How can I extend GTalk's idle time?

February 23, 2007 10:14 AM

How can I extend the Google Talk's idle time status change?

Hi,

I want to extend or remove from the Google Talk client the idle time to avoid other people see if I'm on front of the PC or not.

I'm talking about the official Google Talk client.

Thanks.

posted by Leech to computers & internet (6 comments total)

I don't think you can extend it past the 10 minute default, but you can always just change your status to busy, then no one will know if you're actually using your computer or away unless you message them.
posted by iconomy at 10:44 AM on February 23, 2007

I'm busy and it still changes passed the 10 minutes.. :(
posted by Leech at 11:21 AM on February 23, 2007

This might help guide you in the right direction: my friends who have a Mac and use a third-party system to log in (iChat, for example) their status, once they "achieve" Idle status, or set themselves as away and achieve idle status, never revert back to being available, as seen on gChat or gTalk, on any computer I use.

I also remember that Trillian allows you to "stay" Idle if you want, but I don't think Trillian works with gChat.
posted by atayah at 12:13 PM on February 23, 2007

Yes, that's right.. I see my boss status as always idle.. Well, maybe I should start using an alternative client.
posted by Leech at 12:32 PM on February 23, 2007

I'm afraid that doing this with the default client would end up being very hacky, however googletalk works on top of the jabber open instant messaging protocol, so any client that supports jabber can easily connect to the googletalk network. Here are some instructions for gaim from the google website.
posted by kaytwo at 12:37 PM on February 23, 2007

I use the trillian non-free version with gtalk plugin (maybe jabber?) anyway I can set my status to Away, which would match the same as it shows when you're idle... I think?
posted by thilmony at 3:51 PM on February 23, 2007