I thought I should share I have found a solution for email notifications DIRECTLY through The Dude without any other junk....

If you have a Gmail account then enter this SMTP server in the dude for the primary SMTP.... aspmx.l.google.com (you will have to resolve it to an ip address to input into dude). Then use your gmail address for the send to address and that is it!!! Have had email notifications up and running with this for over a week!!!

This particular SMTP server DOES NOT require authentication as long as it is going to a Gmail account, that is why it will work in the Dude.

Hope this helps someone else because I did a TON of research for a solution that did not require SMTP authentication.

Thank you 43North.

I had a problem when my hosting company changed a bunch of stuff and I noticed I was not getting any notifications anymore.

This appears to work.