Gmail Notifier

This simple, free tool alerts you when you've got mail in your Gmail account. The novice-friendly Gmail Notifier is easy to install and set up, requiring only your username and password. A small white envelope is placed in your system tray. It's easy to see when new e-mail arrives, and a pop-up window provides information on the sender, subject, and time the e-mail was sent. If you miss the alert the first time, a handy option, Tell Me Again, will show the pop-up again. Gmail Notifier won't take you directly to a specific e-mail, but a double-click quickly takes you to your in-box.

Although the program automatically scans for new items every couple of minutes, you can right-click the system tray icon to check your in-box at any time. One note to potential users: we found that the promised audio alerts can't be set up from within Gmail Notifier. Instead, the publisher directs you to your computer's Control Panel.

No help file comes with the program, but Gmail users won't have any problems setting up and using this simple tool. Despite the extra steps to set up the audio notifications, any Gmail user will appreciate the desktop notifications when new e-mail arrives.