Lunacy Unleashed

Notes from the field in the War on Spam

Gmail becomes annoying

Google’s Gmail service just pissed me off.

As you’re probably aware if you have Gmail, Google just added several new features to Gmail, primarily among them the ability to carry on live chats with other Gmail users, right from within Gmail. One of the other features they added at the same time, however, is the one which is driving me nuts.

Everytime you place the mouse over a message in the listing, this box pops up.

Annoying Gmail Popup Box

And it’s driving me insane. I don’t want to add them to my contacts, mail them or invite them to chat! I want this box GONE! And there’s no option to turn it off.

February 14, 2006 - Posted by Michael Hampton | Gmail, Google | | 7 Comments

7 Comments

  1. At the bottom of your screen, Google Mail view now offers “standard with chat”, “standard without chat” and “basic HTML”.

    By default, everyone seems to get “standard with chat”. Switch to “standard without chat” and the GTalk widget (and the irritating messages) go away.

    HTH :)

    Comment by drac | February 14, 2006

  2. Yes, that’s exactly what I needed! How nice of Google to place the option in the last place anyone would ever look. I went through all the settings looking for that.

    Comment by Michael Hampton | February 14, 2006

  3. I stopped using Gmail’s interface a while ago and used it’s POP3 feature with Thunderbird instead. My only issue lately is that, for the first time since signing up, I’ve been getting spam in my inbox. Never happened to me before with gmail.

    Comment by Cyrris | February 14, 2006

  4. I’m not sure if it’s exactly what you want, but there was a Greasemonkey script that was posted on Lifehacker.

    Comment by shorty114 | February 16, 2006

  5. brilliant…thank you for that tip to turn that stupid popup box off. wish google would let us have the chat feature but just let us turn that stupid box off!! i’m sure in time we’ll see a simple preference for that added. being on the cutting edge isn’t always pretty.

    rock on!

    Comment by i 8 b o z o | February 17, 2006

  6. I love my Gmail, but it has some deficiencies. Like Contacts. I have about 500 more than I need. :)

    Comment by Rori | February 17, 2006

  7. That Annoying Little Box…

    For about a week, Google had that annoyling little ‘contact’ box that would appear when hovering over an email or contact address. They finally decided to remove the box because people were unhappy with it — and I’m very thank…

    Trackback by The Google Insider | February 27, 2006


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