Whatever I ranted about, I finally got a Gmail. Things changed when you are in the same boat. Now it's time to explore tips and tricks about the damned mailbox. Read it from gmailwiki. The original text can be found here.

Unread mail
Kendel of gmail-users@googlegroups.com writes:

"For those who haven't noticed, if you create a label named Unread, you need no filter: it will list and bring up your unread mail.

The only current flaw is that it doesn't refresh well: if you have three new mails, each labelled X, your X and Unread labels will show (3). However, if you read them out of your X label list, the Unread label list will show one more than you still have.

i.e., if you read one from your X list (viewing your X label) it will then show

X (2)
Unread (3)

If you read another:

X (1)
Unread (2)
Etc.

Unread will refresh to (0) when next refreshed for any reason.

BUT, it's there, and it works."

Texas critter adds: "A minor thing and once you click on any label, including "Unread", it corrects the count."