Hi Brainard.

I was told that configureing outlook express as an email client would automatically configure CDO. This appears not to be correct.

Well, I can only assume that there is a problem on your computer with how Outlook Express in configured. Are you able to send e-mail through OE manually? Setting up Outlook Express does indeed create a default configuration. This is taken from the CDO for Windows 2000 Platform SDK:

Using Default Configuration Settings
When a Configuration object is created, default values are loaded.

Local SMTP or NNTP Service
If the Microsoft SMTP or NNTP service is installed on the local computer, the default submittal method for messages is through the associated pickup directory.

Outlook Express
If Outlook Express is installed on the local computer, the default configuration settings are loaded from the Outlook Express properties defined for the default identity of the default account.

Because configuration settings are automatically collected from the local computer, you may not need to set these values manually; for example, if either the SMTP service or Outlook Express is installed, your application can send messages without having to explicitly configure the Message object. To change these settings, you can start with the default values and modify the fields you desire. Use the IConfiguration.Load method to load particular default settings on demand.

Note For performance reasons, it is recommended that you manually set up a single Configuration object and associate it with all Message objects rather than relying on defaults. Loading defaults for each message is an expensive operation and if you use defaults for each message, performance can be adversely affected. For example, if using CDO in an Active Server Pages (ASP) application, you can store the Configuration object in the ASP Session object and then reuse it for each message sent during that session. If you use global settings, you can even place the object in the Application object.