The result of running this utility for a destination address will probably look similar to the following output :

• It detects whether a particular router is not functioning along a known path. For instance, say a user knows that packets on a network always go through Texas to get from Florida to California, but communication seems to be dead. A tracert to a California address shows all the hops up to the point where the router in Texas should respond. If it does not respond, the time values are marked with “*”s, indicating a non-functioning path.
• This utility also determines whether a router is slow and possibly needs to be upgraded or helped by adding additional routes on the network. You can determine this simply by looking at the time it takes for a packet to get through a particular router. If a particular router is deluged by packets, its return time may be significantly higher than that of any of the other hops, indicating it should be upgraded or helped in some way.