ok, tracert stands for trace route. it returns every ip of every computer you connect to until you reach your destination. for example, when you connect to a site, your computer contacts your local isps server, then the main server for your area, then the main server, then it connects to a server in the area of your target, then to your targets isp, local, and finaly the actualy target.
take undergroundnews.com
C:\>tracert -h 100 undergroundnews.com
Tracing route to undergroundnews.com [209.120.128.141]
over a maximum of 100 hops:
1 30 ms 30 ms 40 ms dsl-254-066.dsl-isp.net [216.254.66.1]
2 10 ms 20 ms 20 ms border28.g3-2.speakeasy-26.nyc.pnap.net [209.191.132.48]
3 20 ms 10 ms 20 ms core1.ge3-0-bbnet2.nyc.pnap.net [209.191.128.129]
4 10 ms 20 ms 10 ms sl-bb12-nyc-8-0.sprintlink.net [160.81.48.17]
5 10 ms 20 ms 20 ms sl-bb20-nyc-12-1.sprintlink.net [144.232.7.121]
6 10 ms 20 ms 20 ms pos1-3.core1.NewYork1.Level3.net [209.244.160.185]
7 10 ms 20 ms 20 ms ae0-52.mp2.NewYork1.Level3.net [64.159.17.34]
8 10 ms 20 ms 20 ms so-0-2-0.mp2.Philadelphia1.Level3.net [64.159.0.133]
9 20 ms 10 ms 30 ms gige9-1.hsipaccess1.Philadelphia1.Level3.net [64.159.0.154]
10 20 ms 20 ms 20 ms unknown.Level3.net [63.209.178.162]
11 10 ms 20 ms 20 ms 209.50.43.194
12 20 ms 20 ms 30 ms rif0.phl049s101.yipes.com [66.54.144.46]
13 20 ms 20 ms 30 ms rif2.phl018s101.yipes.com [209.50.43.26]
14 20 ms 60 ms 30 ms 66.7.139.82
15 20 ms 30 ms 20 ms 209.120.128.141
Trace complete.
thats the way it should come out, also, if possible tracert automaticaly looks up the dns' of the ips.
as for those *'s you were getting, thats because you were timing out, try to use -t 1000000000000

thats the timeout in miliseconds. also that -h 100 is that maximum number of hops to preform.
ah, and there was some program, i forget what it was called, that did a tracert and then a whois on each of the nodes and tried to find out the location, then it plotted all the points on a map and connected them, it was pretty coo'. i dont remember what it was called tho...