kat, try this: Open an MSDos prompt and type

ping www.mudcat.org (or any other site that takes your fancy).

and press Enter.

You too can ping!

Copied and pasted from somewhere on the Internet: "What ping does is send out a special packet called the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Echo Request packet. ICMP packets are special IP control messages that are used to send network information between two hosts, usually things like "don't do that," "send fewer packets," "we don't provide what you want," and "don't go here - go there." When a machine receives an Echo Request, it responds with an Echo Reply, placing the original Echo Request packet into the data field of the Echo Reply. "

Jon