text: windowsxp. when i want to trace route the cmd promt just flashes and then closes?????????? when i want to check my internet speed i use cmd prompt. tracert www.yahoo.com for example. it says that tracert is not a valid win32 application. i can search for tracert program under start bar. the search finds it but when i click to open it flashes up and the closes. why does it do this and how can i change it so i can run the tracert program. thanks when the command prompt window just flashes, it usually means that windows is flip-flopping between a character mode application and a graphic user interface.  i think you might get a better idea of what's happening from this help article:  http://ask-leo.com/when_i_use_startrun_and_type_in_a_command_why_does_a_window_just_flash_and_disappear.html  microsoft has also prepared a brief product document about tracert that might help:  http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/tracert.mspx?mfr=true  i ran the command prompt "tracert yahoo.com" and "tracert www.yahoo.com" from the command prompt window and had no problems. (click start > run > type in cmd > ok, then type in the command prompt.)  plrr