The LWP library (including the LWP::UserAgent module) is not just for unix. It works great in Windows, and I think it's even part of the core distribution. (It has definitely been included with ActivePerl for quite some time).

There's also WWW::Mechanize (but it uses LWP).

Update: Here's a simple example which uses LWP::UserAgent:

use LWP;
my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new();
my $request = HTTP::Request->new('GET', 'http://www.perlmonks.org/');
my $response = $ua->request($request);
die("...") unless ($response->is_success());
print($response->content());
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I use LWP and LWP::UserAgent without problems under Windows - maybe you can tell us where exactly the problems lie you have with LWP::UserAgent?

For me, LWP::UserAgent nicely installs via

perl -MCPAN -e "install 'LWP::UserAgent'"
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Thanks this worked flawlessly as you said.

Why is LWP::UserAgent only for UNIX, not for Windows, is there a different HTTP standard for Windows ;-?

It works for both platforms! LWP::UserAgent does nothing more than form HTTP request, sending out, and get response back, parsing it.

is there a different HTTP standard for Windows ;-?

HTTP is a protocol that is OS independant. If there were issues with a given protocol on a given OS that would more refer to the implementation for that OS, but LWP is not one of them...as you point out.

Regards Paul