Name: Chax
Rating: 4.6 (1 reviews)

26 July 2011

Version: 3.0.2

I love that I can use growl now with iChat! I can't seem to figure out how to tailor the notifications though. How can I have the growl notifications only for messages, and not every time someone becomes available or unavailable or idle? I tried changing the iChat preferences, but they are still popping up. Is there a way to change this?

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Nicolasd

21 July 2011

Version: 3.0.2

15 months without an update and Lion is here. Any chance of an update?

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Such a useful app full of iChat enhancements that, in many cases, Apple REALLY missed the boat on. Makes iChat SO much more convenient and useable.

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Cerniuk (Captcha H8r)

28 February 2011

Version: 3.0.2

Having a problem with Chax during network transitions. If I change my Cisco VPN status (worse when connected going to not connected) Chax crashes iChat. Otherwise it works rather nicely. Process: iChat [258] Path: /Applications/iChat.app/Contents/MacOS/iChat Identifier: com.apple.iChat Version: 5.0.3 (745) Build Info: iChat-7450300~8 Code Type: X86-64 (Native) Parent Process: launchd [135] PlugIn Path: /Users/WmCerniuk/Library/ScriptingAdditions/ChaxAddition.osax/Contents/Resources/ChaxLib.bundle/Contents/MacOS/ChaxLib PlugIn Identifier: com.ksuther.chax.lib PlugIn Version: 3.0.2 (15) Date/Time: 2011-02-28 08:27:03.135 -0500 OS Version: Mac OS X 10.6.6 (10J567) Report Version: 6 [snip] Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV) Exception Codes: 0x000000000000000d, 0x0000000000000000 Crashed Thread: 0 Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread

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Help! I have to reinstall Chax after every logout or it doesn't load. Any suggestions? I'm on 10.6.4

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I think this application is great for what it does. I wonder what the possibility in the future is for Chax to have plugins for MSN/AIM/Yahoo! etc.?

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Problem with ICQ still available :( http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/9853/20100208033245.png

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Kent - thanks a bunch for keeping it current, have got to rely on it in the years i have had it.

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Chax 3.0 is loaded into iChat automatically again, you don't need to launch a separate application anymore.

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does chax still use its own icon? or is it back to the way it used to be where u can just click the ichat icon? I just dont like having to click the chax icon to open ichat

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is there a way to text to MSN users ? i use mobileme and need to text to MSN users. can this app make it possible to text ?

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Great to have the "plain text to ICQ users" feature back. As a long time Chax user this little software has become absolutely indispensable for me. Thank you!

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Wow i chose the right day to reinstall / rediscover this plugin. I forgot I was putting up with iChat's limited room for choice. Thank you for continuing the updates.

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in Snow Leopard the problem i'm having with Chax (any of the SL versions of Chax) is the lack of ability to screen share or video chat (i believe audio also though i haven't tested it out) When Chax is running I cannot vid or screen share. I just get a beach-ball. If I quit or uninstal Chax there is no problem vid or screen sharing. I've had Chax forever and love it! I'm hopeful that this will be an easy fix. g

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i did the automatic update on 10.6 minutes ago. it replaced the chax-app with the 'chax 3.0a5 installer'-app itself.. so now i get the choice to reinstall or remove chax everytime i try to run chax.app: same app-name, but different icon, which is the updater-icon. manual update didn't bring back chax either. i'm still stuck with the updater-app.

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Finally back to the desired configuration that I appreciated in Tiger and Leopard. Thanks Kevin.

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This particular alpha release has been nothing but trouble for me. I'm reverting to the present stable 2.x release. 3.0a4 will not remain in my iChat's Preference window. I can install and set the Chax preferences but upon restarting iChat, Chax is no longer available in the Preference window. Worse, some features still work after "losing" Chax while others don't. It also seems now to be too slimmed down as far as feature selections. Chax is without a doubt a must-have for any and all iChat users, but this current iteration is not stable enough to bother with. Stay put with version 2 until a new alpha or better yet, a beta is released. /

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Do I have to have Growl and Sparkle predownloaded for Chax to open?

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Downloaded Chax, dragged to App folder but it would not open. I trashed it and downloaded it again, and still it would not open with error popups both times. So I trashed it again. Is there something I should know in the installing process? I'm on Snow Leopard 10.6.1.

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Chax is the missing plugin for iChat! During the last couple of years I used Adium a lot, but a lot of things bothered me (e.g. missing MobileMe sync, sometimes strange contact list behavior, the software isn't pre-installed on a Mac). Then I discovered the excellent iChat plugin Chax. With iChat you can already add a lot of different services, but Chax provides an all-in-one contact list that makes things really easy. This was the only functionality I used over a couple of months. Then I discovered that Chax has a lot more to provide than the all-in-one contact list and I fell in love with this plugin. It's worth noting that the developer does all the work in his sparse free time, but he's blazing fast. There was already a Snow Leopard compatible version of Chax out there a couple of days after the official Snow Leopard release. You should definitely try this software out and donate a couple of bucks to the author of this excellent plugin.

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Seriously, it's a chat program, if you absolutely need to run it 64-bit, you're doing it wrong.

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I love this application and, interestingly enough, I prefer the direction Chax 3.x is headed in Snow Leopard. It feels much more integrated. The developer is really on top of this and the timely updates are rolling out surprisingly fast. Thank you and keep up the great work!

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I love chax and i appreciate how this was quickly updated to snow leopard... however I don't like how it has "replaced" ichat on my dock, I much rather it be just another tab in my preferences, i dunno if this is a problem with snow leopard itself or if chax is interfering but i can no longer change my status to "current itunes song"... it just leaves it as available. Everything works like a charm

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Odd, I have an Intel Mac running 10.5.8, but for some reason I get a message that I can't install this version of Chax?! Anyone have any ideas?

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Thank you so much for doing a fix for Snow Leopard's iChat. Even though, as you said it's not optimal, it's still better than nothing. :) Growl back in ichat, thanks! :)

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Thanks for the 3.0 update with the release of snow leopard. So far it's running great.

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always works well and never seems to break anything else on the computer.

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If, after installing Chax you want to uninstall it, Chax's own uninstaller leaves 7 files behind. After using Chax's uninstaller I used EasyFind to check for any files remaining. EasyFind found 7. Don't know whether or not the remaining files might cause any issues but if you no longer need them, why keep them?

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Chax is terrific, albeit a bit less relevant in Leopard than it was in Tiger. Nonetheless, it's one of the first things I install on a new Mac and I absolutely love the new Send Camera Snapshot feature—what a great idea! But please give us the option of having a 3-2-1 countdown timer for the snapshot like Photo Booth, so you won't need to keep a hand on the mouse button to take the shot...

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Everytime I try to run iChat with chax, it crashes at random times. There is no real pattern as to when it crashes. Has anyone had this problem? I am using Mac OSX 10.5.4 with Chax 2.1.2

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While I really like Chax (the sender icon in the dock is great), I can't for the life of me get growl to notify me of incoming messages. It works fine for user online/offline but not for incoming messages. I'd hope the new beta would fix this but, alas, no such luck.

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Sadly this version of Chax for Leopard is very buggy. I really like Chax and the options it gives however I would not recommend downloading it until the issues have been cleared up.

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Would love to see Chax have the ability to replace all occurrences of "Buddy" with "Contact". It really grates, and is one of the reasons I use Adium instead of iChat... (This is what happens when you let AOL near a program :)

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I can't seem to get this to work with Leopard, though it says that it works with Leopard. I've installed a few times, restarted iChat, the chax option shows up in preferences, but it's not tabbing my chats.

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Hi, as I can't seem to find an email addy for the dev I'll post this here in the hope that he sees it!! Firstly this is uber ace I love it and I thoroughly recommend that people donate to this guy. Secondly, the resize to contact window isn't working for me in this new version where it has before and yes, I've checked that it is checked in the box in the prefs!! Any clues? Running 10.5.1.

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having a small issue with Chax 2.0 & 2.1b1. I have multiple accts but only use one at a time. but at times, when I set one to offline, then close it using the Accounts setting in the menu, iChat crashes. Its fine without Chax installed. it also doesn't do it every time. any thoughts?

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Chax has now become my hero.... With the various Jabber servers I use doing server gateways, I don't need wide protocol support, mainly just XMPP, and with the advent of the intelligent Unified Contacts... iChat has become my default IM again!

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installer doesn't work :/

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I've installed, reinstalled, rebooted and generally fiddled around but just cannot convince Chax to work with my 10.5.0 iMac. It just doesn't appear. With Tiger I used Chax so I should know how to do this.

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One option I'd like to see is the ability to replace every occurrence of "Buddy" with "Contact". The whole "Buddy" thing just seems to irritate me for some reason (possibly it's just down to being British :)

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Installer's OS version check doesn't work with 10.5.1 (developer release).

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Much better! Kudos to the developer for quick responses. I noticed that "Always on Top" isn't an option in this version. Will it be an option again at some point? Thanks again!

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Will NOT install on my MacBookPro because I am running OS X 10.5.1, (as opposed to 10.5) Dumb installer.

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It also installs SIMBL, maybe you need to reboot for that to load?

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I love this app! But it's not active in Leopard, even after the installer does its job. When I reopen iChat, Chax isn't available.

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It is the most addictive add-on devil in Mac OS X history! I love it.

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Nice one. However, i really want to have the hability to put Aqua tabs (PSMTabBar) and to change the position of them (like Adium v1.1)

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AIM only supports sending SMS message to US phones, so I have to abide by the limitations of AIM itself. Kent Sutherland

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why is the send SMS only +1 north america centric??? european numbers are a must... why this attitude towards america only features???

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that was still missing on ichat...

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You really should make the Send SMS wit a ketboard shortcut. it's a drag having to go up to the menu and scroll down.

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This app is great, allthough i find it a little 'un-aqua'. Saying it can severly 'destroy' the good looks of iChat. I should work on that if i was you...

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without Chax, iChat is one of the worst chat programs out there, but with it, I wouldn't use any other. Chax makes chatting easier then ever before, and on a much cleaner environment.

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I'm having trouble with my dual screen setup. When I have my buddy list on the left side on my right screen, it runs the "More Info" box to the other side of the screen. It should push the box to the right, just like it does on my main (left monitor).

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fantastic - thank you for the new update. I love this :)

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Because its coming on two years now and Adium has progressed from .6.x to only .8.x It looks great, but I'll use it when its done.

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Built-in Updater doesn't seem to work. Was using Chax v1.4.4 and checked manually, but got the message that Chax was up to date, whereas a new version was available (v1.4.5).

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I still get new chat notifications via Growl but no window that appears. When I try to quit iChat and review the available chats, the window appears with a black background. I'm on a 17" G4 Powabook using 10.4.7 with Growl installed. Hope that is helpful.

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Why don't you folks just get adium?

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Just to say that this software is SOOOOOOO great!!! Keep up the good work!

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I can't fault this product. It's a great addon to iChat with all the features that are missing out of the box! The only minor critism is that the auto-reconnect function doesn't always work but that's just nitpicking and probably down to my ISP! Keep up the good work!

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Since installing update 1.4.3b3, I've been having a problem with tabs. When I try to click away only one of the tabs, it makes ALL of them disappear! Anyone else have this problem?

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Installed the latest version and iChat couldn't connect anymore. Hasn't worked all day. I removed Chax, but still no go... Looks like iChat is completely corrupted or something... Too bad... sounded like a great idea at the time. Tiger 10.4.6

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i want those tabs for my terminal.app .... pleeeaaaase

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Again, trying to launch iChat 3.1.4 stalls and never opens. Remove Chax, iChat opens instantly. Can't use this anymore. It makes iChat unreliable. And I use iChat all day. Would love for this to work too. I've had the this same issue with the last two releases. I give up.

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Can't open a chat group with this version?!

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Great addition to iChat, there is only one thing I can think of that it still needs and thats the ability to have all the services (.mac, aim, jabber, etc...) you are logged into in one window.

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What iChat is missing!

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Chax makes the chat windows to flicker when accepting any chat, simple or tabbed. Besides that I can't live without it. PS: Chax could have a better icon.. ;-)

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10.4.5 dual G5 Chax won't work when installing it for just my current user. iChat will log in by my menubar item, then iChat opens/closes immediately with PID: 2443 Thread: 0 Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (0x0001) Codes: KERN_PROTECTION_FAILURE (0x0002) at 0x00000020 iChat works fine after removing. Then when installing for all users, the same problem, but a slightly different PID PID: 2453 Thread: 0 Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (0x0001) Codes: KERN_PROTECTION_FAILURE (0x0002) at 0x00000020 except this time... when I try to remove it, it says Chax could not be removed from your system. Check your permissions and try again. Maybe a repair permissions will work? I'm an admin on the computer... the program looks great when it works, but it doesn't seem to want to work for me.

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Chax 1.4.1 stopped working with the Mac OS 10.4.6 update. iChat can't connect. Remove chax and iChat connects fine.

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now imagine if everybody here posted their crash report :|

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Crashes iChat when clicking "Decline" on a new chat with tabbed views open and another person in the same tab. Window goes blank after clicking decline and then kills iChat. Uninstalling it now since it's not stable enough to use. Date/Time: 2006-04-03 21:03:04.520 -0400 OS Version: 10.4.6 (Build 8I127) Report Version: 4 Command: iChat Path: /Applications/iChat.app/Contents/MacOS/iChat Parent: WindowServer [96] Version: 3.1.4 (432) Build Version: 3 Project Name: iChat Source Version: 4320000 PID: 3905 Thread: 0 Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (0x0001) Codes: KERN_PROTECTION_FAILURE (0x0002) at 0x00000027 Thread 0 Crashed: 0 libobjc.A.dylib 0x90a41bec objc_msgSend_stret + 12 1 com.apple.iChat 0x0002debc 0x1000 + 183996 2 com.ksuther.chax 0x005f241c -[HaxChatController _adjustInputLineHeightBy:] + 520 3 com.apple.iChat 0x00031e5c 0x1000 + 200284 4 com.apple.iChat 0x00031c64 0x1000 + 199780 5 com.apple.iChat 0x0002f618 0x1000 + 189976 6 com.ksuther.chax 0x005fc0fc -[TabbedChatController windowShouldClose:] + 260 7 com.apple.AppKit 0x9381a1a4 -[NSWindow _document:shouldClose:contextInfo:] + 140 8 com.apple.AppKit 0x9377c270 -[NSApplication sendAction:to:from:] + 108 9 com.apple.AppKit 0x9377c1a4 -[NSControl sendAction:to:] + 96 10 com.apple.AppKit 0x9377c084 -[NSCell _sendActionFrom:] + 156 11 com.apple.AppKit 0x9377bb64 -[NSButtonCell performClick:] + 472 12 com.apple.AppKit 0x9377c270 -[NSApplication sendAction:to:from:] + 108 13 com.apple.AppKit 0x937d6aa4 -[NSMenu performActionForItemAtIndex:] + 392 14 com.apple.AppKit 0x937d6828 -[NSCarbonMenuImpl performActionWithHighlightingForItemAtIndex:] + 104 15 com.apple.AppKit 0x937d62d0 -[NSMenu performKeyEquivalent:] + 272 16 com.apple.AppKit 0x937d5f1c -[NSApplication _handleKeyEquivalent:] + 328 17 com.apple.AppKit 0x936dfa28 -[NSApplication sendEvent:] + 2944 18 com.apple.AppKit 0x936d7330 -[NSApplication run] + 508 19 com.apple.AppKit 0x937c7e68 NSApplicationMain + 452 20 com.apple.iChat 0x00002fd4 0x1000 + 8148 21 com.apple.iChat 0x00076e94 0x1000 + 482964 Thread 0 crashed with PPC Thread State 64: srr0: 0x0000000090a41bec srr1: 0x000000000200f030 vrsave: 0x0000000000000000 cr: 0x44000422 xer: 0x0000000020000004 lr: 0x000000000002debc ctr: 0x0000000090a41be0 r0: 0x0000000012000000 r1: 0x00000000bfffe210 r2: 0x0000000001823408 r3: 0x00000000bfffe260 r4: 0x0000000006183170 r5: 0x0000000090a92b40 r6: 0x00000000ffffffff r7: 0x0000000000492750 r8: 0x000000005e4e3e2c r9: 0x0000000004ae36f0 r10: 0x0000000000000004 r11: 0x000000000016fafc r12: 0x0000000000000007 r13: 0x0000000000000000 r14: 0x0000000000000000 r15: 0x0000000000000000 r16: 0x0000000000000000 r17: 0x0000000000000000 r18: 0x0000000000000000 r19: 0x0000000000000000 r20: 0x0000000000000000 r21: 0x0000000000000000 r22: 0x0000000000000000 r23: 0x0000000000000000 r24: 0x0000000000180000 r25: 0x0000000000180000 r26: 0x0000000000000000 r27: 0x0000000006197530 r28: 0x0000000000180808 r29: 0x00000000bfffe3d0 r30: 0x0000000000181128 r31: 0x000000000619d2b0

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New bug - Can't seem to connect to group chats properly in this version. Window menu says the chat is active but there is no actual window associated with the chat.

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I could never QUITE give up iChat for the more feature-rich client Adium thanks to bothersome bugs. Luckily Chax is here to bring an essential Adium feature over to iChat: tabbed chat windows! Awesome. This is an utterly essential iChat plugin that I can't imagine living without--and I've only been using it for a few days.

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Another feature I would love to see is a tooltip that appears when you hover over a link for a few seconds. Especially with this drunkenblog pic that's going around.

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The lack of tabbed chats in iChat was the only thing really wrong with it, and now that problem is gone thanks to this.

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This program makes iChat useable. Thank you so much.

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The "Add Hyperlink" feature in iChat is slightly borked with this latest build. Can't seem to make selected text into a hyperlink anymore with 1.4 final. I can add a hyperlink, but selecting text and making it a hyperlink is not working.

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Great add-on for iChat AV. Keep up the regular improvements and new features. totalcontrolprint

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Someone hire this man :) What a great, indispensable program.

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Not sure why, but the auto-reconnect feature seems to be a little too quick on the trigger for my DSL line (either the line or my router hiccups once per hour, I have no idea why, causing iChat to disconnect) - if I reconnect manually, I need to wait a second or so before attempting it, or else it won't go through. Any way you could put in a (user-selectable) slight pause before the auto-reconnect attempt?

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Small feature request: Can you please add an option to put a timestamp on all messages? iChat's default of putting the time in after roughly 10 minutes of idle time between messages is kinda annoying to me and I'd prefer to have the actual timestamp for each message, makes it easier when going back through an older chat.

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Tabbed chats in iChat? THANKS!

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YES! Tabbed chats! With Chax, iChat for me is now perfection. Thank you so much for this, Kent! I will be donating shortly.

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I really like this plug for iChat AV, however since installing the latest version 1.3.1, I've started getting the following error message: Internal Server Error: NSRangeException: *** -[NSCFArray objectAtIndex:]: index (0) beyond bounds (0) So I've now had to remove it. totalcontrolprint

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My iChat isn't the same without this app, it a must if you like iChat

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excellent, this adds some nice features that have been missing from ichat (but known in other clients, such as adium).

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Thank you very much Kent. This is really a great product. Hopefully Apple will integrate every feature soon. This is a very nice and responsive developer !!! After sending an email, he replied immediately, and implemented the features. Please keep up the work and try to implement as much as possible. REMEMBER APPLE WILL LISTEN, YOU MIGHT CREATE A REAL COPYRIGHT ; )

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Nice add-on, but I had to disable it after a while. It made it where I could not type into the text entry field in chat windows. I don't know if it was a problem with the add-on, or a conflict with one of the other iChat plugins I'm running (iGlasses and PowerBoost) I will not rate it at this time.

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Best iChat add-on ever!!! :-D I would agree that it would be great to be able to set a custom auto-away message though. Keep up the great work!

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Great add-on. Thanks. Two features I'd like to request, if possible, are the ability to choose which away message is displayed on auto-away and the ability to set the font for the status text in the buddy list. Thanks again for making this and keep up the good work.

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Great iChat Add-on! Two things: - the "Show iTunes music store links" setting is reversed. - I got an error when accepting audio chats now (didn't happen before). Thnaks for making it free! :)

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Now if only iChat had tabs, it would be prefect!~

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Chax3.0.2

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