SUMMARY: VisualRoute is a valuable Internet utility that offers full whois, traceroute and ping capabilities. Whether you want to test network performance or hunt down an elusive spammer, the program allows you to quickly get the Internet information you need. VisualRoute, as its name suggests, tracks and displays data transfers on a graphical world map. Have you ever wondered why it's difficult to reach a certain web site? This program shows you where servers are located and why you can't reach a site. It may provide the web surfer with better and more reliable alternatives.

Network Administrators and other techies will find VisualRoute to be a great problem solver. When errors arise or persist, you'll know whether it's a host, ISP or other entities on the Internet. With the Loose Source Route option, you can specify the nodes that IP packets must travel through to reach intended destinations. With the ability to perform remote and round-trip trace routes, you can better debug connections. You can also find problems on particular networks and even know what Internet software a server is running. Further, you can detect routing loops and identify hosts that have the ICMP TTL bug.

VisualRoute is much faster, and certainly more attractive, than others in its class. Technically, the program is a faster traceroute utility because it processes all IP hops in parallel rather than consecutively. For a demonstration of how this program works Try the Live Demo.

Summary of features and capabilities

Integrated: VisualRoute combines ping, whois, and traceroute all into one program with the point and click ease of a graphical interface.

Analysis: VisualRoute answers the question "Why can't I get there from here?" by providing an analysis of the Internet from where you are to where you want to go. VisualRoute will help you to:

• Perform round-trip and remote trace routes (via LSRR).
• Determine if a connectivity problem is due to your ISP, the Internet, or the host you are connecting to.
• Fight SPAM e-mail by using contact information provided by popup network and domain WHOIS information.
• Identify whose network (MCI, Sprint, UUNET, MSN, etc.) a problem is in.
• Identify the WEB software that a server is running.
• Identify hosts that have the ICMP TTL bug.
• Detect routing loops.

Supported Operating Systems and Purchasing Information:

Critical Thought:  There are reasons why you might want to know where a site to which you are connected is located besides just plain old snoopiness. The one which comes to mind most easily is that you need to know where junk mail originates from or what, exactly, owns this site you think is totally out of line with the know world's tastes. Visual Route makes it fun and easy to   trace a connection and it does it  with style. The map you see here does it visually (and it can be zoomed in and out), but there is also a very comprehensive list of  "jumps" your connection performs to get you where you want to go. How long it takes to make each jump, where the jump is located and other information is at the tip of your fingers. This sort of information represents everything you need to know about the web site you have contacted. Real name, address, telephone number! And, for good measure, the email address and information on when the account was last updated to the net's powers-that-be.