Skype users who try to update by downloading Skype 5.8 from the official website will notice that they need to log in on Skype before they can do so. Users who do not want to do that can download the latest (English) version from download portals such as Softpedia instead.

Skype 5.8 introduces several new and improved features in the Windows client. A blog post at the Skype website provides information about those changes.

The release brings full HD video calling if you happen to own a Logitech C920 webcam and have at least 2 Mbps of upload and download speed available, beta support for Facebook audio and video calling from within Skype, and group screen sharing which allows “users to share their entire screen or a single application window with other participants on a conference call while continuing to stream video”.

The group sharing feature could open up new applications for Skype, for instance as a tool for presentations.

Skype 5.8 furthermore supports Push to Talk now which allows Skype users to set a hotkey with which they can toggle the microphone on or off. Skype users can enable the Toggle mute hotkey (Push-to-talk) under Tools > Options > Advanced > Hotkeys.

The blog post mentions two features that are not explained further. First the Skype updater service, which may indicate the move to an updating service for the Skype software from an in-software updater, and the Bing toolbar integration.

Update: Skype automatically enabled “Start Skype when I start Windows” after upgrading to the latest version. You can disable that option under Tools > Options > General Settings.

Sky History, a Skype plugin, adds better chat history and call log management to the voice over IP software. Installation of the plugin should not be problematic, just remember to accept the integration in the Skype software after installation. If you do not, the software cannot access the data.

The application sits in the system tray on start up. A click opens its interface where you can select data based on users or time. Search and filtering options are provided as well to quickly find specific conversations or logs.

Both make it easier to find specific chat partners, messages or events. The user listing is divided into data specific chats as well as a listing of all Skype contacts. The calendar listing on the other hand can be used to display all conversations on a specific date and time.

A right-click on a message displays a context menu with options to delete that message from the Skype chat history or to bookmark it. All selected messages can be deleted or bookmarked. The deleting is obviously more comfortable than deleting Skype messages manually. Bookmarks are handy to quickly jump to important messages.

Another interesting option is the ability to display the chat history of multiple contacts at once. The plugin’s options can be used to change color schemes, for instance to highlight contact names or chat headers. There is also an option to block the export of a contact’s chat history.

Sky History is a useful plugin for Skype users who want more control over the program’s chat history. Especially the abilities to delete select Skype messages and to search all messages for specific text come in handy.

Skype users can download Sky History from the official website. The program is compatible with all recent versions of Skype and the Microsoft Windows operating system. (via)

Integration with Facebook was apparently just the first step in a much bigger plan. Skype two days ago announced that they are about to release the developing software SkypeKit for Desktop with video calling. With the release, Skype is extending their “developer initiative to include desktop applications”.

Developers have now two options to integrate Skype into Windows, Mac or Linux applications:

• SkypeKit for Desktop, which is intended to add native Skype functionality directly into partner applications
• Skype Desktop API, previously known as the Skype API or Public API, which allows developers to extend the functionality of Skype for Windows, Skype for Mac and Skype for Linux.

The new Skypekit version includes the new Video APIs which developers can use to add Skype Video calling functionality to their applications.

The big news here is that Skype is opening up their developer program for a wider range of developers.

Part of those efforts are reflected in the re-designed Skype App Directory which is a directory of desktop applications that work on Skype. The directory groups free and paid applications into categories such as business, call recording, faxing or integrations with popular software.

A total of 32 apps are currently hosted in the directory, not a lot but a solid selection of programs for Skype. Included in the listing are for instance the free Skype translator Clownfish or the Skype video call recorder Vodburner.

Software developers can use Skype’s SDK to implement voice over IP and video chat functionality in their applications. It is likely that the new tools will be used by developers to integrate Skype functionality into their desktop applications. (via)

But this was not the only cooperation that Skype had with Google. Skype users who ran automatic updates of the software received options to install the free Google Chrome browser with those updates.

This has probably been more of a issue to Microsoft than the inclusion of the Google Toolbar in the installation process, especially since the Google Toolbar is only compatible with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

For now Skype users who install the software on Windows will see no third party product offers. Less toolbars is always a good idea. Some users on the other hand have speculated that it is only a matter of time before Microsoft starts promoting its own products with Skype. The logical choice at this point in time would be to add the Bing Toolbar to Skype. Then again, this would certainly infuriate some Skype users.

The Skype update has also fixed two issues. The first issue was a memory leak in the Skype Firefox plugin, the second a crash of the Skype software at startup on Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8 operating system.

One question remains though: Why is Skype maintaining two different versions of their software on Windows? What’s the difference between Skype 5.5 and Skype 5.6 that justifies two versions?

According to a speculative forum post on the Skype community forum it is to “compare user behavior”. Another user in the same thread suggested that the version difference has been introduced to test in-call advertising.

windows users can download the latest version of Skype on the announcement post over at the Skype blog.

Former Skype CEO Tony Bates is the first president of Microsoft’s Skype division reporting directly to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Skype offices and employees will stay in their original locations, so no change there either.

Skype users will be glad to hear that the products offered by Skype will remain as they are for the time being. Microsoft has plans however to integrate the technologies of the voice over IP software into other Microsoft products to increase Skype’s range and profits.

Microsoft has set up a Skype portal on the microsoft.com domain which currently redirects all links to the official Skype website.

How will Microsoft manage to get a return on their investment? It is likely that we will see integration of Skype into core Microsoft products. Possibilities include Microsoft Windows, Office, Xbox Live and the web products like Hotmail and Windows Live in general.

The goal to reach 1 billion users daily would mean that Microsoft would have to integrate Skype into nearly every Microsoft product available. Even then it is a very ambitious goal.

Skype recently struck a deal with Facebook to integrate the company’s video calling technologies into the social networking site to allow Facebook users to make video calls on the site. Microsoft could be thinking of similar options for their online products.

Probably the most interesting question at this point in time is if Microsoft will integrate Skype into the upcoming Windows 8 operating system. Doing so would boost the market reach of Skype significantly. Considering that Windows 8 will be optimized for tablets it could very well give Microsoft a much needed boost in that market.

What’s your take on the Microsoft Skype acquisition? Will we see Skype integrated in all Microsoft products in the next twelve or so months?

We have reviewed our fair share of programs in the past. From iFree Recorder over Skype Call Recorder to Call Graph.

MP3 Skype Recorder is another program for the Windows operating system that can record Skype conversations effortlessly. Skype needs to be running before the MP3 Skype Recorder software is started. A prompt is displayed on first start where Skype asks to allow or deny the software access to Skype.

The main interface becomes active after you have allowed access to Skype.

You may want to configure the options in the interface first. This includes unchecking the auto start option which is enabled by default or changing recording settings like the recording mode (mono, stereo, joint stereo) and recording bitrate. The bitrate is set to 24 by default which can be increased to 32, 64 or the maximum of 128.

A larger bitrate requires more space on the hard drive and improves quality of the recording. The last option that some users may want to change is the folder on the local hard drive where the conversations are stored. This can also be done in the main interface. Actually, there is no separate options page at all. Everything is handled directly in the main program window.

MP3 Skype Recorder can record Skype Out calls and calls to Skype online numbers. It starts recording conversations automatically whenever they are made and the recording button is activated (which it is by default). This is also indicated in the status bar.

MP3 Skype Recorder is an easy to use recording software for Skype. Interested users can download it from the developer website. The program is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system from Windows 2000 all the way to the latest version. In addition, the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 is required.

But instead of just opening the Skype window a second window was opened on start. Skype Home opened as a popup on Skype start. I cannot really say what it is for, maybe for advertising new features or for making Skype more social. I have no idea to be honest but know that it does not look really useful to me.

Problem is: Skype Home opens every time I start Skype. Even worse: There does not seem to be a setting to disable Skype Home from starting up with the Skype software.

That’s a big usability issue right there. Andrew Worcester, fed up with clicking the close button of the Skype Home window, has created a small portable application that kills Skype Home as soon as it pops up.

Skype users basically start Kill Skype Home first before they start Skype. The application by default runs until a Skype Home window is detected. It will then close the Skype Home window and terminate itself afterwards to free up the resources on the PC.

Andrew has added a persistent mode to his application which disables the termination of the Kill Skype Home application after terminating the Skype Home popup window.

Skype needs to be run in compact view mode for the Kill Skype Home program. Users can make sure of that by clicking on the View menu entry in the menubar. If they see Default View listed there near the bottom they are running compact view.

The reason for this is the following: Skype users who are running the default view mode see only one window that combines the compact interface and Skype Home. This makes it impossible to close down only the Skype Home part of the window.

Windows users can download Kill Skype Home from Andre Worcester’s website. (via)

Facebook Chat in return has seen Skype integration, allowing Facebook users now to video chat with online friends. Security researcher David Vieira-Kurz discovered several vulnerabilities in the new Skype version that could allow an attacker to take over the Skype session of a user. What makes this attack even more dangerous is the fact that the attacker does not have to be a Facebook user’s friend or Skype contact to launch the attack.

The attack uses code that is entered into a wall or comment post. The Skype session information are then displayed on screen. The exploit is persistent in nature as logging off and on again on Facebook does not invalidate the Skype session. The vulnerability is caused by Skype’s inadequate escaping of data that is posted on Facebook.

David has posted a proof of concept video that demonstrates the vulnerability

Windows users who are considering updating to Skype 5.5 for the Facebook integration and chat functionality should consider waiting until an update is released by Skype. No workaround is available at this point in time.

What can you do if you have already updated to Skype 5.5? You could block the Skype app on Facebook under Privacy Settings until a fix is available. Please note that I have not tested this.

Facebook is actually announcing three new features today, of which all three are directly related to Facebook chat.

Probably the most requested feature of the three is the new group chat option, allowing Facebook users to chat not only with one friend but additional friends. This is easily done by clicking on the new “Add friends to chat” button in the chat window.

The second new feature is video calling in cooperation with Skype. It is now possible to call friends with a click on the Call button that is available on profiles and in chat windows. It is not clear yet if group video chat will be available, but it seems as if it is limited to one on one chat for now.

Video Calling will be rolled out to all Facebook users over the coming weeks. Users who do not want to wait can get it right here on this Facebook page. Facebook recommends Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer or Safari. The company seems to check the browser and version on the page. My Firefox Aurora build for instance was rejected on the page.

We’re sorry.
Video calling isn’t available on this browser. Please try again with a different browser.

The third and final announcement is for a new chat design that includes a sidebar listing people a user messages most.

Skype has released a new version of their program that integrates Facebook into the voice and video chat software. Facebook users can now integrate their Facebook stream into Skype, update their status from Skype and comment and like directly from the software as well.

To summarize. Facebook adds group chat and video calling to their site. Both features have been requested by many users and will make great additions. When you compare them to Google+, you will notice that Google this time is one step ahead. The hangout feature of Google+ supports live video chat with a maximum of ten contacts, whereas Facebook’s video chat seems to be limited to one on one video chat currently.

Has the announcement fulfilled your expectations? Let me know in the comments (via).

I personally think that it is a big announcement and step into the right direction. It might even be bigger for Skype, who were recently acquired by Microsoft, considering that the company gets access to Facebook’s 750 million user base.

This will make the Skype purchase the company’s largest ever acquisiton in cash terms and is interesting for several reasons. The first of these is that Skype doesn’t make any money as a company. Microsoft’s buyout will no doubt then have come as welcome news to Skype’s board.

Also Microsoft now has a capable full suite of communications products with its Lync services. These include messaging, VoIP and Internet telephony products. Lync is a new product for Microsoft and some might question the timing of the Skype buyout when Lync is far enough through its development cycle to mean that features cannot now be changed.

A few people however have speculated that Microsoft’s primary reason for the Skype purchase is the company’s advertisers. Skype has 145 million people using it every month and has an equally impressive advertiser base that Microsoft would like access to.

Whatever the reasons for the purchase there can be little doubt that Internet telephony and other forms of Internet voice communication are a boom market that’s only ever going to get bigger. Buy buying Skype now, not only are Microsoft saving the expense of having to invest in their own communications datacentres, but they’re buying a successful brand at a time when there won’t be a huge premium to pay for it.

It remains to be seen how Google and Facebook, the biggest competitors to Microsoft in this arena will respond. So far neither have similar products of their own, however it can be reasonably predicted that they will want to add such services in the coming few years. The purchase of Skype would have fitted their own product portfolios just as well as it does with Microsoft.

While it is possible to use an external service like Google Translate to do the translating, realtime translating in the Skype chat interface is usually the better choice as it is less complicated to use.

STranslator is a free software for Skype that integrates right into the popular voice over IP software. Make sure you have the latest version of Skype installed on the system before you run the installer of the translation software.

STranslator requires that the Java Runtime Environment is installed on the system. When you run it, it will automatically scan the Skype chat and start to add translations whenever different languages are detected. The program uses the default user profile language for this.

Say one of the chat users uses English, while another German. STranslator will automatically add translations to the original messages so that both appear in the Skype interface. Translations will automatically stop if users type in the same language.

It is furthermore possible to stop translations at any time with a right-click on the system tray icon and the selection of Pause from the context menu. Select activate when you want the translations to continue.

The developer has created a short demonstration video that highlights the program’s features.

STranslator runs in the background until you close the application. It works similar in many regards to Google Translator for Skype with the difference that the latter is a plugin for Skype with better integration in the voice over IP software.

Users who are looking for an instant chat translator for Skype may want to take a closer look at STranslator. The software is only available for the Windows operating system. Downloads are provided at the developer website.

Update: The Skype Chat translator is now also available for the Linux operating system.

EasyBits is the company that’s behind the technology of Skype’s game channel, which is one of Skype’s Extras. Users who have enabled Skype Extras may get the update notification in Skype. The worse part is that the update will install, even if the user explicitly denies the installation.

Messages began to appear in the official Skype forum yesterday with user reports asking for help and confirmation that EasyBits Go was not malware. Users like Alexander LeClair described the issue they experienced in the following way:

This morning I opened my Skype and an application called Easybit Games Go decided to install itself on my computer without my permission (I am 99 percent sure it was through Skype). Is this a virus coming through Skype? I have uninstalled the software and scanned with Malwarebytes and AVG and both have come back with no infected files. I just want to make sure it wasn’t a rouge program. All the help is appreciated. Thank you!

Some users have reported problems when trying to uninstall the new program on their system. The developers of Easy Bits have created an uninstaller for the software that users can run to uninstall it from Windows completely. This uninstaller can be downloaded here.

Other users have disabled the Extras feature in Skype to block the program from within Skype. Uninstallation is on the other hand the permanent solution and it is suggested that users uninstall EasyBits Go completely when they do not want to use the software.

It has to be noted that the update has nothing to do with the Skype sale. EasyBits has been part of Skype since 2006, and the update was scheduled by the company months before the Microsoft Skype deal was announced in the media.

Update: If you do not trust the uninstaller of the company who pushed out the update in first place, you may want to either block it using instructions posted by Nexus here in the comments or a program like Revo Uninstaller to get rid of the program completely.

It looks like a steep price for a company with more than 600 million users worldwide. Two factors seem to have convinced Microsoft. The first is Skype’s momentum. The service gets 600k (as in thousand) new users every day at the moment which means that its user base will have increased by more than 30% in the next twelve months.

But it is not only the Skype user base that is growing. The company’s revenue has grown to $860 million in 2010, with a 20% year over year growth. Skype did not turn profitable though in 2010, as the company generated a net loss of $7 million Dollars. That was on the other hand $410 million Dollars less than the net loss in 2009. It is very likely that Skype will see a profit at year’s end.

Skype on its own could hit the $1 billion revenue mark in 2011. The product is highly popular on today’s Internet, with more than 30 million consecutive users online at all times.

The second factor are synergies. What if Skype becomes an integral part of Windows, Xbox or Windows Live? Integration in any of those services or applications would give the service additional momentum. Synergies have lots of potentials, besides the already mentioned products there is the Windows Phone, Microsoft Outlook and Hotmail, Windows Messenger, Lync and even Kinect.

Microsoft could add Skype as an Xbox service which would be something that Sony and Nintendo do not offer. Consumers could be convinced to buy the next Xbox because of the additional home video conferencing options as Skype is not only offering voice over IP services but also video chat.

Microsoft has many products and services where voice and video chat integration makes sense.

Skype becomes a new Microsoft division, but will keep the brand and product. Plans are to continue offer Skype on non-Microsoft devices and platforms, which is a smart move considering that Skype is highly popular on the Android and iPhone iOS platform.

To come back to the initial question. What does the merger mean or change for you? It is likely that nothing will change, at least not in foreseeable time.

Interested users can watch the recorded press conference below.

What’s your take on the purchase of Skype by Microsoft?

Microsoft Pays Big To Buy Skype

This is Melanie’s take on the acquisition. On May 10, it was announced that Microsoft would be buying Skype for an estimated 8.5 billion US dollars. This is the most Microsoft has ever paid for another company. But why was Microsoft so interested in Skype?

Microsoft’s acquisition came as a surprise to the tech community. Only a few days ago, rumours were circulating that both Google and Facebook were considering acquiring Skype.

Why is it that Skype is so in demand by the tech giants of our day? Analysts say one reason is the possibility it offers for mobile voice communication. Skype currently has clients for all of the mobile platforms except Windows Phone 7. I’m thinking that Windows Phone will be getting their version soon. Skype is an obvious addition to Windows Phone 7, since that is currently the only major player on the mobile phone market without video chat capabilities.

Skype’s advantage over regular phone calls lies in its affordability. If you can get an internet connection on your phone, you can make Skype-to-Skype calls for free, and international calls do not cost much at all. This has huge implications for places where it is expensive to get a phone call out through the regular channels. If you’ve got Skype on your mobile phone and a half decent internet connection, you can make a call anywhere for virtual pennies, no matter where in the world you are.

Microsoft already has technology that parallels Skype PC to PC communication, but not the ability to make affordable calls from your PC or phone from anywhere in the world. Its acquisition of Skype shows that it feels this may be the way the world is headed, and it wants its foot in the door at the beginning, instead of having to scramble to play catch-up.

Other reasons Microsoft would like to buy Skype involve closing Google’s lead in the field on internet advertising, and/or integration in Microsoft’s Xbox and Kinnect technologies. It could be that Microsoft wants to use Skype to enhance its corporate offerings. It may plan to use Skype’s VoIP technology to improve its conferencing solutions.

It’s quite a gamble for Microsoft, though. Skype has never really been profitable. The 8.5 billion US dollars Microsoft paid was extremely generous, given Skype’s recent valuation. Some of the purchase money is going to pay Skype’s debt of close to 800 million US dollars. The very affordability of Skype’s VoIP products has meant that the company doesn’t turn a profit easily

Skype will become a division in Microsoft’s company, Microsoft Skype, and Skype’s Tony Bates will become the president of that division.

Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype is a sign of its intention to stay relevant in the fields of PC and mobile voice communication. It’s gambling on Skype’s ability to make itself indispensable to mobile smartphone users. Whether the gamble pays off remains to be seen.

What do you think Microsoft will do with Skype? What Skype features would you like to see rolled into other platforms? Is there anything Microsoft that you would like to see rolled into Skype?

Toolbars, like add-ons, can cause problems like slowdowns or increased memory usage. The Mozilla team has announced that they will block the Skype Toolbar in the Firefox browser. The Skype Toolbar, used to detect and convert phone numbers on web pages into clickable links that open the number directly in the voice communication software, is installed into Firefox whenever Skype is installed on the computer system. It can also be installed into Firefox when Skype is updated.

The Skype toolbar was blocked by Mozilla because of two reasons: The toolbar is one of the top reasons why the Firefox browser crashes. Mozilla mentions that it “was involved in almost 40,000 crashes of Firefox last week”.

In addition, it could “make DOM manipulation up to 300 times slower” which affects the page rendering time drastically.

Mozilla as a result as made the decision to block all Skype Toolbar versions that are currently available, including beta versions. The toolbar is added to the Mozilla Firefox blocklist which is used by all versions of the web browser to block software automatically.

The entry will be a soft-block which means that Firefox users who have the toolbar installed will be notified of the block. They will have the option to re-enable it to continue working with the Skype Toolbar.

The toolbar will be added in the next 48 hours to the blocklist, progress can be monitored in the bug listings 615799and 627278. This is not the first time the Skype Firefox extension was a cause for problems.

Firefox users who are using the Skype Toolbar actively may want to take a closer look at the Teliad extension which can convert numbers into clickable Skype links as well.

(via)

All it takes is to click on the phone number to initiate that call directly in the selected application. The preferences offer options to select one of the supported protocols. Available for selection are skype:, tel:, callto:, sip: and a custom url protocol.

It is furthermore possible to configure the extension to dial directly if a country code is present or open a menu instead. The menu is always displays if no country code is present.

Additional options include the configuration of text highlighting from the default light highlighting to none, medium or strong, if the own country code should be suppressed, if + should be replaced in phone numbers and how many numbers of recently used country codes should be displayed.

The extension processes each page or email and turns any phone number that matches the supported formats into a clickable link based on the user’s preferences.

A left-click on a phone number that has been turned into a link opens a selection menu which offers choices to call that number. The very same options are also available on right-click. A middle-click on the other hand bypasses the menu and launches the phone number directly in the selected application.

Some users are reporting compatibility problems of the extension and the Gmail website which I cannot confirm. The extension worked fine there as well.

Telify is available for both the Thunderbird email client and the Mozilla Firefox web browser.

Engineers have been working to rectify the problem so that people will be able to use the service over the Christmas period to contact friends and family.

“We take outages like this really seriously and apologise for the inconvenience,” Skype chief Tony Bates told BBC News.  Some people are now beginning to report that their Skype services are slowly coming back online.

At it’s peak the problems were causing the loss of 10 million calls, though the company was keen to stress that its Skype Connect business product was operating normally.

The problems had been caused  by “supernodes” being taken offline.  These communications hubs direct all the network traffic and act similar to a telephone exchange.

“If you want to talk to someone, and your Skype app can’t find them immediately (for example, because they’re connecting from a different location or from a different device) your computer or phone will first try to find a supernode to figure out how to reach them,” it read.

“Under normal circumstances, there are a large number of supernodes available. Unfortunately, today, many of them were taken offline by a problem affecting some versions of Skype.”

Skype are expecting that the problems will be rectified later today and that the services will be working normally again for the Christmas holiday period.

Clownfish supports five translation services and dozens of languages. Among the translation services are Google Translate, Yahoo Translate and Bing Translate.

All configuration changes are made with a right-click on the application’s system tray icon and the selection of the setting directly in the context menu. That offers quick changes to the configuration but also problems if more than one setting needs to be changed.

Available for configuration are the translation services that are used for the translation, the from and to languages with options to set the from language to auto detect in some translation services, an option to enable the spell checker and an option to enable text to speech for incoming English messages.

Messages that are written in Skype are automatically translated according to the configuration settings. The translations are displayed in brackets next to the original message. The original message can be hidden in the options as well in case it should not be displayed in the Skype message window.

The translations are not perfect, but this is the case for all automated machine based language translations. Still, most of the time they provide a more or less clear meaning.

Clownfish for Skype is an interesting program, especially for Skype users who often need to chat with business partners, friends or colleagues who have another native language. For that it is unobtrusive and sufficient.

Clownfish is available for Windows operating systems only

The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) began the talks on net neutrality after Google and Verizon said they wanted to see faster access speeds for websites that paid extra for the privilege.

“Any outcome, any deal that doesn’t preserve the freedom and openness of the Internet for consumers and entrepreneurs will be unacceptable,” said FCC chair Julius Genachowski.

Google and Verizon both deny that they were close to agreeing on how they would lead a “two-tier” Internet with Google saying “We remain as committed as we always have been to an open Internet”.

Further, Google’s founder Eric Schmidt said ”We have been talking to Verizon for a long time about trying to get an agreement on what the definition of what net neutrality is.  We are trying to find solutions that bridge between the hard core ‘net neutrality or else’ view and the historical telecom view of no such agreement.”

Net Neutrality would mean that no one type of traffic could be prioritised over another.  Failure to maintain this would mean that small businesses and individuals could see their services and websites harder to access than those owned and operated by large commercial businesses with advertising and products to sell.

The move by Google and Verizon would be a big blow for the common man and the general freedom of the Internet.  It has been a thorny issue for the FCC.

A recent court case limited the agency’s powers to police what happens to data when it ruled that the FCC did not have the power to sanction Comcast for throttling some traffic.As a result the FCC said it would reclassify broadband under a more heavily regulated part of the telecommunications law known as Title II. Cable and phone companies claimed the move would stifle investment in next generation broadband.

With the fear that these companies would resort to legal action, the agency began holding what critics termed “secret negotiations” aimed at forging a consensus on how to treat Internet traffic.

The FCC’s move to end these talks with firms such as Verizon, Google, Skype and AT&T suggest they broke down without reaching a decision.

Some public-interest groups believe, probably correctly, that such a move to a two-tier system would end the Internet we know and love today.

It remains to be seen what will happen from here on in.

Two options are available to remove Skype from the Windows 7 Taskbar. The first solution is to run Skype in Vista compatibility mode. A right-click on the Skype icon in the Windows start menu and the selection of properties opens a new Window with configuration options.

The compatibility tab holds those options. Here it is possible to activate the compatibility mode by checking “run this program in compatibility mode for”, and selecting Windows Vista (Service Pack 2) from the list.

skype compatibility mode

A click on OK saves the settings. Skype needs to be restarted before it runs in compatibility mode. It is now possible to minimize the Skype window and close the taskbar icon (by right-clicking) so that Skype does not appear in the Windows 7 taskbar all the time. A side-effect is that the jumplist is no longer available.

A better solution is found in the Skype options. Select Tools > Options in Skype. Click the advanced tab afterwards, and locate “Keep Skype in the taskbar while I’m signed in”. Unchecking that option ensures that Skype will not stay in the taskbar if minimized. Please note that you need to disable the compatibility mode first for this option to become available.

skype windows taskbar

Skype still needs to be closed in the taskbar after the window has been minimized. This is done by right-clicking Skype and selecting Close Window from the context menu.

Skype users who are running Skype 4.0 or later can use the /secondary startup parameter to start another instance of Skype.

• Click Start > Run, or press Windows-R on the keyboard to display the run window
• Enter the following command including the quotes and hit enter: “”c:\Program Files\Skype\Phone\skype.exe” /secondary
• This launches another instance of Skype, so that it is possible to log in with another Skype account at the same time.
• If you get an error message make sure that the path to the Skype executable is correct.

While it is not an issue to start a second instance of Skype this way, many users may find it comfortable to create a shortcut instead to optimize the process. A new Skype instance can then be started by double-clicking on the program icon.

• Locate the Skype executable, it is usually in c:\Program Files\Skype\Phone\skype.exe
• Right-click skype.exe and select create shortcut from the context menu
• Right-click the shortcut, and select properties from the menu.
• Locate the target field, and add /secondary to the end, the full target field should now be: “c:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Phone\skype.exe” /secondary
• Please note that the path may be different depending on the location of skype.exe on the computer system.
• Click ok to save the changes. Now move the Skype shortcut to another location, e.g. the desktop, taskbar or start menu.

A click on the shortcut will from then on create a new Skype instance.

Fiddling around with shortcuts and startup parameters is not to everyone’s liking. An alternative to configuring multiple Skype instances manually is the portable software Calimero Skype Launcher.

skype launcher

Then again, some users may not be comfortable to enter their Skype username and password into the program interface.

Security conscious users may prefer to use the shortcut to launch multiple Skype instances at the same time.