SEND A CONSTANT PING TO A REMOTE COMPUTER

Ping can be used also when administering Win9x networks remotely. For example, you might need to know that a user's computer has restarted following a configuration change in order to continue support.

If the network uses the TCP/IP protocol and you know the IP address of the remote computer, you can use Ping's -t switch to send a constant ping to the remote computer. Leaving an MS-DOS prompt window on the screen allows you to see the reply to the ping while the computer shuts down, sending no response while it restarts and resuming the reply when the TCP/IP protocol restarts.

The screen display might look similar to the following:

F:\>ping -t 169.254.4.1

Pinging 169.254.4.1 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 169.254.4.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 169.254.4.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 169.254.4.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 169.254.4.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 169.254.4.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 169.254.4.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
. . .
Reply from 169.254.4.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 169.254.4.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 169.254.4.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 169.254.4.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 169.254.4.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 169.254.4.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128

To quit the Ping session, press [Ctrl]C. Of course, if you're waiting on multiple computers, you could start multiple MS-DOS windows and arrange them for each computer.