looking for small freeware library that support http connections

[umen]

Hello all
first of all the reason im looking for this library is that i need to check if my application
has internet connection in the host computer , the easiest idea for me is to check http connection every N seconds
for that i need some kind of simple cross platform library that support http connections.
my question is divided to 2 first of all
1 is it good solution for application to check internet connection ?
2 where i can find such small lib ?

[sauparna]

I too have similar requirements, and I am new to network programming. My app needs to :

1. discover the means to connect to a web server from a machine
2. setup a connection to the web server
3. pull some resources like images from the server
4. cleanup and exit when app is closed by the user.
(all the above communication is over HTTP)

Windows API provides the
HTTP Server API,
WinHTTP for HTTP client services, and,
WinInet, which I understand is old.

I'd code the networking module in C/C++. Where should I start?

1. From the bare-bones WinHTTP samples on MSDN and the Windows PSDK ?
2. Are there off-the-shelf, free, libraries that wrap WinHTTP ?
3. Or should I use a WinInet wrapper, for example, http://www.appcontrols.com/manuals/winhttp/ (named WinHTTP, but is actually wraps WinInet ) ?

[umen]

what about linux users ?