PHP, PHPMailer and SMTP Server

Hi,to every body

i'm buildding a little application, for now i'm working in my localhost.
I need to send a mail and i need to use phpmailer, but..
when i send a mail using phpMailer it tooks a lot of time, i suppose it is
because the bandwidth (128kbps and 3 PCs connected in the LAN). any way i
need to solve it. thinking a few i have found the next posible solutions:

*install a SMTP server in my machine, so , when the phpMailer sends a mail ,
there is no routers to jump , and no need to consume bandwith, the PHP
application does keep freezed "waiting for...".

*use multithreading in php , how? creating a thread to send the mail, and
the application can show me the next screen while the sender thread is
working, but as long as i readed , it does not exists. I have found a
solution in Linux by using forke function,  "damn" i'm working on Windows.
Like all, i supose there is a way to make it works in Windows.

*Ask to my php comunity , explain my problem, and my posible solutions, and
receive a good feeback in order to know wichone is better solution, and
listen if there is other solutions



so i will appreciate the contributions, thanks to every body