Have you made the jump to a web based email platform such as Gmail or Hotmail yet? Frankly, unless you are in a corporate environment, I know very few individuals that still use a traditional desktop client like Outlook or Thunderbird to read email. The convenience of having all your email stored in the cloud, accessible from any Internet connected device, is just too compelling to most.
The web is littered with mailto: links that are content registers within the operating system that references your default mail client when clicked. This process is excellent because it automates the email composition process by launching your desktop client, starting a new email, and populating the To with the recipient in the original mailto. Unfortunately, this work flow is shattered when your email is all contained within a webmail system – Windows does not have the capability to natively assign a default mail client that isn’t a locally installed application.
Now, there are many ways to correct this limitation but I’ve come across none that are easier than GmailDefaultMaker – a free utility that’s about as light weight as humanly possible. Once downloaded, part of the installer requires you to select your desired default mailto and while the application has Gmail in it’s name, it’s not the only webmail platform it supports – Hotmail, AOL, and Yahoo have come along for the compatibility ride.
That’s it! No running application, nothing in the tray; the installation is the registration – nice and painless. However, the drawback then means that if you wish to change the default handler you must “reinstall” GmailDefaultMaker.
It just works.
