Abstract: A system and method of measuring network performance and determining hardware characteristics without interference with normal network operations. Several indicators of computer and network performance are measured in order to determine whether a user's network communication is sufficient for desired operations, and in order to guide the user to the best zone or server for optimal performance. The system and method take into account factors such as latency; bandwidth; CPU performance; memory size of the client computer; and presence of other background or concurrent processes on the client computer. Where applicable, performance tests are repeated over a period of time in order to better estimate the trends and to better predict changes in performance characteristics over time.