Manual "check for updates" menu option is needed

[dc_agar]

I opened skype for the first time in a while and a pop-up window came up saying that "skype updates are ready to intall." Like many computer literate people in this day and age, I immediately clicked to CLOSE that pop-up window and went to the drop-down menus in order to check for updates manually. Skype has been in business for years and Microsoft has been in business for more years and I'm sure I don't need to elaborate on why I would take that course of action. 

Maybe I should anyway. You see, for hackers to concoct a pop-up window that says "Updates available, come and get them, click me click me NOW!!!" is very, very EASY. By contrast, for hackers to get into your drop-down menus and counterfeit a "check for updates" menu selection under "tools" or "help" would be much more DIFFICULT. 

That's why I was so shocked to find out there was no "check for updates" menu selection, so I went to the skype website where I would surely find a link that said "click here to check for the latest updates."

Well I think I paroused the whole web site pretty much, and I know that in life, you just can't win 'em all. Life is like a box of chocolates like Forrest Gump said. Maybe I do not need a safe computer, and all the various interested parties who want administrative access to my machine are just trying to teach me something. If there's enough of them trying to do it at one time, then that's even a form of market competition. Whoopee.

[g4pilut]

I take your point, and agree with your practice of not accepting most pop-ups.  But I'm surprised you didn't find a menu item to check for updates.  Did you click on Help?  On the versions I remember, including the latest, 5.6.0.110, Check for Updates is a menu item under Help.

Also, I'm not disagreeing that finding what is the latest version shouldn't be a major research project, but until such time as that changes, you can find the latest verison here:  http://blogs.skype.com/garage/windows/

[dc_agar]

Hey, you know what? I just found it under the help menu. I'm glad this is a chat forum and not over the phone, it's kind of hard to talk with my foot in my mouth. Daaaaang.

[g4pilut]

[BarnacleBillBel]

you are indeed a fortunate user , I have been trying for about 2 weeks now to download the update from the help option,and all I get is a page that says, please wait while skype is downloaded, initialising, and thats it, the p[age will sit there for an hour, and absolutely nothing happens, I have commented before about the big firms doing a sloping shoulder act  when something goes wrong, all they do is redirect you to a forum, like this one, and let somebody else work out the problem, no thought of offering a hand, it,s a question of I,ve got your money, and you can do what you like , I also posed a question about the phone , why it wouldnt do this and that, and why was it more expensive than the US, i.e I have to pay for local calls, and some PR person, thats being very polite, came up with some pitiful excuse, as to why this wasnt so. needless to say, after the initial £10.00 credit for phones they didnt get any more

[g4pilut]

Assuming you're running Windows, use this link to download then run the installer for the latest version:  http://www.skype.com/go/getskype-full