I'll try to be a little more clear. I can write a script/small tray program that will send the required info to a serial port. what would the code be Arduino side to read that data from the USB port?
Alternatively, is it possible to ping an IP address using the USB port as a network connection to the host computer? This would be ideal and allow cross platform usability.
I do FULLY understand that the UNO cannot run code on the host computer. I just want to be able to determine if the host computer has Internet connectivity or not(via serial info sent to it or pinging via the USB), get that data to the UNO and let the UNO run it's own program based on that data.