Third party email programs (like Outlook) tend to act as a middleman between you and the Internet, and needs to verify the ID and password for your email account before it can get or send your email. So when you use a program like Outlook, you are giving it permission to establish a connection on your behalf.

NetZero DataShield creates a secure connection between you and the Internet that prevents any outside person or program from obtaining any information from your computer and establishing a connection. Therefore, your email program will not be able to connect to your email server.

However, you can still use a web-based email service, like NetZero's Webmail, Yahoo, or Gmail, since you connect directly to the Internet in order to send and receive mail with them.

If you want to use Outlook, or any other third party email software, you'll first need to turn off DataShield so the program can successfully connect to the Internet.