Yahoo! Mail Watcher For Firefox
One of the problems associated with web based email services is that users only get indications of new emails when they are on the providers web page and logged into their account. That's different from desktop email clients which usually show notifications somewhere on the screen provided that the program is running in the background.
Email notifiers for these services are available as desktop applications and browser add-ons. The former display notifications regardless of the applications open on the system, the latter only if the browser the add-on is installed on is open at that time.
Yahoo! Mail Watcher is a Firefox add-on that works pretty much like the Hotmail Watcher which we reviewed in the past.
The Firefox add-on notifies you of new email in Yahoo Mail. For better security, it works only if you are already logged in to Yahoo Mail which means that the Yahoo Mail username and password do not need to be entered directly in the add-on.
New email in the inbox is indicated with a sound and a clickable notification window which loads the Yahoo Mail inbox directly in the web browser.
The add-on can be configured to display a notification in the Firefox status bar / action bar. The icon lists the unread email count and flashes its icon if the count is greater than zero. A right-click on the icon displays options to change the auto check interval from once per minute to every hour or no checks at all.
Sound, blink and display alerts can be disabled individually, and it is furthermore possible to check for mail manually and to open the advanced options.
Here it is possible to configure a custom system sound, change the appearance of the toolbar button and to change alerts to only notify when the unread mail count increases.
Yahoo! Mail Watcher is a handy add-on for Yahoo Mail users who use the Firefox web browser as they will get notifications of new emails even if Yahoo Mail is not open in a tab.
The add-on is available at the official Mozilla Firefox add-on repository.
Update: Yahoo! Mail Watcher is no longer available. You can install alternatives such as Yahoo! Mail Notifier or Fastest Notifier for Yahoo Mail instead which both work and offer similar functionality.
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X-Notifier Firefox add-on is MUCH better – Works with ALL web providers even if you are not logged in.
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I use this extension and the very similar Gmail Watcher by the same developer.
Prior to using these extensions I was using other Yahoo and Gmail notifiers, not realising that my passwords were visible to anybody who went into Tools>Options>Security>Saved Passwords>Show Passwords. I wonder how many other people do not realise that their passwords for their e-mail accounts are visible to anybody who ever has access to their computer in this way (unless you use a Master Password)?
The Gmail Watcher extension has the added benefit of being able to notify me about new e-mail to each of my three Gmail accounts, so handy that I’m moving some of my e-mail away from Yahoo to Gmail.