Gmail Notifier Plus

Gmail is one of the most popular email services in the world, yet even so, having to open an Internet browser to check for freshly received messages and send new ones is not exactly a comfortable way of taking advantage of its great features. This is the reason for which many users are always looking for solutions that can bring Gmail closer to their desktops.
Such an application is Gmail Notifier Plus, a simple program that does a bit more than it name suggests. It tells you when an email gets in your Gmail inbox yet it also offers a small preview from the taskbar and you can browse the new arrivals using two directional buttons.

Log in to your default web browser

Bear in mind that this is not a proper email client, so you are not going to be able to fully manage your inbox from the desktop with this one. Nonetheless, right-clicking the icon of Gmail Notifier Plus will give you the possibility to log into your account by opening the Gmail webpage in your default browser.

Non-obtrusive utility and a few configurations to tweak

Gmail Notifier Plus sits quietly in the System Tray or in the taskbar if you're using Windows 7 and, as soon as the new message reaches the inbox, you will be notified thanks to the animated icon and an audio alert.
There's no main window for this tool, but it does feature a 'Preferences' window that enables you to configure several accounts, choose the interval at which to automatically check for new messages and decide whether to use a sound notification or not, having the possibility of setting a custom tone.

Performance and conclusion

In our tests, this program proved to work flawlessly, while the e-mail preview Gmail Notifier Plus shows when clicking the taskbar icon is a very useful feature that should be included in traditional e-mail clients as well.
All in all, it's safe to say this piece of software is a nice and simple way of getting in touch with one or more Gmail accounts. It is very light on system resources and very easy to use so it certainly is one of the best tools of its kind.
NOTE: Gmail Notifier Plus is based on the eponymous application created by Baptiste Girod, which can still be downloaded from Softpaz.