Which command displays active connections and listening ports on a Windows system?

• A. Ipconfig
• B. Ping
• C. Tracert
• D. Netstat

Answer: (D)

Netstat is the tool for viewing what network connections your Windows system currently has and which ports are listening for new connections. It reports each connection with its protocol, local address and port, remote address and port, and the connection state (such as ESTABLISHED or LISTENING). This makes it ideal for quickly checking which services are exposed and which connections are actively in use, aiding troubleshooting and security checks. You can tailor its output with options like showing all connections and listening ports, showing numeric addresses and ports, or revealing the process ID of the program that opened a port.

Ipconfig shows IP configuration details (IP address, subnet mask, gateway), not active connections. Ping tests reachability to another host but doesn’t list ports or connections. Tracert traces the route to a destination and shows hops, not listening ports or current connections.