Question

When I connect to pop3.live.com the connection is fine and it also shows me the amount of messages I have and the size of the file but when I try and use “RETR” to get the messages and show them on a console application nothing is presented.

Here is what I have so far

 string str = string.Empty;
            string strTemp = string.Empty;
            using (TcpClient tc = new TcpClient())
            {
                tc.Connect("pop3.live.com", 995);
                using (SslStream sl = new SslStream(tc.GetStream()))
                {
                    sl.AuthenticateAsClient("pop3.live.com");
                    using (StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(sl))
                    {
                        using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(sl))
                        {
                            sw.WriteLine("USER " + _username);
                            sw.Flush();
                            sw.WriteLine("PASS "+ _password);
                            sw.Flush();
                            sw.WriteLine("LIST");
                            sw.Flush();
                            sw.WriteLine("RETR");
                            sw.Flush();
                            sw.WriteLine("QUIT ");
                            sw.Flush();

                            while ((strTemp = sr.ReadLine()) != null)
                            {
                                if (strTemp == "." || strTemp.IndexOf("-ERR") != -1)
                                {
                                    break;
                                }
                                str += strTemp;
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
            Console.WriteLine(str);
            Console.ReadLine();

Answer 1

First you have to use the LIST command, which lists the message numbers. Then issue one or more RETR commands with a single message number from the previous list. Message numbers does not necessarily start from 1! See also my comment on your question about debugging this issue.

For example:

LIST
+OK 2 messages (4095)
1 710
2 3385
.
RETR 1
+OK 710 octets
Return-Path: <[e-mail]>
...