How to Find Out if a Website Is Down

When most people think of the Internet, they are actually thinking of a subsection of the entire Internet called the World Wide Web. Webpages are viewed with a client program called a web browser. The most popular Web browsers as of 2011 are Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Safari. If a website is not being viewed in the web browser as expected, the site might be down. The ping command lets you know for sure if this is the case.

Instructions

1. Click the "Start" button in the lower-left corner of the screen.

2. Click "All programs."

3. Click "Accessories."

4. Click "Command Prompt."

5. Type "ping www.website.com" without quotes and replace with the actual website you are testing.

6. Press the "Enter" key to view the results. If you receive four results that say "Request timed out," the website is down. If you receive results of ping times instead, that means the website is up, but they are experiencing technical difficulties if the website is not displaying properly in the web browser.