Thank you for the Thunderbird detail. Was able to get this going, however it did take some time due to exporting contacts from Gmail > Thunderbird. However, users should know that withing the Thunderbird" "Tools" dropdown, > "Select Add-Ons" and find and enable "Zindus" download. Once downloaded go back into "Tools" > Manage Add-ons > and check "Zindus" as default and then "Sync" with your Gmail account after adding your Gmail address and password- no smtp or imap stuff to deal with. Very easy way to import all of your Gmail contacts. (I had 1400 and it only took 2 minutes. vs exporting messy .csv contact files. Will keep your contacts bidirectionally synced. Other issue was how to stop Thunderbird from importing thousands of Gmail inbox messages every time you're on line. Drill down on "Inbox" on left hand side of Thunderbird 3.1 mail app, and go to "Properties" Change settings to "Delete" all mail after (10) days, which essentially limits the Thunderbird client to being a mailer for MediaCenter. Final step is to make sure you double back to "Default Programs" in Windows 7 and be sure to select and associated "Thunderbird" as the Default mail program. So Media Center will see it. Will not affect using gmail as email default from within your browser. I used latest Firefox 4.06 when I was setting up the above as it handles .XPI Zindus file automatically.