By defalut Gmail doesn’t load in Secure (SSL – Secure Sockets Layer) mode. In order to load Gmail in SSL mode (https) by default do the following:

1. Login to your Gmail account.
2. Go to the “Settings” page. The Settings menu is located on the top right hand corner.
   

   Gmail Settings option

3. Select “Always use https” option from the “General” tab.
   

   Use https in Gmail by default

4. Hit “Save Changes” and relog.

This time when you log into your Gmail account, you will see the secure icon on your browser’s status bar (Go to the view menu then click on ‘Status Bar’ to enable the brower’s status bar if it’s not enabled already).

SSL Icon in the Status Bar

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