NEW YORK (AP) — Nearly two years after I adopted a web-based Gmail account for personal e-mail, the software I ditched, Mozilla's Thunderbird, is trying to lure me back.The latest version of the free software has the two Gmail features I like most: The ability to add multiple descriptive tags to messages and to "star" the important ones. Thunderbird 2 is an improvement over its predecessor.

But Thunderbird is no Gmail.

Although I had long found web mail clunky and less versatile than software residing on the computer desktop, all that changed over the past few years as Google Inc. revolutionised web-based e-mail with its Gmail service. Rivals soon followed to make their web interfaces on par with desktop programs.

And I've come to rely on web mail the more I move about, as the desktop-based programs generally do not have good mechanisms for synching messages between computers.

In a nod to Gmail's popularity, Thunderbird 2 offers an easy way to bring Gmail messages into the software.

It had been possible before because Gmail supports POP3 protocols, a way of pulling messages just as you would from a regular account with an internet service provider.

But you previously needed to look up and fill in various port and server settings; Thunderbird fills all that out for you when you select "Gmail" as your account type. Thunderbird's Mac version supports ".mac" accounts, too, and its developers promise eventual support for mail services from Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and others.

Thunderbird also sports "tags," akin to Gmail's "labels," as a more convenient way to organise messages.

E-mail programs have traditionally relied on folders, and I've had to pick one or make copies of my messages to place in multiple folders. With Gmail, I can add as many labels as I want — for example, organising messages based on both whom I'm talking with and what I'm talking about.

Gmail also lets me add stars to messages, handy for keeping track of things to do.

Thunderbird 2 doesn't ditch folders completely, as Gmail did, but it does let you append one or more "tags" to messages. The new Thunderbird also lets you "star" key messages — more easily accessible and visible than the "flags" from previous versions.

I'll stick to Gmail - and upgrade to Thunderbird2 as my web mail back-up.