In the PicKit2's shema, I can see i.e. that pin18 is not used.

How difficult would it be for a programmer to add a kind of "connect target" function in the program?

It should just pull a port high half a second before starting the burning process and go back low at the end.

The programmer's software is available here.

I'll need a second life to learn C+...

NB: does this make maybe sense to open a new thread for this kind of requests?