Is there a way to tell which hops have changed?

Ping Plotter doesn't specifically highlight the hops that have changed, but it's not hard to find them.

Make sure the route change window is open, click on the top route in the route list, and then use the cursor keys to scroll through the list. As you highlight any route, that route will be displayed in the route window. With the cursor keys, you can easily toggle between two routes and identify the hops that have changed.

Thank you. I see it now.
I am monitoring my VPN connection over my newly acquired Comcast cable modem service. I had DSL previously and never had a VPN disconnect, but with the super fast cable modem I am dropping numerous times a day. I contacted the VPN client provider (Nortel Networks) and they are the ones who recommended your program. Great product - very cool.

My second hop of 16 is the only one that changes numerous times an hour. Do you think this could be one of the nodes from Comcast?

Having a single router change is relatively (very) normal, and could be related to load balancing.

The best thing to do for this hop is probably to set up a route change exclusion - which will stop this standard oscillation from signalling a route change (having one normally oscilliting router can make it harder to find *real* route changes, because of the overwhelming volume).

To set up an exclusion, just right-click on your oscillating router and select the menu option "Add Route Change Mask". This will set up a mask that excludes the changes happening on this router. Note that this doesn't take affect until you reset your data, so after you add the route mask, just right-click on the Start/Stop/Resume button and select "Reset and Restart". Now, future "oscillation" on this router won't signal a route change (although other changes will).

Cool, I set up the exclusion table and now I dont see that route all the time. I think your right on the money about the load balancing, Comcast advertises this as a feature and on this route it always changes between the same two routes.