How to remove the Facebook Chat sidebar

Facebook recently rolled out a change that now displays your “chat” menu across the right side of your screen. While lots of folks like the change, many don’t. This very brief tutorial will show you how to ‘hide’ that menu and revert to the previous style. 
Note: the Facebook Chat Sidebar/menu will re-appear when you initiate a chat with one of your friends on Facebook. Repeat steps #2 and 3 to hide it again. Keep an eye on FB Purity updates – I expect they will create a much more elegant approach to reverting to the previous Facebook Chat layout. 

1. The image below illustrates the ‘new’ Facebook Chat sidebar.

2. To (temporarily) disable this sidebar, scroll to the bottom of your screen and locate the “cog” icon (see image below) and click it.

3. Select Hide Sidebar from the list of options. 

4. Now your “Chat menu” will revert to its previous state – at the bottom of your screen in a much more unobtrusive location. 

That’s it, you’re done! Do remember – when you click the “chat” box now at the bottom of your screen, the entire Chat Sidebar will re-appear. This isn’t a permanent solution, it’s just one that will remove the Chat Sidebar for your general Facebook surfing.