I went went thru your posts. Looks like your just relaying your helpdesk questions
to AO. Can't fault your attempt to improve the quality or service, but then you might want to be a bit more appreciative of the support you are getting...
Dude, come on. This is the only entertainment I get. I lead a very lonely life, I have a sucky job, this makes me feel important. Sorry, lack of sleep is catching up with me.

Oh yeah, the socket error... I'm guessing there is some odd setting (assuming the firewall is allowing the outgoing) with the mail server. The mail server does allow Outlook correct... it's not some kind of Yahoo or Hotmail webmail thing, right?