Internet Connectivity

[RingOfFire]

Hello all,

I want to implement to my application the following features:

1. Internet Connectivity Checker.

2. Online Updates Controller.
Checks at the background -silently- each time the application is loaded, for existance of a specific file (let's name it as: update.xml) on the server (eg. myserver.com/updates). If there is no update, nothing is done (no popups, no message boxes...nada..) but if there is the update.xml file, user is informed with a simple text on StatusBar ("There is an update available"). That's all.

I've already found the code for Internet connectivity, here it is:

Private Declare Function InternetGetConnectedState Lib "wininet" _
        (ByRef dwFlags As Long, ByVal dwReserved As Long) As Long
 
    'Define possible connection types
    Private Enum ConnectStates
        LAN = &H2
        Modem = &H1
        Proxy = &H4
        Offline = &H20
        Configured = &H40
        RasInstalled = &H10
    End Enum
 
    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Dim lng_dwFlags As Long
        Dim blnConnected As Boolean = (InternetGetConnectedState(lng_dwFlags, 0&) <> 0)
        Dim strMessage As String
        Dim ConnectionType As ConnectStates
 
        If blnConnected Then
            strMessage += "Computer is Connected" & ControlChars.NewLine
 
            'Display the connection flags
            strMessage += "Connection Flags: " & ControlChars.NewLine
            For Each connectiontype In _
                System.Enum.GetValues(GetType(ConnectStates))
                If (ConnectionType And lng_dwFlags) = ConnectionType Then
                    strMessage += "     " & ConnectionType.ToString() & ControlChars.NewLine
                End If
            Next
        End If
 
        MessageBox.Show(strMessage)
    End Sub

Code from: http://www.timkey.net/Community/dotnet/260.aspx

Thanks a lot for your help!