Yahoo Mail Checker for Windows

If you're anywhere near as Internet-dependent as we are, you like to know the moment you have a new e-mail. It could be an important Facebook comment or a forward full of kitten photos! If you use Yahoo! Mail and need to know immediately when a new message comes in, try Yahoo Mail Checker. This extension for Google Chrome doesn't do much, but it will give you a heads-up when you have new e-mail.

The extension installs easily and appears to the right of Chrome's address bar as a square Yahoo! logo with a small number superimposed on it. The number changes to reflect the number of new e-mails you have. Mousing over the icon displays a pop-up menu that, curiously, shows two numbers: the total number of "new mails" and the number of "unread mails." We're not sure what the difference is between these two numbers, but when we had a brand-new e-mail it showed one new mail and zero unread mails, even though the message was unread. That was the only problem we had with Yahoo Mail Checker, and it's a fairly minor one; it still does the basic job of showing you when you have new e-mails. It just doesn't handle the details too well. The extension comes with a small menu of options, including six different icons to choose from, the ability to set how frequently it checks for new messages in milliseconds, the ability to hide the icon, and, mysteriously, a checkbox that says "I am from Japan." Overall, Yahoo Mail Checker didn't knock our socks off--it didn't have any of the bells and whistles of some other e-mail notifiers, like sounds or message previews--but if you want to know with a quick glance how many new e-mails you have, it just might do the trick.

Yahoo Mail Checker installs and uninstalls without issues. We recommend this extension to all users.