You could probably get rid of the OCX if you called wsock32 directly.

I had definitely considered doing just that. But like you said, the functions in the OCX are much simpler. If I'd had to do it from scratch, it would never have gotten done at all.

I think it's the only way you can get UDP support as well but don't quote me on that.

The OCX does have UDP support, but I'm not sure how extensive it is.