Total Finger implements one of the simplest Internet protocols – the Finger Information Protocol, which is documented in the rfc1288 document. The Finger protocol provides the interface to a remote user information program (RUIP).

You can use Total Finger to connect to the remote host and retrieve the information about a particular user, or, by sending an empty query to the domain, you can retrieve information about users who are currently online. Please keep in mind that not all the hosts are running finger servers. If this is the case you will receive an error messgae such as ‘Connection Refused’ or ‘Timed Out’.