Secure GMailing

GMail by default uses https (secure http) only when you are logging in; it defaults to http soon after that. What does his protocol mumbo-jumbo mean? 

HTTPS is the secure format of HTTP. When you browse a site using HTTPS, all the data interchange between you and the server happens in an encrypted format - which means that if someone was to eavesdrop the communication in between s/he would not be able to "read" it. 

Which is why Gmail uses https while logging in - to protect your passwords from getting stolen. But, I guess all of us would also want to protect our email messages from such eavesdropping. This is simply done by inserting an 's' after http, after you log in. 

Or, now GMail provides a 'setting' to automate this -> just go to Settings Tab of Gmail, scroll to the end and select "Always use https" in the 'Browser connection' setting.