Newbie question

Hi
I have never used any internet or network stuff in my earlier programs, but now I'm thinking about doing a little chatprogram. All I know is that I need som sort of winsock control, but I don't know what it does at all... So, does anybody know of any good articles, or something like that, which I could read?

[BitBlt]

All you really need to know is the basics of TCP/IP(ie. Ports, IP's and how they work etc...) The rest is just like any other controll. If you go to http://www.planetsourcecode.com/ and search for chat or winsock, you can find examples of how to use the controll.