Windows is designed for networking and allows you to network with others to collect information, to exchange files, and to share resources. If you are using your browser and cannot connect to a site, ping is an easy diagnostic tool for checking to see if the computer you are trying to reach is up and running. Ping sends out a request to see if a computer at the address you specified is there. It affirms whether that computer is running. You can ping either the IP address or the host name of the computer you are trying to reach.
Ping sends four packets of data to the specified computer.
If your ping is successful, you see four replies on the screen display. If the IP address is verified but the host name is not, there is some kind of name resolution problem. However, you should be aware that pings are not always reliable. Some servers do not allow its servers to be pinged, because the server would then be wasting its time responding to pings. STEP 1 Open an MS-DOS window.