My Network Places and select Properties. Right click your local area connection and click Properties. Uncheck the box that says File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks. Click OK.

But what if you want to be able to share folders with some users; you just don't want everyone on the network to see your computer's shares? There's a way:

Click Start and select Run.
In the Run box, type net config server /hidden:yes
Click OK.
Now others who know the UNC path (\\computer name\share name) can connect to your computer's shares from the Run box, but it won't show up in the network browse list.

Network Setting Manager Professional

Are you tired of changing your network configuration on your laptop or computer every day? Always the same procedure?

On the go: changing...
At home: changing...
In the office: changing...

Then NetSetMan is your solution. It will do the work for you.

Switch between network profiles for different locations instantly!

Download

Source : http://www.netsetman.com/index.php?s=nsm

How to setup Netgear or any Wireless Router Network

        Modern communication relies heavily on Wireless Networking and it is therefore gaining popularity for Home and Business Networking. Wireless Networking offers the advantage of mobility and eliminates the use of cables. Computers at home or in a small office can easily be connected through Wireless Networking.

Setting up a secured network through a Netgear or any Router will keep your data free from spying and avert entry of any uninvited user into your network. You will have to follow certain guidelines to set up a Secured Wireless Network that will be provided either through Wireless Protected Array (WPA) or Wireless Encryption Protocol (WEP).

GUIDELINES

Connect to Modem

Power off your modem.

Connect one end of the Ethernet Cable to the ‘input’, marked at the backside of the router and other end to the modem.

Power Modem back on.

Generally it is a good rule to wait at least a minute before continuing to the next step.

Connect to Computer

·                       Connect one end of a second Ethernet Cable to one of the available ports on the Router. Most modern Routers include four ports.

Power your Router

·                       Plug your Router to a power source and wait till until your Router’s LED signals that it is connected to the internet. Generally Routers have a green LED indicator that turns solid when connected.

Install Software and Drivers

·                       If your Router included a disk to install Drivers, insert disk and continue following the disks instructions to install Drivers and set up your Network.

·                       If your Router does not include a disk continue to next steps.

Configure your Network

·                       Take note of the Router’s IP address that is selected automatically (default) and mentioned in the user’s guide. Most Routers by default use, http://192.168.1.1 as the default IP address

·                       Open your default web browser and type in the router’s address in the provided empty search field.

·                       Insert a valid Username and Password. If you have not set one up and it requires one, the default for most brands of Routers is, Username: Admin, Password: Password.

·                       You can also get to your Routers (Homepage) by going to Start Menu\Control Panel\Network and Sharing Center. Click the center icon at top, which usually has the house as an icon if you saved your Network as a Home Network. On the next page under Network Infrastructure you should see your Router listed. Just Right-Click your Router Icon and you should have a menu option to view Homepage.

Basic settings

·                       Choose your Basic Settings such as Router Name, and IP Addressing

Wireless Security Settings

·                       Locate Wireless Security or Wireless Settings. Choose a name(SSID) for your Network that you can easily identify and whether you wish to broadcast your Wireless Signal.

·                       Select channel to broadcast on, by default a Router usually has this set to Auto which is fine for most users.

·                       Select Wireless Mode. This is your speed for your wireless. Example: 54Mbps, 145Mbps and 300Mbps.

For your Wireless Security settings, most modern Routers include the following types of security:

·                       None – No security. Not recommended if you are in an area where someone who lives next door to you could use your Wireless Connection to connect to the Internet.

·                       WEP – Older security encryption used for Wireless Networks with better options now available. This option does not give a password but a unique key that users enter to connect.

·                       WPA-PSK[TKIP] – Better security than WEP and sometimes users still use this if they have issues with devices connecting. Still a great Security Option. There is a 54Mbps limit on this connection using Legacy G.

·                       WPA2-PSK[AES] – Newer security using N support and if you have no issues with devices connecting this is the recommended Security Option as it gives you the best security.

·                       WPA-PSK[TKIP]+WPA2-PSK[AES] – If you have issues with devices connecting you can use this setting as it gives you a combination of WPA and WPA2.

Another thing to note outside of setting up your Router is setting up Sharing for Computers and Devices connected to your Network. Windows 7 has come along way in making this easier for users and most users can do this by following the walk-through in Windows.

Source : http://www.thewindowsclub.com

Batch file to Switch Between WAN and Broad Band in WAN Offices

In WAN Offices often we are using Broad Band in so many circumstances. For Swinth between WAN and Broad band we have to change Default gateway, and DNS server's ip each time.Here is the simple solution to switch between WAN and Broad band.

Steps:
1.Before creating batch file.IP and Subnetmask of Broad band Modem must be in WAN IP Series. For this task please refer mannual.Click here to download mannual
2.Create a new notepad(.txt document)
3.Copy and paste the following script

@ECHO OFF

color 2

Echo * Now System IP Changes to WAN Settings*

Echo ** If ready to switch to WAN ** PRESS ENTER *** or else Ctrl+ C

pause


set vargw=10.102.154.193
set vardns1=164.100.3.1
set vardns2=164.100.17.3


ECHO Setting Gateway
netsh int ip set address name = "Local Area Connection" gateway = %vargw% gwmetric = 1

ECHO Setting Primary DNS
netsh int ip set dns name = "Local Area Connection" source = static addr = %vardns1%

ECHO Setting Secondary DNS
netsh int ip add dns name = "Local Area Connection" addr = %vardns2%

Echo **** Now You are in Wide Area Network ****

pause

4.Change set vargw=Router IP of WAN or Modem IP of Broadband
set vardns1=Primary DNS of WAN or Broadband
set vardns2=Secondary DNS of WAN or Broadband
5.Save the file.
6.Rename it as WAN.bat or Broadband.bat
7.Just double click to Switch between WAN and Broadband
Note:This batch file works in Computers which are having Single Network Adapter only.


Courtesy : http://doputtur.blogspot.com/

General Network Connectivity Problems

MS-Windows Troubleshooting

---

General Network Connectivity Problems (e.g. cannot connect to remote computer)

---

Symptom:

Unable to connect to remote computer. General network connectivity problems.

Cause:

There are a number of things which can prevent two workstations from communicating with each other over the network. These include (and this is unlikely to be an exhaustive list):

• Poor or incorrect network protocol configuration
• Network hardware problems
• Software problems

The same can also cause problems even when superficially the network appears to be working.

Part of the problem in solving network connectivity problems is identifying what the underlying problem is or what the problems are.

Remedy:

The remedy to the problem depends on the root cause. The following should be regarded as a checklist of things to test:

1. Check that the workstation be ‘pinged’, i.e.:

ping workstation

If this produces the message ‘Bad IP address workstation.’ then this indicates a name resolution failure, in other words NT has been unable to look up the IP address for the workstation. If the (target) workstation is on the same local network then ask the administrator to check that DSN is working correctly. If it is on a remote network then the IP address will probably need to be explicitly specified in the local TNSNAMES file. Alternately try pinging by specifying explicitly the IP address of the workstation, i.e.:

ping workstation-ip-address

e.g.

ping 192.10.44.1 (or whatever the ip address of the workstation is.)

If ping produces a message of the form:

Reply from ip-address: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from ip-address: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from ip-address: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from ip-address: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128

Then this indicates that there is network connectivity between the two workstations. Packets are being sent to the workstation and replies received. The time may vary. However, if it produces the message:

Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Then this indicates that there is no network connectivity between the two workstations. Things to check:

• That the remote workstation is switched on.
• That both workstations are (physically) plugged into the network.
• That the hubs are switched on.
• That the ip address that is being pinged (which ping echoes) is correct for the workstation. If it is not then this indicates either a DNS failure or an incorrect TNSNAMES entry.
• That the remote workstation does not have a firewall that is preventing ping acknowledgements from being returned.
• If both workstations are on a local network that their TCP subnet is the same. This can be checked using:

ipconfig

Do this on both workstations. For each network adapter this will show the following information:

IP Address. . . . . . . . . : ip-addresss
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : subnet-mask
Default Gateway . . . . . . : gateway-ip (may be blank)

For a local network the subnets should be the same. The ip-address logically and-ed with the subnet-mask should give the same result. If it does not then the workstations are on different subnets. Check the ip-addresses.

• If the workstations are on different subnets then the packet will have been sent not directly to the workstation but via a gateway (and from there on to the workstation). To show the default gateway use:

ipconfig

To list all other possible gateways use the command:

route print

This lists other possible gateways that the workstation may use according to the ip address of the target. If the destination IP address does not match one of the network destinations listed then the default gateway will be used.

If there is no default gateway the add the ip address of the gateway as the default. Otherwise check that the gateway is listed in the routing table. The ‘route’ command allows new entries to be added.

Repeat the process (at both ends) but by pinging the gateway. This will establish whether there is basic communications between the workstation and its local gateway. If both sides can communicate with their respective gateways then the problem must lie with the link between the gateways. Consult your network administrator.

2. If the computers are on different networks try:

tracert workstation

This will show the route to the computer any may give a better indication of where on the route the problem lies.

3. Ping demonstrates that there is network connectivity between the two workstations. To check network reliability trying pinging with larger packets and for longer. Try each of the following:

ping workstation -l 1024 -t
ping workstation -l 4096 -t
ping workstation -l 8192 -t

The ‘-l’ parameter specifies the size of the message to send (the default is 32bytes, real applications will send much larger blocks of data). The ‘-t’ parameter specifies that it should continue pinging until you ‘control-C’ it. I would recommend trying each in turn and only breaking it after a complete screen full of responses. As the packet size increases the time will also increase. However even with 8192 byte packets there should be no ‘Request timed out’ messages. If any are seen then this indicates a hardware problem, either with the network hardware or with one of the adapters in either of the workstations.

Typical response times I would expect for a set of sample packet sizes are as follows:

Packet Size	100mbps LAN	10mbps LAN	100mbps to 10mbps LAN via single gateway
-l 4096	time<10ms	<10ms	10ms
-l 8192	time<10ms	10ms	10ms
-l 16000	time<10ms	30ms	30ms
-l 30000	time<10ms	50ms	50ms
-l 60000	time=10ms	100ms	110ms

Network topology will vary between sites (for instance the number of routers and switches that the network traffic request must navigate), so please regard these as ballpark/guideline figures. Any small variation between these figures and the figures are your site are probably not significant. The first ping message may show a higher time or even timeout, this is not significant provided it is only the first message.

To check whether it is a network adapter on either of the workstations look in the NT (system) event log. This may indicate if the adapter is giving problems. It could also be the network cable, hub or particular hub port. If the problem affects one particular workstation then this is indicative of either a network card failure, bad network cable or network hub port failure. For example if there are problems between workstations ‘A’ and ‘B’, also between ‘A’ and ‘C’ but not between ‘B’ and ‘C’ then this clearly indicates that the problem is related to workstation ‘A’. Try a different port on the network hub, then a different network cable and then try a different network card.

4. If ping attempts fail the network appears to be totally unresponsive at one workstation (i.e. it cannot see anything on the network, even other workstations on the local network for which there are no network connectivity issues) then it is worth reinstalling the latest service pack. Some old dlls on the system can produce network related problems. It’s worth a try.
5. Enable ‘Black Hole Router detection’. Part of the underlying network protocol involves the network cards in both computers negotiating agreeing on the largest packet size that they can mutually manage. (For Ethernet this is typically 1550 bytes.) When communicating over a WAN it is possible that some of the routers or bridges along the route will not be able to handle packets as large as the network cards can manage. These should return a message indicating when a packet is too large and at the same time specify the maximum packet size they in turn can manage. Normal TCP-IP communication is self tuning in this way. However some (older?) routers or bridges fail to respond correctly and quietly drop the packet if it is too large. These are known as ‘black hole routers’. In NT black hole router detection is disabled by default. To turn it on requires adding (or modifying the following registry key):

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\ Services\ Tcpip\ Parameters\ EnabledPMTUBHDetect = 1

If adding this registry entry then add it as a REG_DWORD.

Other than event log, registry and service pack references these notes are also applicable to Windows .

How to troubleshoot network connectivity problems

Network connectivity problems have various causes but typically occur because of incorrect network adapters, incorrect switch settings, faulty hardware, or driver issues. Some connectivity symptoms are intermittent and do not clearly point to any one of these causes.

Sometimes an operating system upgrade introduces network connectivity problems. The same network adapter that worked correctly on an earlier or different operating system, such as Microsoft Windows 98 or Microsoft Windows 95, may cause problems after an upgrade. Sometimes a server relocation introduces a connectivity problem.

The most common causes for connectivity problems are:

•	Network adapters and switch ports have mismatching duplex levels or transfer speed settings.
•	Network adapters or switches with transmission rates of 10/100 megabits per second (Mbps) do not switch over correctly. Some autosense settings may not correctly detect the speed of some network adapters.
•	The network adapter is incompatible with the motherboard or other hardware or software components and drivers.

Typical error messages include the following:

Error 55: "The specified network resource is no longer available" (ERROR_DEV_NOT_EXIST).

Error 64: "The specified network name is no longer available" (ERROR_NETNAME_DELETED).

Error 121: "The semaphore timeout period has expired" (ERROR_SEM_TIMEOUT).

Error 1231: "The remote network is not reachable by the transport" (ERROR_NETWORK_UNREACHABLE).

Troubleshooting

To troubleshoot network connectivity problems, follow these steps:

1.	Use the Ping or PathPing command-line tools to test basic connectivity. Use Ping to isolate network hardware problems and incompatible configurations. Use PathPing to detect packet loss over multiple-hop trips. To watch Ping statistics, use the ping -t command. To see statistics and continue, press CTRL+BREAK. To stop, press CTRL+C. If you detect lost packets in the statistics output, this indicates networking problems up to Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) layer 3 (IP-level connectivity). If the remote system that you ping is across a high-delay link, such as a satellite link, responses may take longer. Use the -w (wait) switch to specify a longer time-out. For more information about using these tools, see the "Test Network Connection with Ping and PathPing" section in the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit, or see "Testing the Network Connection with Ping and PathPing" in Chapter 19 of the Microsoft Windows XP Professional Resource Kit Documentation.
2.	Check the event logs for network-card-related entries or connectivity-related entries. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 308427 HOW TO: View and manage event logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
3.	Check whether the network adapter is on the Microsoft Hardware Compatibility List (HCL). To see the HCL, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Hardware Driver Quality
4.	Check other computers that use the same default gateway that are plugged into the same hub or switch. If these computers do not experience network connectivity problems, the problem may be a faulty network adapter on one computer. If this is the case, update the network adapter driver to the latest version.
5.	Contact the vendor of each motherboard and update the BIOS of the boards. Some network adapters and motherboards or BIOS versions are incompatible. Obtain the latest version from the vendor's Web site or contact your hardware vendor.
6.	Check the network adapter and uplink hardware (hub or switch) for common settings. Make sure that all complementing network resources (network adapter, hub, and switch) are set to the same speed and duplex level. If the media type is set to autosense, autosensing, or autodetect, or "Auto Select," make sure that all components are autosensing correctly. On some switches, a duplex setting of Auto may cause it to use half-duplex. You may have to force it to use full-duplex. Reset the switch, restart the client, and test the connectivity. Put the client and the server on a passive hub. If communication resumes, the problem may be caused by an incorrect network switch configuration. For more information about how to configure the devices, contact your hardware vendor.
7.	Manually set the network adapter of the computer that has connectivity problems to half-duplex and a lower speed. Connect the system to a switch that is configured to half-duplex and 10-Mbps, or use a 10-Mbps hub, to see if connection can be established at a lower transmission speed. To increase performance, increase the speed settings manually to 100 Mbps, and then restart the computers. Test for network connectivity loss, increase the setting to full-duplex, and then restart the computers. If network loss occurs, reduce the duplex setting and the speed to the previous settings.
8.	Swap the network cable between the failing system and the hub or switch.
9.	Replace the network adapter with a network adapter that has been tested and proven reliable. To do this, follow these steps: a. Remove the network adapter diagnostics program. b. Remove the network adapter in Network properties. c. Install the new network adapter.
10.	Run Network Monitor at the same time on both ends of the network connection. After you filter the traces on the addresses of the two systems, compare both traces to see if you can see the same traffic. Use TCP Retransmit, the Network Monitor Experts tool, to detect TCP retransmissions. To do this, follow these steps: a. Start Network Monitor. b. On the Tools menu, click Experts, and then click TCP Retransmit in the left pane. c. Click Add to Runlist. d. Click Run Experts. If frames are missing in one of the traces, check all intermediate cabling, hubs, switches, and routers for hardware or configuration errors. In Network Monitor, view the Capture Statistics summary frame. This frame is the last frame of the trace. If it contains a value other than 0 in the following statistic counters, the connectivity problem may be caused by a hardware or configuration problem: STATS: MAC CRC Errors = 0 STATS: MAC Frames Dropped due to HardWare Errors = 0

Network switches and server network adapters have to have the duplex settings matched for communication to function correctly. Both must be set to full-duplex or half-duplex. They cannot be mismatched.

The computers on a local area network (LAN) typically share a common full-duplex network medium. This configuration permits two computers to transmit data at the same time.

Connectivity problems may occur if either of the following conditions is true:

•	The computer was moved to a new Ethernet switch port that automatically senses network speed. However, the computer's network adapter is configured to force full-duplex communication with a static network transfer speed setting (10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, or 1 gigabit per second [Gbps]).
•	Both the Ethernet switch port and the computer's network adapter are configured to force 100-Mbps or 1-Gbps full-duplex communication. However, the Ethernet switch or the network adapter may not be able to communicate at that rate or may not be able to use full-duplex transmissions.

You can improve network performance in an Ethernet LAN environment by using full-duplex hardware. This configuration permits two-way communication between networked devices. Without full-duplex hardware, information is sent one way and then sent the other way. Packets frequently collide on the network in a half-duplex hardware configuration, and every time a collision occurs, the packets that collided must be resent. This creates even more traffic that can decrease network performance.

With full-duplex, transmit and receive paths are separate. Therefore, you can transmit and receive at the same time, and collisions are prevented. Because of the increased throughput and lack of collisions, full-duplex is more susceptible to bad cable terminations or to cable attenuation that exceeds recommended limits. This can generate data retransmissions that become sufficient to degrade performance.

LAN & Network Diagnostics

LAN & Network Diagnostics

These notes cover a variety of LAN trouble situations. Hope they help.

Before you start

Before you do anything, before you touch anything else:

1.    If you are tired or hungry you will not be at your best. If you are pulling your hair out in chunks you will not make smart decisions. Sometimes the best starting point for diagnosis is to take a break, have a rest or eat something - no matter what the short term pressures.

2.    Write down a list of everything that has changed. Chances are high your problem lies with the change or a side-effect of the change.

3.    Think it through first - running around doing things with no plan is a recipe for another disaster - once you find the original problem you've then got to go back and fix all the other problems you introduced when doing your imitation of a headless chicken.

4.    Be methodical. Start at one place and work slowly out from there. Test each step and MAKE NO ASSUMPTIONS. Check everything.

<rant> If you have got network cables with broken tabs you deserve everything you get. Breathe on those guys and they come loose. Keep a pair of scissors handy and cut the connectors off. Period. </rant>

What you should have done!

Wise after the event advice is never very helpful - but:

1.    Know what the NORMAL look of LEDs, flashing light and other indicators are. We typically look at these indicators only when something is NOT working and then assume they are telling us things that they probably are not.

2.    Keep a 'gold standard' - something that you know works - could be a laptop, could be a long cable that will stretch everywhere and you KNOW WORKs. Use this to eliminate possible errors.

RJ45 End Connectors

1.    Make and test practice cables until you get it right every time - especially before you destroy cables you just spend 2 hours fitting.

2.    When cutting the exterior cover of the cable be very careful not to cut the insulation cover of the conductors since this can cause shorts.

3.    Expose a maximum of 1 inch of individual conductors when preparing the cable for connection.

4.    Line up all the conductors according to the wiring standard you are using.

5.    Measure the cable and trim the conductor ends so they are are all the same length and no individual conductor wire is visible outside the plastic cover of the RJ45 connector.

6.    Carefully slide the prepared cable into the RJ45 connector making sure the end of the conductors reaches the end of the RJ45 connector.

7.    Using the crimp tool make the connection using one firm squeeze operation.

8.    Test the cable before fitting if possible.

9.    The RJ45 connector is the critical connection always use the highest quality connectors you can afford. The most common cause of connection faults is bad connectors.

New Connections

1.    Create and keep a 'gold standard' i.e. take a single PC/laptop connect it directly to the hub via a cable that is long enough to stretch from every room in the facility to the hub - confirm that the Hub/Switch LINK led works every time and preferably use a PC that has a LINK led on its LAN card.

2.    Using this configuration move it to every location when you test the connection. At least you know something works. Plug this configuration into the wall connector under test and if you don't get LINK - its your cable.

3.    Test every PC to wall LAN cable before you start by using them to connect to the Hub/Switch locally - you don't want to rip-up your installed cable until you are sure it's at fault.

4.    Make no assumptions - test or check everything

5.    Buy a cheap magnifying glass - its almost impossible to do a visual check of punch down connections without one

6.    Use a 'continuity tester' or a volt-meter to check individual conductors in cables

Networks

Q1. What is Ping and what does it do?

'Ping' (actually its full name is 'ICMP Echo request') is a simple command that may be issued from the DOS Command Prompt (Start/Run/cmd/OK). Ping tells you if you can, or cannot, contact an IP address (another PC). Ping sends a small message to another computer which causes the receiver to echo back the same message (the message pings forward and backward). Ping is the simplest and most useful diagnostic tool to become familiar with and well worth a few minutes experimentation. To use Ping;

1.    Run a command prompt (sometimes called a 'DOS box') (Start->Programs->Command Prompt (MSDOS) or Start->run enter command -> OK

2.    Type:

3.  ping xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

where xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is the IP address that you want to check followed by ENTER. You can also use a URL with a ping:

ping www.sitename.com

For this format to work the DNS service must be contactable and working.

4.    If ping works (you have successfully sent a message to the remote computer and received a response) you should get up to 4 replies of the form:

5.  Reply from xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx: bytes=32 time=yyms TTL=zz

Where xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is the IP address that is responding, yyms is the time (yy) in milliseconds (ms) that the ping took and zz can be used to calculate the number of routers that it passed through on its journey.

6.    If the Ping fails you will see a message like:

7.  Request timed out (connection or routing error)

8.  OR

9.  Host unreachable (routing error)

10. OR

11. Network unreachable (routing error)

Q2. Diagnosing Network Problems.

To diagnose a network problem you just start to verify the connections from a known starting point (your PC) moving progressively further into the network until you find the problem:

1.    Always start with your own PC (it regularly fails). Issue a ping to your own PC (get it's address here). If this fails restart your PC and try the failing operation again.

Check with someone else in the office - if you are the only person having the problem you have already isolated it to your PC or its wiring. Now you only have to find it - in all cases it is not a remote network problem.

1.    Restart your PC - 90% of all problems disappear with this one act.

2.    Check the link LEDs on your PC LAN card (if it has any).

3.    Check your cabling.

2.    Now check your local network.

Your local PC is OK - someone else has same problem.

Ping the local router (its address is the Default Gateway IP that you get here). If this fails we may have a problem with the local LAN or the router.

Now you have to move from your desk.

Find your router and Hub/Switch check the LED displays. If they are not normal remove and immediately replace the power connection or switch the unit OFF then ON.

Go back to your PC and retry to ping your local router and then repeat the failing operation.

3.    Check the remote network.

Your local router is OK - we can reach it and its LEDs are normal.

Issue a tracert command to 64.58.76.176 (www.yahoo.com) NOTE: always use the -d option with this command and you can abandon it using CTRL+C when you see two three consecutive rows of '*'.

Note the hop number of the first failure and contact your service provider.

Q3. What is a trace route (or tracert) command?

A tracert (or trace route) command tells you all the routers between your PC and the place you want to trace to (can be either an IP address or a URL e.g. www.smokeyjoe.com )

To run a tracert command:

1.    Click start->programs->Command Prompt (or Start->run enter cmd then OK)

2.    Enter:

3.  tracert www.xxx.xxx.xxx -d' (or www.smokeyjoe.com -d)

Replace the IP address with the one you want or use the URL of the site if you know it.NOTE: The -d in the command line stops a DNS lookup and speeds up the command considerably.

4.    tracert outputs the following display:

5.  a bbbb cccc dddd ee.ee.ee.ee

Where:

a is the hop number starting from 1

bbbb is the time is milliseconds that the first attempt took to reach the site. Asterisk means it timed out.

cccc is the time is milliseconds that the second attempt took to reach the site. Asterisk means it timed out.

dddd is the time is milliseconds that the third attempt took to reach the site. Asterisk means it timed out.

ee.ee.ee.ee is the IP address of the router at this hop number.

NOTES:

1.    If you do NOT add the -d then after the dddd entry you will see a router name first then an IP address in square brackets.

2.    You can abandon the command at any time by typing CTRL + C.

Q4. How do I find my TCP/IP configuration?

There are two methods of doing this - the quick and the long method depending on how much information you want:

The quick method (limited configuration):

1.    Load a Command Prompt (a DOS box) (Start->programs->Command Prompt or Start->run enter command then OK)

2.    If using windows '95 enter:

3.  winipcfg

This will display your IP address, subnet mask and default gateway (local router)

4.    If using Windows NT, windows '98, Win2K, XP enter

5.  ipconfig /all

this will display your IP address, subnet mask, default gateway (local router) and MAC address

The long method (full configuration)

Windows '95, '98 and NT 4.x, Windows 2K:

1.    Click start\settings\control panel.

2.    Double click 'Network'

3.    Select 'Protocols' tab

4.    Select TCP/IP then click 'Properties'

5.    Navigate to the relevant tab to find the required information.