Google recently changed an option in Gmail to allow the user to use HTTPS for the whole session, not just the login. As a security conscious user, I immediatelly took advantage of the option and switched over to full time HTTPS communications with Gmail.

The first problem I found with making this choice is that the Gmail Notifier tool does not play nicely with HTTPS, and so could not login and retrieve data from my Gmail account. Bah!!

Luckily, there is a workaround available while Google get an update sorted. Details below are sourced from the Gmail Help Discussion list on Google Groups.

1. Download http://www.google.com/mail/help/downloads/notifier_https.zip
2. Open up the folder.
3. Double-click on the file called notifier_https.reg to install it.
4. Click 'yes' when you're asked to confirm if you want to add the information to the registry.
5. Restart the Notifier.

And you're done! The Notifier will now work with Gmail set to always use HTTPS. If you decide you don't want to use that setting anymore, you'll need to install the other file in the zip folder – notifier_https_undo.reg – to reset Notifier.