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I like Google Gtalk because it’s light and fast. CPU memory usage is lower than MSN Live Messenger. Here are some shorcuts, tips and tricks to make your Gtalk experience better and more interesting. Full list after jump.

Line Break

Hold SHIFT and hit ENTER

Bold Text

To bold your text, put an asterisk (*) before and after content. [Example] *these will be bold*

Italic Text

To italic your text, put an asterisk (_) before and after content. [Example] _these will be italic_

Switch Between Chat Windows

Hold CTRL, click on I will cycle you through each chat window

Minimize Chat Window

ALT + ESC minimize chat window. (For Gmail talk, it only work when chat window is a popup)

Restore Chat Window

WINDOWS + ESC will restore your Gtalk from minimized mode.

Open Multiple Gtalk Application

Click Start -> Run and enter the following in Open dialog.

"C:\Program Files\Google\Google Talk\googletalk.exe" /nomutex

See more parameters like this at the end of the entry

Misc Gtalk Information 

You don’t have to say YES or NO when someone adds you. Simply ignore it and the request will go away. 

A message can be 32767 characters long. 

You can change your Gtalk chat name in Account Page

Adding a web URL in custom message will result it to be clickable. 

Gtalk supports these following emotions and they are in blue colors

:-| :-O :-x :-P :-D ;-) :-( :| :O :x :P :D :) :( ;-| ;-O ;-x ;-P ;-D ;-) ;-( ;| ;O ;x ;P ;D ;) ;( B-| B-O B-x B-P B-D B-) B-( B’( BO Bx BD B) B( B) 

Gmail talk supports these following emotions and they are animated

:-| :=P :-D ;-):-( :P :D :) :( ;-) ;) B-) 

More Parameters For Gtalk Start -> Run

Here’s a complete list of what you can do with Gtalk in run command prompt.

• "C:\Program Files\Google\Google Talk\googletalk.exe" /parameter 
• /nomutex: Open more than 1 Gtalk. 
• /autostart: Check the registry settings to see if Gtalk needs to be started. If the “Start automatically with Windows” option is unchecked, it won’t start. 
• /forcestart: Similar to /autostart, but forces Gtalk to start. 
• /S upgrade: Used when upgrading Google Talk 
• /register: registers Google Talk in the registry, including 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 

If you have additional Gtalk tips and tricks, I would like to know.