Help with Windows Mail Please

I finally got round to configurating Windows Mail today and guess what (suprise suprise ) I can't send any e-mails.

I double checked all the info was correct with My ISP and they asked me to send an e-mail through their own website (Orange). I had to fill in some questions and one of them was asking me for a nickname. When I send this e-mail I noticed on the heading 'Send by' that there was the nickname in front of my e-mail address which I thought was a bit strange?

The support guy just told me to contact my Laptop manufacturer and tell them to uninstall & reinstall Windows Mail. This sounded a bit odd so I tried to look for help on Microsofts site but everything I've done seems correct so...

Have uninstalled my AVG anti-virus protection and reinstalled unchecking the e-mail scanner box but still couldn't send any mail. I never knew that something so simple could end up being so difficult and frustrating.

The error message that came up when I tried to send e-mails said
'This message could not be sent- the authentication setting may not be correct for your SMTP server'.

I have tried altering settings in my account server but no luck.

Please can someone help

Thanks.

Welcome
Lets do this the easy way. Download one of these, I like Thunderbird. If it works, you can use it in lieu of Windows Mail. If it does not work, we will try to locate the source of the problem, which is most likely your settings, somewhere.
Top 11 Free Email Programs for Windows - About Email
Before anything else, make a system restore point, so that we can go back to earlier times if you do not like what is done, now.