The ping command is a well-known way to check connectivity and see if a site is online. It has several advanced options in the system console, but if you need to run dozens of simultaneous pings without interruption, Nirsoft's PingInfoView is a great alternative.
Every time I have a problem with my Internet connection, the "technician" on the other end of the phone recommends that I open a system console and run ping to any site. This is nothing more than a canned response, and it usually doesn't help, because the real problem is the loss of the link, not the computer. Even so, ping can clear up some doubts. If a terminal doesn't appear on the local network, a ping to its IP address checks whether Windows "sees" that system. Another interesting use is calculating packet fragmentation to adjust the MTU (applying the -f and -l modifiers), and of course, verifying that a site is online.
The One-Instance Limit
The problem with using ping in the console is its limit of one instance per window. The fabulous Nirsoft comes to the rescue once again with PingInfoView. As soon as we open the program we see the Options section, where we must configure sites and addresses, the size of each ping, how long it has to wait, and the interval between one ping and another. Advanced parameters allow limiting the number of concurrent pings, playing a sound when a ping fails, and creating a log with all relevant details. The columns in the interface present data such as the real IP address of the sites, minimum and maximum times, the total number of errors, dates and execution order.
PingInfoView was recently updated, but its latest version includes minor corrections, and it is already a very mature program. Nirsoft maintains its level of excellence by offering PingInfoView free of charge, with a portable download, and compatibility from Windows 2000.
