Ping4Win

A ping tool is a must-have in the toolbox of any network administrator and even regular user. If the command prompt in Windows is not your first choice when it comes to sending echo requests, then an application such as Ping4Win is recommended.

Ping4Win offers an intuitive GUI for sending ping commands, lending a helping hand to any user who wants to test the availability of an IP address or a host. Instead of having to use the ping command in the Windows console, you get to fill in a few fields and check a few boxes before starting to ping the target host.

You get to specify the delay between two consecutive pings and set the time interval for which the ping tool should run. Other options enable you to configure Ping4Win to create a log file and set the time interval the log should be created for (that is, if you don't want the data to be written to file at all times).

The response is displayed in the main window exactly as you would see it in the command prompt, alongside the reply time. Ping4Win generates a ping report containing statistical data regarding the maximum and average ping time, the number of timeouts and errors.

A handy feature of Ping4Win is its ability to send emails containing the log files, provided the connection details have been configured in its 'Settings' window.

Ping4Win does its job well and is, without a doubt, a more user-friendly alternative to the console ping command. It also provides a few extra features, such as sending the logs via email or viewing statistical ping data. Unfortunately, it is not capable of notifying you when the destination host is down, so you wil have to go through the logs to check.

Such an application is definitely more intuitive and easy to use, but with a bit of practice and effort to learn the syntax, pretty much the same can be achieved using the command prompt.