When I send/receive email from Outlook Express an icon appears briefly in my system tray. I can see what looks like an IP address displayed in the icon. I look at my connection logs and see I have connected to 12.176.252.29 during the send/receive operation. I remember seeing an avast message that will display occasionally that says it cannot connect to a similar IP occasionally ( it might be the same IP ). After disabling internet mail scanning the icon no longer appears during a send/receive operation. Why am I connecting to the above IP during a send/receive operation? ???

AT&T WorldNet Services ATT (NET-12-0-0-0-1)
12.0.0.0 - 12.255.255.255
AT&T WorldNet Services ATTSVCM-12-176-240-0 (NET-12-176-240-0-1)
12.176.240.0 - 12.176.255.255
CSINET INTERNET ACCESS CORP. CSINET-I15-252 (NET-12-176-252-0-1)
12.176.252.0 - 12.176.255.255

ARIN WHOIS database, last updated 2005-02-10 19:10

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It shows the IP of your mail provider.

:-[ ;D oops. Thx for the help. Lord knows I need it.