Dim fileUrl As New Uri("file://" + url)
' Create a 'FileWebrequest' object with the specified Uri .
Dim myFileWebRequest As FileWebRequest = CType(WebRequest.Create(fileUrl), FileWebRequest)
' Send the 'fileWebRequest' and wait for response. 
Dim myFileWebResponse As FileWebResponse = CType(myFileWebRequest.GetResponse(), FileWebResponse)


' CALLING METHOD GetResponseStream will return the stream associated with the response object.
Dim ReceiveStream As Stream = myFileWebResponse.GetResponseStream()

Dim encode As Encoding = System.Text.Encoding.GetEncoding("utf-8")
' Pipe the stream to a higher level stream reader with the required encoding format .
Dim readStream As New StreamReader(ReceiveStream, encode)
Console.WriteLine(ControlChars.Lf + ControlChars.Cr + "Response stream received")

Dim read(256) As [Char]
' Reading 256 characters at a time.    
Dim count As Integer = readStream.Read(read, 0, 256)
Console.WriteLine("File Data..." + ControlChars.Lf + ControlChars.Cr)
While count > 0
    ' Dump the 256 characters on a string and display the string onto the console.
    Dim str As New [String](read, 0, count)
    Console.Write(str)
    count = readStream.Read(read, 0, 256)
End While
Console.WriteLine("")
' Release the resources of stream object.
readStream.Close()
' Release the resources of response object.
myFileWebResponse.Close()