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.

   * 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.

     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 - It adds emblems to the selected text, or the current line.

     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 closes all the windows.

      F9 - It sends an email to the current contact.

     F11 - It initiates a telephonic call.

      F12 - It cancels a telephonic call.

      Esc - It closes the current window.

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:

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.

You want to use Google Talk anywhere ? Follow these guidelines :)

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

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:

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.

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