I figured out the problem. But this is not what I wanted to talk about. What I want to do is get away from using openSSH or Cygwin. I want this program to connect to a web server ( http://updraft.unl.edu/~uas/ ) and download the files on that server then disconnect. I want to get away from cygwin and/or openSSH to simplify this process and require less supporting software. I wanted to know what are the ways I can achieve this goal? (ex. Sockets, Magic, ...) Also, I would like to do this on both a linux and Windows box.