Connecting VBA to Authorised SMTP

Howdy folks, was wondering if anyone knew how to connect to an authorised SMTP server, I can currently connect to an unsecured SMTP server but it's the auth that's getting in the way. I'm using Winsock to make the connection and send the data. Would appreciate any help given on this matter as it's for a college project I'm doing.

I'm guessing you wrote something yourself that can email?

If you need to authenticate look at the RFC's to see which commands you need to send to the server.

These may come in handy:
RFC-2821
RFC-2554

Have you looked to see if there are any SMTP handling DLLs you could then use inside your VBA? If you get docked marks for not reinventing the wheel, I'll lend you my prof smashing stick. :D

On a more serious less frustrating note, in addition to the RFCs, what you may want to do is pull up a packet sniffer (say Ethereal) and have it watch your SMTP traffic, then send an email through outlook or something using the same server. Once you see how all the traffic works, you'll have a better understanding of how to go about it. I've used this approach in several projects (for work and for school).

Thanks guys. chsh, if I could have a look at your DLL's that would be great. I don't think I'm going to be docked marks for it considering my lecturer has no idea how to do it herself so any solution I come up with will be new to her. GREAT FUN!

Thanks SirDice, those links helped me understand what was going on a lot better. Cheers buddy.