Windows 7 - Windows Live Mail not working -

First my messages were not being sent outbound -

WLM error 0X800CCCOE

SMTP

PORT 465

SOCKET ERROR 10061

CONNECTION TO SERVER FAILED

I then moved my message back to the inbox, opened it and sent it again - now, for the past 3 hours, my message is still sitting in the

OUTBOX - TASK TAB SAYS "send message - status shows executing - and the message is just sitting there.

I called ATT/U-Verse and they say its a Microsoft problem and gave me an 800 but the jerks at MS just hung up on me - never any help from this company anyway, why am I not surprised.

So I went to the microsoft.com/support site (another big joke) - nothing there to help me.  When I tried to follow instructions and go to START to do the next steps, the error box message with my email just sitting there going nowhere, doing nothing, kept appearing on my screen. 

START, WINDOWS LIVE MAIL, TOOLS, ACCOUNTS - I have been trying for 35 minutes and I cannot get there from here.

Can somebody tell me how to fix this stupid problem so I can use my email again?

What horrible changes/updates has Microsoft done to my computer this time to wreck everything and how can it be fixed?

HELP! HELP! HELP!  outgoing message still just sitting there