If you're using the email2 Toolbar and you encounter a Private Email Network that you've never used before, you will be presented with with a PEN Discovery window. From this window, (pictured below), you will be able to review information about the Private Email Network, and decide whether or not you want to join it (or "activate" with it).
If you are unsure about the Private Email Network, you can choose to block it. You may decide to block a PEN because you do not like the security options it has, or because you do not trust the source. Certification, or approval by the email2 Certification Authority, may affect your decision. If you know the source of the Private Email Network, certification may not come in to play. You should assess Private Email Networks on a case-by-case basis.
If the PEN has an SSL certificate, you will be asked to accept or reject it. This dialog can be seen to the right.
Some PENs require that you complete a full registration if you wish to use the PEN to create new messages. If this is the case, you will be prompted to complete the full registration process when you try to compose a new email2 message using that specific PEN.
So what is an activation, anyway?
An email2 activation is kind of like an account. The word activation is mostly used in association with the email2 Toolbar, an Outlook extension for email2 power users that allows them to use email2 within their basic email client.
Because users can belong to multiple Private Email Networks at the same time, the email2 Toolbar needs to distinguish between these PENs when reading and writing email2 messages. An activation refers to the combination of a basic email account and a Private Email Network. We call it an activation because the first time that the email2 Toolbar contacts a new PEN, you are given the choice to activate with the PEN or block access to it. See the image above.
For all intents and purposes, you can think of an activation as a specific email2 account. For instance, if I belong to the email2 PEN with my derek@sys-national.com email address, this is one activation. If I belong to the email2 PEN with my support@sys-national.com email address, this is a second activation. You can belong to as many Private Email Networks as you'd like, with as many different basic email addresses as you'd like.