What is Traceroute: What Does it Do & How Does It Work? - Fortinet
While the original channel is long gone, the videos are still archived across the internet as a nostalgic reminder of the "wild west" era of YouTube tutorials.
If you're actually interested in how the tool works without the "hacker" theatrics, experts on Hacker News and YouTube explain that it's a simple way to find where a network connection is failing. Nextgenhacker101 Tracert
The comedy—and the reason the video went viral on sites like Reddit —came from his explanation of how tracert worked:
The tracert (trace route) command is actually a basic diagnostic tool used by IT professionals to see the path data packets take across routers (hops) to reach a destination. What is Traceroute: What Does it Do & How Does It Work
In 2011, a young boy uploaded a series of YouTube tutorials under the handle . He presented himself as a sophisticated cyber-expert, complete with an Alienware desktop background (on what was clearly an HP machine) and an air of intense seriousness.
He also pointed to the Google search bar and various desktop icons as evidence of his "hacking software" and "private chat functions". The Legacy The comedy—and the reason the video went viral
He told his audience that by typing tracert followed by a website name (like Google), he was "hacking" into their servers to reveal secret connection points.