remove Chat stuff from applet

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is there a way to turn this stuff on or off?

Still looking for an answer to this as I use the switch user, but have children that I don't want to have the chat stuff.

There must be a configuration file somewhere, but I was not able to find it. For me, there are two icons I do need: Battery power and volume preferences.

Just in case, no, I don't want to look at the sources.

Where is the config file located??

Yes, if you remove the MeMenu (speech bubble with your username next to it), the shutdown thing gets removed as well. But that should be no problem; if that is removed, the Lock / Log Out / Shut Down stuff automatically moves to the System menu.

If you additionally want to remove the messages indicator (mail icon + menu) from the indicator applet, open up a terminal and type:
sudo apt-get remove indicator-messages

Hope that helps, even though it is not 100 % what you asked for. :)

removing package indicator-messages is a system wide solution. Is there a solution to remove it just for certain users?

I found another solution in https://bugs.launchpad.net/indicator-applet/+bug/563725
You can remove the MeMenu (chat stuff etc.) by: sudo apt-get remove indicator-me

@Henning Moll: I don’t know of any way to remove it just for certain users. I looked in gconf-editor: /apps/panel/general/applet_id_list but could not find a way to remove _just_ the mail envelope.

@Jan-Christoph Borchardt

sudo apt-get remove indicator-me

Returns: Could not find packet indicator-me

@Sneaky Pie: It works with the current Ubuntu 10.04. Maybe try removing indicator-session?

Sorry if that is not really helping. You may have to upgrade to the latest Ubuntu version. That is not recommended as of now though, you should wait roughly 3 months until support for everything is really on track.

@Jan-Christoph Borchardt

After upgrading to Lucid Lynx I tried
sudo apt-get remove indicator-me

But this ended up in missing the personal information button. What I, and probably all people here, do want, is to remove the envelope with the menu items to configure chat, e-mail, and so on.

@Sneaky Pie:
I said on 2010-04-26:
If you want to remove the messages indicator (mail icon + menu) from the indicator applet, open up a terminal and type:
sudo apt-get remove indicator-messages

;)

@Jan-Christoph Borchardt

But removing indicator-messages removes the complete message indicator, including blue-tooth and the volume indicator. I only want to get rid of the envelope, I already have configured my contact applications, but I don't use the default programs, because they don't fit my needs.

@Sneaky Pie: That is weird. It did not do that when I tried it, sorry.

You might want to open System → Administration → Synaptic Package Manager (search for »indicator«) and try which package does it for you.

And if you want your custom contact applications to be in the indicator, try this as a starting point: http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/05/gmail-notifier-puts-gmail-in-your.html

@Sysadmin: How did it work for you?

It is possible, to remove all entries of the envelope by deleting all files of
/usr/share/indicators/messages/applications
But the useless envelope is not removable. And no, I do not want to add any application to this editor. For example I use Thunderbird and there is a an add-on, that does more, than just showing incoming mails: FireTray (https://addons.mozilla.org/de/thunderbird/addon/4868).

Please, I just want to configure the panel to remove the envelope. If that is hard coded, please change it and make it configurable.

I totally forgot:
After removing indicator-messages, you need to execute the terminal command »killall gnome-panel« (or log in, then log out) to restart the GNOME Panel and see the changes.