Hide Your Online Status on Facebook Chat from Select Contacts

If you are connected with too many people on Facebook and need to hide your online status on Facebook Chat from certain contacts, here's some help.

Facebook has integrated friends list with Chat and you can also choose which of these list members get to see you online.

So you can stay visible to your family members and close friends while the rest of your Facebook friends won't know if you are logged into Facebook.

Earlier you had to completely turn off Facebook chat in order to hide your online status from other contacts.

The Facebook chat window has easy sliders so you can easily toggle your online status for any friends list in a click.

Use Facebook Chat without opening Facebook.com

Facebook includes an awesome chat feature that lets you instantly start conversations with your Facebook buddies without installing any IM software but the only small issue is that you need to be on the Facebook.com website in order to use Facebook chat.

If you find this a bit inconvenient, here are some good workarounds that will let you chat on Facebook from anywhere without even having to open the Facebook site in your browser.

Facebook Chat Inside the Web Browser

If you have Google Chrome or Prism for Firefox, you can open this address in your browser address bar and then create an application shortcut to Facebook chat on your desktop.

Firefox users may bookmark the above link and set the "Load this bookmark in Sidebar" property to true in order to use Facebook chat from the Firebox sidebar.

Update: Use Skype as Facebook Chat Client

If you an IE user or hate to use Facebook chat from the sidebar, try Geotactic - this is a minimal desktop client for Facebook that looks exactly like the web version of Facebook chat but will also send you notifications of new messages and chat requests from the system tray.

Meebo, the very awesome web based instant messaging service, now supports Facebook chat as well. You can connect your Facebook account with meebo via the Facebook Connect service (so there's no need to share your Facebook credentials with anyone) and instantly chat with your online buddies inside the web browser.

There are two advantages here - you can use Facebook chat even if the main Facebook.com site is blocked in your office and two, you can simultaneously connect with friends on other IM networks from the same website.

Facebook Chat Clients for your Desktop

Chitchat - If Facebook were to develop a standalone messenger on the lines of Yahoo! or Google Talk, it might look something like ChitChat.

ChitChat is a Windows-only desktop client for Facebook that provides a tabbed window to make it easy for you to talk to may friends at once. It will also show notifications in the tray when your friends go online or when they have signed out. The application is in RC stage so expect a few bugs.



Digs by - This is again a very useful all-in-one app that helps you stay up to date with everything happening on your Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, LinkedIn and other online accounts.

If you have multiple accounts on Facebook (like you and your spouse), you can associate all of them with your Disgsby messenger and chat with the combined buddy list simultaneously. Facebook doesn't allow audio or video calls but Digsby indirectly brings that feature to Facebook Chat via tokbox.

Adium - If you are on Mac, Adium is probably the best choice for you to chat with Facebook friends from the desktop.

Like Pidgin and Digsby, Adium too supports multiple IM networks, including Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk, AOL AIM, ICQ, Yahoo! Messenger, Skype, Twitter and Jabber (XMPP). And it uses the same Facebook Chat plugin that is available for Pidgin users on Google Code.

Pidgin - While Facebook Chat is not officially supported in Pidgin, there's a free plug-in that lets you connect to the Facebook chat server from Pidgin. And like Digsby, Pidgin too would let you chat with buddies on multiple Facebook accounts from the same interface.

Pidgin vs Digsby - Pidgin is purely for instant messaging while Digsby will also display notifications like when a friends sends you a message using Facebook email or if he or she writes something on your Facebook wall. Some people in the comments say that even Pidgin displays notifications but at least that doesn't work in Windows 7.

Pidgin will show all your Facebook contacts in one giant list (see update) while Digsby will group contacts under logical "Friends list" just the way you have them on the main facebook.com site. Update: The new version of Facebook Chat plugin for Pidgin displays your online friends under groups just like Pidgin.

Keep your Kids from Seeing Adult Content on the Web

If your tech-savvy kids are spending a fair amount of their computer time surfing the Internet, there’s a chance that they may sometimes accidentally stumble upon adult sites that you would definitely not like them to see. It is nearly impossible for any parent to manually monitor their child’s entire computer session and what you therefore need is a solution that works in the background even while you aren’t around to watch over them.

There are couple of options. For instance, YouTube has a safety mode to block videos that aren’t appropriate for children. Then you have OpenDNS that you can configure with your router or computer to block an entire category of websites that contain violent or adult content.

There are some site blocking programs (NetNanny for example) that monitor your kid’s activity on the computer and will automatically restrict them from visiting sites that aren’t meant for them. Then you have the slightly-geeky 127.0.0.1 trick to that helps you block any of the known websites on your computer.

A More Straightforward Solution to Block Sites

If you are looking for a more simple solution to keep all adult sites off your computers, switch to Family Shield as described in the following video:

FamilyShield is part of the previously described OpenDNS service but the advantage here is that you don’t have to do any tweaking to block adult content – just change your DNS server entries (these are different from the original OpenDNS values) and the web filters are immediately activated.

If you chose to setup FamilyShield on your router, sites that contain adult content will automatically get blocked on all your computers, gaming consoles and even mobile phones that are part of your home network. It even blocks proxy sites that are commonly used bypass the web filters.

It can’t get easier than this and there’s no software to install though your kids are likely to encounter ads when a site they’re trying to visit gets blocked – that’s the business model of OpenDNS.

Give your Eyes a Break with the 20-20-20 Rule

If you spend a good part of your day using the computer, the 20-20-20 rule, that I recently learned recently from my doctor, might also help you relax your tired eyes

The rule goes something like this.
The screen is bright and therefore, if you don’t blink your eyes as often as you should while working at the computer for long hours, you can have dry eyes sometimes even followed by redness.
To help you deal with this problem, the 20-20-20 rule suggest that after every 20 minutes, you (the computer user) should take a break for at least 20 seconds and look at objects that are 20 feet away from you.
Since it is nearly impossible for any computer users to remember that they have to take a break every 20 minutes, there are free software programs that can help you in your mission.
For instance, there’s a Windows utility called Eye Defender that sits in the system tray and, after a fixed interval, it will auto-run a visual training (see video below in full screen) for the eyes on your screen.
You are supposed to follow the pointer on the screen and this in turn should help relax your eyes.
Work Rave is another handy app that reminds you to take breaks at regular intervals to prevent computer related stress (including eyestrain).
It offers two kinds of breaks – micro-breaks, these are short and are mean to relax your eyes, and then there are rest-breaks where you are supposed to walk or stretch a little. Workrave also has a built-in wizard that demonstrates the various types of stretching exercises that you can do during these breaks.

Test your Eyes Online

They say that you should get your eyes checked every two years but if haven’t had the chance to see a doctor all this time, you can test your vision on your computer as well.

Of course these self eye tests are no substitute for visiting your doctor but if you follow the steps well, you may get some idea about how good (or bad) your vision is.

The Snellen Eye Chart

Most of us are familiar with the Snellen Chart that is made of rows of alphabets of different sizes – you read these letters from a distance, usually twenty feet, and the smallest row that you can recognize accurately indicates whether you have normal vision or not.

The various eye testing tools that are available online make use of the same Snellen chart.

Test your Eyesight Online

You should start with University at Buffalo's IVAC tool. Use a physical ruler to measure the length of the line on the screen (the length will vary depending on your screen resolution). Also measure the distance of your eyes from the computer screen. Now read the row of letters on the screen and press ‘smaller’ to display more rows in decreasing sizes.

While performing the test, you need to cover one eye and when you have read all the characters from top-to-bottom, read them again but cover the other eye this time. When you can no longer read the letters, stop!

Another Flash based eye testing tool is hosted on thinkquest.org – this can work accurately only with computer monitors that are either 15”, 17” or 19” in size. Stand four feet from the screen and then follow the on-screen instructions. When the characters are no longer readable, hit the stop button and it will display your visual acuity.

Finally, if you are looking for more DIY solution, try this. Open the Snellen Chart image on your computer screen and measure the size of the big letter E using a ruler. Multiply that number by 2.838 and stand that far from the screen while taking the test. Now try reading the different letters, top to bottom, to check your vision.