Tips and Tricks about Google Talk

Tips and Tricks about Google Talk

With Google Talk being all the craze right now, some people hating it, and others loving it, I figured that I would post a list of tips and tricks for those curious about the extra "features" Google implemented and has not said much about.

Registry Tweaks
You can edit most settings by opening regedit (start -> regedit),
and navigating to the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Talk.

The "Google/Google Talk" key has several sub-keys that hold different option values:

Accounts: This one has subkeys for each different account that has logged in on the client. These keys have different values that store the username, password and connection options.

Autoupdate: Stores the current version information. When the client checks for updates it compares Google's response with these values. If an update is needed, it will download and update the new version.

Options: This is the most interesting part, where most of the current hacks should be used (keep reading).

Process: Stores the process ID. Probably used by Google Talk to detect if it's already running or not.

1.) HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Talk\Options\show_pin
If 1, shows a "pin" next to the minimize button that keeps the windows on top of all the other open windows when clicked.

2.)HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Talk\Options\view_show_taskbutton

If 0, hides the taskbar button, and leaves the tray icon only, when the window is shown

3.)HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Talk\Options\away_inactive

If 1, status will be set as Away after the specified number of minutes.

4.)HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Talk\Options\away_screensaver

If 1, status will be set as Away after the specified number of minutes.

5.)HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Talk\Options\inactive_minutes
Number of inactive minutes to become away if auto-away is on.

Tips & Tricks
Wumpus Game : - First noted by a GoogleRumors commentor, if you add the buddy wumpus.game@gmail.com you can play the classic text-based game. Wumpus is an easter egg game that came with Google Talk (unfortunately, he didn't’t accept my invitation, so I can’t play).
Change the font size - While holding the control key, move the scroll wheel on your mouse either up or down. This trick works while being focused in either the read or write area.
Insert line breaks - If you want to have a message that spans multiple paragraphs, just hold shift and hit enter. You can add as many new lines as you want to create.
Bold Text - To write something bold, you can use an asterisk before and after the word, like *this* .
Italic Text - To use italics, use an underscore before an after the word, like _this_ .
Switch windows - Hitting tab will cycle through open windows. It will select minimized conversations, to expand them just hit enter. If you just want to cycle through IM's and don't care about the buddy list, control-tab will do that and will automatically expand a minimized conversation if you settle on one.
Invitation Tips - You don’t need to say Yes or No when someone wants to add you as a friend; you can simply ignore it, the request will go away. (On the other hand, someone with whom you chat often will automatically turn to be your friend, unless you disable this in the options).
Show Hyperlinks - You can show your homepage or blog URL simply by entering the it in your away message (at the top of the main window). It will automatically turn to a link visible to others.
Google Talk Game - “Google Talk” also was the name of a word game which uses Google.
A message can be 32767 characters long.

How To
Conference Calls :
What you need to do to have conference calls: Open up a copy of Google Talk on all computers with which you wish to conference. After one copy is opened make a new shortcut for Google Talk but at the end of it add /nomutex. If you installed it to the default folder then your shortcut should read "C:\Program Files\Google\Google Talk\googletalk.exe" /nomutex. Open 2nd instances of the software on every user's computer. After this start a chain: User 1 should connect on one instance to user 2. User 2 will connect on his second instance to user 3. User 3 will connect using his second instance back to user 1. With this chain everyone is connected to everyone.

Nickname & Status Message :
You can't change your nickname in a way that other people will see it change. Every nickname in the Google Talk contactlist is the part that is before @gmail.com (only the alphabetical characters are used) or the name you chosen for your GMail account. To change the nickname need to go to your Gmail account and change the name there. Choose Settings, Accounts, and then Edit info. Click on the second radio button, and enter your custom name. As a result all of your emails will have that nick as well, there is no way to seperate the two. You can add a website in your custom message, it will be clickable when someone opens a conversation window with you.

Contacts :
You don't need to say Yes or No when someone wants to add you as a friend; you can simply ignore it, the request will go away. (On the other hand, someone with whom you chat often will automatically turn to be your friend, unless you disable this).
The Gmail account 'user@gmail.com' can't be invited as your friend.

Sound & Video :
It's possible to broadcast music, MP3, etc.. through Google Talk.
Unplug your microphone. Double click on the speaker icon in the lower right corner. This will open up "Volume Control". Select "Options" and then "Properties". Then check the button next to "Recording" then click OK. You may also have to change your setting under Mixer Device. Now the Recording Control screen should be up. On my computer I selected "Wave Out Mix". Click on the green phone in Google Talk and call your friend.

Keyboard Shortcuts
Ctrl + E - It centralizes the selected text, or the current line.
Ctrl + R - It justifies to the right the selected text, or the current line.
Ctrl + L - It justifies to the left the selected text, or the current line.
Ctrl + I - The same thing does that Tab.
Tab - It is giving the area to each of the windows opened by Google Talk.
Ctrl + Tab - The same thing does that Shift + Tab .
Shift + Tab - The same thing does that Tab but in reverse.
Ctrl + Shift + L -Switch between points, numbers, letters, capital letters, roman numbers and capital roman numbers
Ctrl + 1 (KeyPad) - It does a simple space between the lines.
Ctrl + 2 (KeyPad) - It does a double space between the lines.
Ctrl + 5 (KeyPad) - A space does 1.5 between the lines.
Ctrl + 1 (NumPad) - It goes at the end of the last line.
Ctrl + 7 (NumPad) - It goes at the begin of the last line.
Ctrl + F4 - It closes the current window.
Alt + F4 - It closes the current window.
Alt + Esc - It Minimize all the windows.
Windows + ESC - Open Google Talk (if it's minimized, or in the tray)
F9 - Open Gmail to send an email to the current contact.
F11 - It initiates a telephonic call with your friend.
F12 - It cancels a telephonic call.
Esc - It closes the current window.
[HOWTO] Use multiple identities on Google Talk
Want to run Google Talk with multiple Gmail identities? If you have several Google Gmail accounts you also may want to run multiple instances of Google Talk This is especially important for families that share a single PC. Nothing worse than a family member signing you out so they can sign in under their own account!

Basically, to have "Google Polygamy" you need to run Google Talk with the following switch: /nomutex

Step 1: Right-click on the desktop
Step 2: Select New
Step 3: Select Shortcut
Step 4: Paste this into the text box:

"c:\program files\google\google talk\googletalk.exe" /nomutex

Step 5: Click Next and choose a shortcut name such as Google Talk1, Google Talk2, or something related to your Gmail account for easy remembering which account is which.
Step 6: Click OK a few times.
[HOWTO] Use Google Talk via a Web Browser
You want to use Google Talk anywhere ? Follow these guidelines :)

Step 1: Opens your favorite web browser at the following address :

http://www.webjabber.net:8080/jim/
Step 2: Follow the instructions of the Page.

Step 3: You can talk with your friends

Google's Secret Command-Line Parameters
There are a few secret parameters you can add to Google Talk and make it function differently.

The most important, I think, is /nomutex, which allows you to run more than one instance of GT. Here are the others:

/nomutex: allows you to open more than one instance of Google Talk
/autostart: when Google Talk is run with this parameter, it will check the registry settings to see if it needs to be started or not. If the "Start automatically with Windows" option is unchecked, it won't start.
/forcestart: same as /autostart, but forces it to start no matter what option was set.
/S upgrade: Used when upgrading Google Talk
/register: registers Google Talk in the registry, includig the GMail Compose method.
/checkupdate: check for newer versions
/plaintextauth: uses plain authentication mechanism instead then Google's GAIA mechanism. Used for testing the plain method on Google's servers.
/nogaiaauth: disables GAIA authentication method. The same as above.
/factoryreset: set settings back to default.
/gaiaserver servername.com: uses a different GAIA server to connect to Google Talk. Used for debug purposes only, there are no other known GAIA servers.
/mailto email@host.com: send an email with Gmail
/diag: start Google Talk in diagnostic mode
/log: probably has something to do with the diagnostic logging
/unregister: ?
/embedding: ?
To add these, open up your GT shortcut, and where it says "Target:" add one or more of these inside the quotations, but after the .exe part.

Emotions :

All these emotions appears in color in a conversation : (but having them in an image would be better, like iChat or MSN)

:-|
:-O
:-x
:-P
:-D
;-)
:-(
:-)
B-)
:'(
:|
:O
:x
:P
:D
:)
:(
:)

Tips and Tricks about Google

Tips and Tricks about Google

I have been quite fascinated by Google ever since they started out as a search engine. Over the time Google has become an indispensable tool for any serious geek. I will describe a few techniques that I use. They have been collected from various help pages, chat rooms and books. If you find any error please point it out.

1.) Common queries:
So how will you effectively use Google. Take this example. A friend of mine was asking me over yahoo messenger what is a blog. I told him to search on Google and find out. He tried this.
blog
Alas the answer was there but lost in thousands of links. He alerted me that he can't find an answer. I told " Ok , Let me see What is wrong? ". I tried this

What is blog
The answer was right there.

While formulating search queries you must be specific as far as possible. A query like Linux vpn howto can yield a different result than vpn howto. Google seems to be intelligent enough to understand some human thought chain. So while making queries be a bit descriptive and formulate a properly worded query. Google ignores some of the common words such as 'the' 'and' 'a' etc while performing a search.

2.) How to formulate a good search string :
Google uses AND logic for the queries by default. If you search linux vpn howto google searches for pages containing linux AND vpn AND howto. You can put OR logic in the search box like this

linux OR vpn OR howto

You can exclude some terms using "-"

linux vpn -installation

Try ( linux vpn - installation ) and see how it is different from the above query. You can group a set of terms by enclosing them in brackets. It is also possible to combine AND and OR operators.

It may be noted that Google is not case sensitive regarding search strings. Linux, LINUX and linux produces the same results. However the operators such as AND and OR are case sensitive.

3.) Searching for a file :

Suppose you want to search for pdf documents only. You can do this by attaching a filetype modifier to your query. A typical query can look like this
vpn filetype:pdf
Google can recognize most common filetyes.

4.) Searching only at a site :

This is similar to file type modifier. Try this VPN site:ibm.com
Then try vpn site:edu filetype:pdf You can get some interesting result by trying this query
linux site:microsoft.com
5.) Searching in URLs and Page titles :
You can search in urls using inurl modifier. Try inurl:smb.conf

Similarly you can use intitle modifier.

6.) Searching in Google cache :
If you are looking for some old web site you can directly search in Google cache.
Try cache:slashdot.org and see the cached pages.

7.) Looking for definitions :
This can be handy if your school going kid pesters you for his home work.
Try

define:watt
It bring out definitions from around the web.

8.) Looking at Google advanced search :
I think it is one link that most people try to ignore. It is designed for commoners. Almost all the options I mentioned above are available through advanced search.

The preferences page is also worth a visit. It uses cookies to set preferences such as number of search results to be displayed, language preferences etc.

9.) Finding the price of some geek gadget :
Google has a companion site called froogle.com. Its interface is exactly similar. But it returns prices across various stores in the US. This feature can be very useful if you plan to buy some strange hardware. Let us hope that froogle.co.in will appear soon.
10.) Google Calculator :
In the google search :
Type in an equation: (100+4567*10-200=)
What is the square root of 267? (sqrt(267))

11.) Google labs :
Google is very innovative and always tries to introduce new features. You can see some of the upcoming features at labs.google.com . Also Google conducts a puzzle champion ships annually.

12.) Google Sets :
Google sets is an interesting feature currently available at http://labs.google.com/sets.

Have a look at the page. You will see a number of text boxes. Enter some words which belongs to a set of items and search. Google will complete the set.

I typed in the names of following linux distributions " Mandrake" "Suse" " "debian" and hit larger set button. Google provided a huge list of linux distributions.