Gmail and GTalk are among the most used chat forums for staying connected! They offer a simple and easy chat interface and many other chat options. I myself use Google’s chat everyday.
Now, if I would have to choose one feature that is most popular with the users, I would go with the ‘INVISIBLE’ option. This enables one to chat with only those people with whom one wishes to. But, technology advances, and there are cheat codes to anything and everything. So, here’s something to trouble those friends who want to be left alone!
There are two ways to go about it.
METHOD ONE
- Open the chat window for your ‘Friend’.
- Click on: ‘Options’ in the chat window in case of Gmail
- Click on: The down pointing arrow in case of G-Talk
- Select ‘Go Off Record’
- No need for performing steps 2 and 3 if the chat window already says ‘The chat is off record’.
- Now, send a message to your friend.
- If a message in red is displayed saying “so-and-so is offline and can’t receive messages right now”, the user is actually offline.
- If no such message is displayed, the user is online, and you CAUGHT him/her.
But, while chatting off the record, your chats are not saved in your chat history or your contact’s chat history. So, for those who think chats are memories, this is a bad option.
METHOD TWO
This is for the ones who cannot stay without checking their online friends once in a while. I mean, the ones who chat using their mobile phones!
- The handset should be GPRS enabled.
- Next, Download gotalkmobile and install it on your handset.
- The software is available easily and for free.
- Now, when you logon to GTalk, you can see the whole list of Online Friends, no matter whether they are visible or INVISIBLE.
Stay digified !!!
Nitish Jha
