Setting Gmail by default mail application

I want to open my mail box via Gmail by default. So how can I set Gmail as my default mail application ?
thank you......

You can designate Gmail as your default mailto handler. This means that when you click on any hyperlinked email address, a Gmail compose window will open so you can send a message to that address from Gmail.

follow the steps -

1. Download the Gmail Notifier.
2. Right-click the Notifier icon in your system tray, and select Options.
3. Check the box next to Use Gmail for internet mailto: links.
4. Click OK.

If you decide later that you don't want to use Gmail as your default email application, simply uncheck the box.

This is valid for Windows users

If you are using a Mac, you can set your default mailto handler by following these steps:

1. Download the Google Notifier.
2. Open the Notifier.
3. Click the Mail icon on the Menu bar and go to Preferences...
4. Select the Gmail tab and choose Gmail as the program from the Compose mail in drop-down menu.

If you are using Mozilla Firefox as your internet browser, follow the steps below to set Gmail as default mail appls.

• Open Gmail in Mozilla Firefox.
  
• Type 'javascript:window.navigator.registerProtocolHandler("mailto","https://mail.google.com/mail/?extsrc=mailto&url=%s","Gmail")' (not including the outermost quotation marks) in the address bar.
  
  • If you do not require a secure HTTPS connection, to Gmail, you can use 'javascript:window.navigator.registerProtocolHandler("mailto","http://mail.google.com/mail/?extsrc=mailto&url=%s","Gmail")' instead.
• Hit Enter.
• Click Add Application under Add Gmail (mail.google.com) as an application for mailto links?.
• Select Tools | Options... or Firefox | Preferences... (Mac) from the menu in Mozilla Firefox.
• Go to the Applications tab.
• Make sure Use Gmail is selected under mailto.