1. WinINet
Kostas Ladavičius

2. What is WinINet
The Windows Internet (WinINet) application programming interface (API) enables applications to interact with FTP, and HTTP protocols to access Internet resources. As standards evolve, these functions handle the changes in underlying protocols, enabling them to maintain consistent behavior.
In simple words:
The WinInet ("Windows Internet") API is a collection of high-level functions that assist a programmer to connect to the internet.

3. WinINet features 
Credential Cache (Allows all built-in applications in Windows Internet Explorer to get credentials automatically.)
Credential Prompting (Provides an API that allows the calling code to prompt the user for credentials.)
FTP
Autodial/RAS Support (legacy support)
Zones (Automatic integration with Internet Explorer security zones.)
IDNA Support (Integrated support for the IDNA RFC/Punycode.)
Cookie Jar APIs (Persistent and non-persistent cookies are supported. )
Protected Mode IE Support
Decompression Support (Support for gzip and deflate compression scheme.)
SOCKS v4 Support
File scheme support
InternetOpenUrl (Simplified code to open a URL.)

4. WinINet disadvantages (compared to WinHTTP)
WinINet does not have:
Chunked Upload Support Client code must perform the chunking.
Services Support Can be run from a service or a service account.
Session Isolation Separate sessions do not impact each other.
Impersonation Supports being called while the thread is impersonating a different user.
WinINet does not support server implementations. In addition, it should not be used from a service. For server implementations or services use Microsoft Windows HTTP Services (WinHTTP).

5. WinINet common functions

6. How to use it

7. How to use it (real example)

8. More information can be found
Microsoft official website:

9. Thank you for listening!