Is there a way to disable google chat in gmail?

[cousinlucky]

Lately my Gmail has been giving me a headache because google chat is not enabled.
Google help is no help because disabling the chat feature is not something that they have programed into their help section.

The html setting does not allow for the addition of contacts. The older version is also now a pain. It is real strange that my Seamonkey and Firefox browsers do not work well with gmail.

My Konqueror browser is now having problems with it. But the Epiphany browser, which I have never used for gmail before, seems to function much better but still gets hung up by google chat.

I will never use google chat ( is that a feature for cell phones and text messaging? ) so I want to disable it. Does anyone have any insight about this? Thanks!!

[oz]

Isn't there a link that says "turn off chat" at the bottom of the window when you are logged into your gmail account, right below where it tells you how much space you now have on their mail servers? You should also find a "turn off buzz" link there.

Mine has them for each of my accounts and both features stay in the OFF mode at all times.

[devils casper]

My Gmail account have an option link at left side Chat tab. It has a lot of modes including Sign out of Chat.

[oz]

Here's the HowTo directly from the gmail support page should you need it, cousinlucky:

Turning chat off - Gmail Help

[cousinlucky]

Thank You Gentlemen!!

I have bookmarked my gmail into my Epiphany browser where I can add contacts. There was a message in yellow-" your internet connection is experiencing problems or your network administrator has blocked gmail chat ".

Gmail seems to be hellbent on making me, and my dial up connection, just switch back to using yahoo mail.

[fguy64]

[QUOTE=cousinlucky;764982...
I will never use google chat ( is that a feature for cell phones and text messaging? ) so I want to disable it. Does anyone have any insight about this? Thanks!![/QUOTE]

It's just an instant messaging product, like MSN messenger or ICQ. My main desktop O/S is WinXP, and I too got repeated messages that "Internet connection is experiencing problems" but those problems never seemed to interfere with the operation of my browser.

Anyways, I too have disabled the feature on my browser, because I switched to Google Talk, which is a separate instant messaging program. I kind of like it, it is functional, and nowhere near as big a resource hog as MSN Live messenger. I haven't used it with Linux yet, mostly I use Linux as a test server.

[cousinlucky]

It feels as if google wants to herd its users the same way that microsoft does. Ugh!!

[fguy64]

It feels as if google wants to herd its users the same way that microsoft does. Ugh!!

I see your point. I don't mind too much being herded, as long as it is some place I don't mind going. Of course, If you don't like their products, or if you don't trust them, then that is a different story.

[bigtomrodney]

Hey cousinlucky, I enabled setup my email so that Evolution handles it. It's like Outlook is for Windows, with a bit more. I like it because I get to skip the entire web experience for gmail. I actually think the gmail interface is great but it's nice to be able to manage email while offline. Just something to think about

[cousinlucky]

BigTom, you are talking over the head of this technology challenged individual!!

My solution is to use my Epiphany browser to send all of my gmail.

When I use Seamonkey to read and archive my gmail I have to use the html version like google apparently wants its dial up customers to do.

This latest hitch with google, along wth my bad experience with their linux browser, inclines me to just keep google at a safe distance from now on.