September 27, 2002

The ping command is a way to test the connection speed between your computer and a website. When you learn to ping a website, you can diagnose the strength, distance, and availability of a connection over the internet. 

Ping a Website on Windows:

1. Open a command prompt in one of two ways:
   a. Click the start menu, type "cmd" into the search bar, then press Enter, or
   b. Hold down the Windows key and the R key at the same time to open the Run Prompt window, type "cmd" into the bar, then click OK or press Enter.
   
   
   
2. In the Command Prompt window, type "ping" followed by the destination — either an IP address or a domain name, then press Enter.
   
   
3. The results of the ping will begin to show in the Command Prompt. Each ping test makes four attempts and gives a response for each. If the response looks like this, the test was successful. 
   
   
   If the response looks like either of the following examples, the ping command test failed.
   
   
   

Ping a Site on Mac or Apple:

1. Open a Finder window in one of two ways: a. Click the blue and gray face icon in the dock; or b. Press the Command key and the A key at the same time
2. Open the Utilities folder
   
   
   
3. Open the Terminal app
   
   
4. Type "ping" followed by the destination — either an IP address or a domain name, then press Enter.

Ping a Site to Inform Network Connectivity Solutions

The ping command is a quick diagnostic tool to help you understand the quality of your network connections. Now that you know how to ping any website using Windows or Mac operating systems, you can confirm an active connection or identify issues when troubleshooting.

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