If Outlook Express was not able to send or receive the account setup test email, make sure that your email account´s incoming and outgoing mail server names are spelled correctly, as well as your email account´s user name and password.
Another reason for which Outlook Express fails the email account test is the increasingly common requirement by email providers that authentication take place before an email is sent out. To set up authentication between your Outlook Express email account and the mail server (for outgoing emails), please see the Outgoing Server Settings below.
The Outgoing Server Settings determine how Outlook Express will "talk" to the email server when trying to send out emails: more specifically, whether emails are sent with or without first validating your user information ("credentials").
In some cases, and even more often in the past, this extra layer of security was not required by your email provider, and no user authentication took place before Outlook could send emails out.
However, with mail servers increasingly being used as relay for junk mail, more Internet Service Providers (ISP) and email providers mandate outgoing authentication.
To customize your email accounts in Outlook Express, go to Tools > Accounts.
Select the email account you want to use as your main account, and click Set as Default.
Select the email account and click close.
