I assume "free email" refers to Outlook.com email service. It contains ads and probably some level of data sharing. However this article is mostly about the Out

I assume "free email" refers to Outlook.com email service. It contains ads and probably some level of data sharing. However this article is mostly about the Outlook desktop email client -- in theory you could use this email client without actually using Microsoft's email service (i.e. only used with Gmail etc), although difficult with Windows 11 Home edition.