Basic authentication proceedure

Project calls for knowledge of basic realm authentication and cookies. I have an app in vb.net that connects to a basic realm public folder sending credentials everytime it makes a transmission which is not how I imagine it should work. It creates a cookie(unencrypted) and it never utilizes the cookie for expiration but circumvents the cookie by always sending credentials. Preferably the app makes one credentials transmission, uses the cookie to check if the session is expired and reconnects and creates a new cookie. Please feel free to elaborate on this situation if possible.