SECTION 1 - INTRODUCTION

Welcome

Welcome to the User’s Manual/Installation Guide for Top Jimmy® Software’s TJPingPro. I think you will find that TJPingPro’s speed, ease-of-use, and attractive user interface make it an excellent Ping/Lookup/Traceroute utility. In the following pages you will be guided through TJPingPro’s simple installation and operation instructions.


What are Ping, Lookup, and Traceroute?

PING: Ping, an acronym for "Packet INternet Groper" (probably originally contrived to match the submariners’ term for a sonar pulse), is a network scheme wherein a computer, given another "host" computer’s Internet Protocol (IP) address, sends an "echo request" packet to the host across the network. If the host can be reached, it is required to send back an echo reply. This is known as "pinging", and can quickly let you know if a host computer can be reached via TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol), the standard transmission protocol for the Internet. If a user enters a host's Domain Name Service (DNS) name instead of an IP address, asynchronous, non-blocking Winsock functions are called to find the host's IP address, which the program then uses to ping the host. The ping function is  "threaded" to prevent it from blocking the main TJPingPro application. RTT (Round Trip Time) indicates how long the packet took to get to the host and back. TTL (Time To Live) indicates how many hops the packet made.

TRACEROUTE: Given a host’s name or IP address, and using "ping", TJPingPro can trace the route the IP packets take to get to the host. By setting certain parameters for the ping function, each node, or internet server, along the route must reply back in sequence. This is known as "traceroute", and allows you to watch the torturous routing the Internet subjects your packets to. The trace function is also "threaded" to prevent it from blocking the main TJPingPro application. The "timeout" setting for the ping function also applies to the trace function as well.

LOOKUP: Many IP addresses have a corresponding Domain Name System (DNS) name. While the IP address must be in the form "xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx", where all the "x’s" are numbers, the DNS name can have letters and numbers, such as "www.jim.com". Given an IP address, lookup finds the corresponding DNS name, and vice versa. Asynchronous, non-blocking Winsock functions are called to find the host's IP address or DNS name.


Disclaimer

TJPingPro is distributed "as is". No guarantee is made about the program - you use it at your own risk. The author will not be liable for any actual or claimed damages arising from its use.


Restrictions

Your registration of TJPingPro gives you use rights to 1 copy of TJPingPro only. Additional copies must be purchased for each computer it is installed on. Using TJPingPro from a network share is prohibited, unless you obtain a site or multi-user license to cover each user.

  You may not modify, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble (except to the extent applicable laws specifically prohibit such restriction), or create derivative works based on the Software; rent, lease, transfer or otherwise transfer rights to the Software; or remove any proprietary notices or labels on the Software.

  Title, ownership rights, and intellectual property rights in and to the Software shall remain in Top Jimmy Software. The Software is protected by the copyright laws of the United States and international copyright treaties. Title, ownership rights, and intellectual property rights in and to the content accessed through the Software is the property of the applicable content owner and may be protected by applicable copyright or other law. Top Jimmy is a registered trademark of Jim Dunne.


Compatibility and Requirements

TJPingPro 2.0 has been tested on:

- Windows Vista
        - WSock32.dll (Windows Socket 32-Bit DLL) v. 6.0.5384.4

    - Windows XP SP2
        - WSock32.dll (Windows Socket 32-Bit DLL) v. 5.1.2600.2180
        - IPHLPAPI.DLL v. 5.1.2600.2912
        - ICMP.DLL v. 5.1.2600.2180
        - MSFTEDIT.DLL v. 5.41.15.1514

- The Windows TCP/IP network protocol must be used, which installs the necessary files IPHLPAPI.DLL, or ICMP.DLL.

- MSFTEDIT.DLL (the new Microsoft Rich Edit Control v. 4.1) must be installed. It is installed automatically by XP SP1, SP2, and Vista.  Also, you can download a copy at the TJPing website.