The Daisy Zip and VB Mailers both use Outlook to actually send the messages that they create.

This may seem a retrograde step, but note the following :-

1. The programs have full access to the address book and contacts folders in Outlook.

2. Microsoft are much better at writing e-mail program,s so it seems sensible to use that program to do all the communications.

3. Messages are stored in the Sent Items folder for security purposes.

4. Messages can be edited if required before being sent.

The only problem is that some versions of Outlook ask a question before accessing the Outlook messages database.

The actual zipping of the files is done with a special component written using a zip control from Chilkat Software.