How to get your Gmail messages in Windows Mail

You can get the messages sent to your Gmail account without going to the Gmail web site - just set up Windows Mail in Vista to get them. First, you need to enable IMAP on the Settings page on the Gmail web site. Just click "Enable IMAP" in the "IMAP Access" section.
Now in Windows Mail, do the following:

1. Click Tools Accounts and select "E-mail account" as the account type.
2. Enter your display name, then in the next box, enterer your Gmail address.
3. On the "Set up email servers" page, choose IMAP for the incoming email server type in the drop-down box, then enter "imap.gmail.com" as the incoming server and "smtp.gmail.com" as the outgoing server.
4. Check the box "Outgoing server requires authentication."
5. On the next page, enter your gmail address (username) and password. Check the box that says "do not download my email and folders at this time."
6. Click Finish.
7. On the Internet Accounts dialog box, highlight the name of the gmail account and click Properties.
8. Click the Advanced tab, and check the options "this server requires a secure connection (SSL). Set the outgoing mail (SMTP) port to 587 and the incoming mail (IMAP) port to 993.
9. Click the IMAP tab and uncheck "Store special folders on IMAP server."

You can now configure which folders you want Windows Mail to download by clicking imap.gmail.com in the left pane of the mail client window. You probably won't wat to download your spam folder and your trash folder, for example. You can now click the Send/Receive button to download your mail.