My b2evolution Version: Not Entered

I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out why I'm getting this error, hope someone can lead me in the right direction:

My ISP requires SSL for SMTP. I have all the login info and have tested it in outlook....so I know the server/username/password work.

I've installed Swift for authentication.

I went through the tutorial that Afwas created last year on setting up Swift, but with no avail. The following is the error I'm getting. I'm not sure if its from SWIFT or B2evo.

Fatal error:
Uncaught Error of type [Swift_ConnectionException] with message [There was a problem reading line 1 of an SMTP response. The response so far was:
[]. It appears the connection has died without saying goodbye to us! Too many emails in one go perhaps? (fsockopen: #0) ]
@0 Comment::send_email_notifications() in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\htsrv\comment_post.php on line 370
@1 send_mail() in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\inc\comments\model\_comment.class.php on line 1296
@2 Swift::Swift() in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\inc\_core\_misc.funcs.php on line 2228
@3 Swift::connect() in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\htsrv\swift\Swift.php on line 109

in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\htsrv\swift\Swift\Errors.php on line 99

When I comment on a post the comment will apply to the post but I get a white screen with that error.

So now the questions:
1) Why am I getting this error?
2) Do I have to edit PHP.ini in anyway to use Swift for this? I was thinking that maybe it had to do with settings in PHP.ini.
3) Is swift the best way to go for sending SSL emails in B2evo?

I love B2evo as its been working great. I would just like the ability to be notified of new posts....along with everyone else who views my site.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can shed some light on this problem.

- Jeff