diff -ru xchat-2.6.8/src/common/cfgfiles.c xchat-2.6.8_/src/common/cfgfiles.c
--- xchat-2.6.8/src/common/cfgfiles.c	2006-10-03 16:19:39.000000000 +0300
+++ xchat-2.6.8_/src/common/cfgfiles.c	2007-05-26 14:06:04.000000000 +0300
@@ -420,6 +422,7 @@
 	{"gui_dialog_left", P_OFFINT (dialog_left), TYPE_INT},
 	{"gui_dialog_top", P_OFFINT (dialog_top), TYPE_INT},
 	{"gui_dialog_width", P_OFFINT (dialog_width), TYPE_INT},
+	{"gui_disable_close", P_OFFINT (gui_disable_close), TYPE_BOOL},
 	{"gui_hide_menu", P_OFFINT (hidemenu), TYPE_BOOL},
 	{"gui_input_spell", P_OFFINT (gui_input_spell), TYPE_BOOL},
 	{"gui_input_style", P_OFFINT (style_inputbox), TYPE_BOOL},
diff -ru xchat-2.6.8/src/common/xchat.h xchat-2.6.8_/src/common/xchat.h
--- xchat-2.6.8/src/common/xchat.h	2006-10-14 08:50:18.000000000 +0300
+++ xchat-2.6.8_/src/common/xchat.h	2007-05-26 10:39:54.000000000 +0300
@@ -175,6 +175,7 @@
 	int gui_url_mod;
 	int gui_usermenu;
 	int gui_join_dialog;
+	int gui_disable_close;
 	int dialog_left;
 	int dialog_top;
 	int dialog_width;
diff -ru xchat-2.6.8/src/fe-gtk/menu.c xchat-2.6.8_/src/fe-gtk/menu.c
--- xchat-2.6.8/src/fe-gtk/menu.c	2007-05-26 11:43:12.000000000 +0300
+++ xchat-2.6.8_/src/fe-gtk/menu.c	2007-05-26 11:42:03.000000000 +0300
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@
 #include "menu.h"
 
 static GSList *submenu_list;
+static GtkWidget *menu_close_win;
 
 enum
 {
@@ -1339,7 +1340,7 @@
 #define DETACH_OFFSET (12)
 	{0, menu_detach, GTK_STOCK_REDO, M_MENUSTOCK, 0, 0, 1, GDK_I},	/* 12 */
 #define CLOSE_OFFSET (13)
-	{0, menu_close, GTK_STOCK_CLOSE, M_MENUSTOCK, 0, 0, 1},
+	{0, menu_close, GTK_STOCK_CLOSE, M_MENUSTOCK, 0, 0, 1, GDK_w},
 	{0, 0, 0, M_SEP, 0, 0, 0},
 	{N_("_Quit"), mg_safe_quit, GTK_STOCK_QUIT, M_MENUSTOCK, 0, 0, 1, GDK_q},	/* 15 */
 
@@ -1827,7 +1828,7 @@
 		case M_MENUITEM:
 			item = gtk_menu_item_new_with_mnemonic (_(mymenu[i].text));
 normalitem:
-			if (mymenu[i].key != 0)
+			if (mymenu[i].key != 0 && (i != CLOSE_OFFSET || !prefs.gui_disable_close))
 				gtk_widget_add_accelerator (item, "activate", accel_group,
 										mymenu[i].key,
 										mymenu[i].key == GDK_F1 ? 0 :
diff -ru xchat-2.6.8/src/fe-gtk/setup.c xchat-2.6.8_/src/fe-gtk/setup.c
--- xchat-2.6.8/src/fe-gtk/setup.c	2006-10-08 15:09:54.000000000 +0300
+++ xchat-2.6.8_/src/fe-gtk/setup.c	2007-05-26 11:11:10.000000000 +0300
@@ -142,6 +142,9 @@
 	{ST_ENTRY,	N_("Nick completion suffix:"), P_OFFSETNL(nick_suffix),0,0,sizeof prefs.nick_suffix},
 	{ST_MENU,	N_("Nick completion sorted:"), P_OFFINTNL(completion_sort), 0, tabcompmenu, 0},
 
+	{ST_HEADER, N_("Miscellaneous"),0,0,0},
+	{ST_TOGGLE, N_("Disable keyboard shortcut for closing tab"), P_OFFINTNL(gui_disable_close),0,0,0},
+
 #if 0	/* obsolete */
 	{ST_HEADER, N_("Input Box Codes"),0,0,0},
 	{ST_TOGGLE, N_("Interpret %nnn as an ASCII value"), P_OFFINTNL(perc_ascii),0,0,0},
@@ -1756,6 +1759,8 @@
 		noapply = TRUE;
 	if (DIFF (truncchans))
 		noapply = TRUE;
+	if (DIFF (gui_disable_close))
+		noapply = TRUE;
 
 	if (color_change || (DIFF (away_size_max)) || (DIFF (away_track)))
 		do_ulist = TRUE;