But unless you know to navigate to "https://mail.google.com" versus "http://mail.google.com," you're skipping out on all that protection. Gmail defaults to the unprotected mode for a reason. Encrypted data needs to be encrypted and decrypted, which takes time. It also makes for bigger files, which take longer to transit the Internet. The result? Slower e-mail performance. It stinks, but you have to choose between good protection and good performance. Right now, they are mutually exclusive. I tested it out, and to be honest, I didn't notice any real difference in performance. But perhaps my computer is having a good day.
Since not everyone types in the "https://" part of Web addresses, Google has decided to make it a bit easier to encrypt and protect your e-mail. "We've added an option to Settings to always use https. If you don't regularly log in via unencrypted wireless connections at coffee shops or airports or college dorms, then you might not need this additional layer of security. But if you want to always use https, then this setting makes it super easy. Whenever you forget to type https://mail.google.com, we'll add the https for you. If you already have the https URL bookmarked, using this setting will ensure you access your account via https even when you don't use your bookmark. Any http link to Gmail (for example, the one at the top of Google.com) will be automatically redirected to https," it said in the Gmail Blog.
As always, this new feature isn't available to everyone right away. Google is rolling out the functionality in waves. You can choose to enter "https://" yourself, though, to have secure e-mail right away.
