Mail & Chat Server

Problem :
I am a network administrator, and need to disable Gmail's chat features on my network.

Solution :
It's sometimes necessary to disable instant messaging services on a network. If you need to prevent Gmail users on your network from chatting, Google suggest blocking DNS lookups to chatenabled.mail.google.com, by returning 127.0.0.1.

If you're not a network administrator, and would simply like to view your own Gmail account without chat features, click standard without chat from the bottom of any Gmail page. You'll be signed out of chat, and your Quick Contacts list will be hidden. To turn chat back on, just click standard with chat.