If you use iGoogle a lot, you might have noticed that the page loads slowly because of the Google Talk embedded in the sidebar. Unlike other iGoogle Gadgets that you can easily manage either by settings or simply deletion, you can’t mess with the Google Talk tab on the sidebar. Or can you?
According to Google System, you can disable the Gtalk sidebar tab via the iGoogle settings page (which apparently only a handful of people know about).
iGoogle Settings
You can manage all of the gadgets and tabs there and among other things, also decide weather or not you want to have Google Talk in the sidebar. If you don’t want it, select the hide chat ratio button. And you’re iGoogle page will load just a bit faster. In my testing with and without the Gtalk sidebar, I get about second difference in load time. Without it is a second faster than with it. Is it worth it? If you have a fast connection, it shouldn’t bother you to:
- Download the Gtalk client
- Go to Google.com/talk
- Open up Gmail
So, in conclusion, you can pretty easily turn off the Google Talk Sidebar tab if it bothers you by going to iGoogle Settings.
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Thanks for this tip!
No one can find the iGoogle Settings Page because I don’t think Google supplies a link – at least none I could find!
Hi Ryan,
I quite enjoyed the GTalk in the sidebar, but since about a week ago, it’s dissappeared. And there’s no option on the settings page. Has this happened to others? How do I bring it back?
Paul, you can access the settings page via ‘my account’ > igoogle > settings. Complicated, I know.
Hey Thomas,
I logged into one of my unused Google accounts and was surprised with that too once you alerted me to it. I looked at it in Safari and it claimed that it was an unsupported browser. Then in IE I got it to show up.
If you’re not seeing the Show/Hide GTalk option in settings, well, then maybe something spooky happened?
GTalk gadget disappeared from my iGoogle today. My friend is still able to access it from his iGoogle. Any information on this please.
Just in case others come across this page, the settings page is easily accessible. Assuming you haven’t completely changed your layout, on the left of your homepage and to the right of “Home” you will see a down arrow. Click to open the drop down and click “edit this tab”. Simple enough.
Thanks for this. Any way you can remove (or reduce the size of) the area taken up by the “You Might Also Like” prompts? I find these take up half the screen when enlarging most of the gadgets.