Sending email with google SMTP in .NET

Question

I'm trying to send a couple of emails using google SMTP server. I've been researching how to and have found plenty of articles on stackoverflow and other resources where people successfuly send email - I haven't been able to do so. Here's the code I've been using trying to contact the SMTP server:

var secureString = new SecureString();
foreach (char c in "password")
{
      secureString.AppendChar(c);
}

var client = new SmtpClient("smtp.gmail.com", 587)
{
      UseDefaultCredentials = false,
      DeliveryMethod = SmtpDeliveryMethod.Network,
      Credentials = new NetworkCredential("myaddress@gmail.com", secureString),
      EnableSsl = true
};

client.Send("myaddress@gmail.com", "myaddress@gmail.com", asdf", "asdf");

The exception I'm getting is saying that it's unable to contact the remote server. The innermost exception says:

"An attempt was made to access a socket in a way forbidden by its access permissions 64.233.161.109:587"

Any suggestions on what else to try?

I've tried this on three different network to ensure that this isn't a firewall issue. Using my cell phone as a hotspot I've had the same problen, which should mean that it isn't a company firewall.

Answer 1

It is about a configuration on your gmail account to allow access with your @dress and your password from other application. So you have to activate it.

Answer 2

I am answering my own question, which might be a specific answer for my machine but could help others in a similar situation.

My issue was my antivirus software, Macfee, which helpfully decided that trying to send email trafic is probably a virus and thus quietly dropped the trafic from my application. I checked pretty much everything else as I thought that an antivirus would never care about ports (typically a firewall feature imo) but I guess some do...

Anyway the issue is resolved and if anyone else has got the same issue and can't explain it, check your anti virus software...