Disabling Skype Home autostart

[efurer]

+100. It is really annoyng.

I simply want Skype to open in compact mode or a system tray icon. I don't want to close "Skype Home" every time Skype starts

[LfmC]

I couldn't agree more with all of you: this is just sad.
My 2 cents in case anyone from skype ever reads this:
- Your users are not idiots. Most of them, however, don't know much about computers. This is a fact. Hence why they need IT hardware/software experts like me to do their installs. Point: Don't piss of the people who handle your user's PC's. We're the reason you have users in the 1st place. We recommend your software; we install it and teach the user how to use it.
- Just because nobody's saying it, doesn't mean nobody knows: you make a living by advertising products/services through skype. We know that. But pushing them down our throats WILL NOT WORK. And it's laughable anyone would even consider this 1998 approach in 2011.
- You're nearing a tipping point: one from which you can't return once crossed. You may think you choose where the limit is, but you don't. We do. If you push people, they will do what they always do:
1. You want our desktop? "Kill Skype Home" Check mate.
2. You want to spam us with advertising? A-patch. Check mate.
3. You think you're special? alternativeto*net  Check mate.
4. You think you'll be in the next windows release if we don't want you there? Tuneup utilities -> remove MSN (and skype) Check mate.
(If you are unfamiliar with any of the points/names/links, you should not be working here)
And this has already begun. There are no second chances on the internet. Fix this while there are still people around who actually care enough to tell you. This is not just about the home screen. This is about the direction in which Skype is going.

And that is pretty much all the time I have to spend on that. Either way, I'm not worried. We'll always have a great internet chat client. The only question is: Will it be skype?

[ribani]

This option seems a STUPID BOSS OF THE SKYPE TEAM that like it.

The skype home is terrible! If I want facebook or other social network, I GO TO THE BROWSER!

My mother uses skype to talk to my brother, and she just doesn't know what's facebook.

I think this is not the purpose of the skype. I think I'll need to downgrade version.

Very unhappy with skype team mind!!!

[Fish]

Reverting to an out-of-date version of the software is not a solution.

Thanks, but keep trying. 

[Hovno]

OK, Skype. Mission accomplished. VOIP phones deployed and working great, implementing group policy to remove your spamming bloatware on logon as we speak. Good riddance! Unlike you, we have managed to accomplish "improving the user experience" in one week. Next Monday, our users will not be greated with your retarded home window. And - you will not get any more money. Sounds like a deal. This is what you get when you harass paying users with bloating your software, removing useful features and implementing totally useless ones instead. 

Bye. 

[ecoretread]

I agree the poster's comment was rude, but, has anyone at Skype considered how rude it is to shove the Skype Home thing in every user's face every time a system is started? Rudeness begets rudeness, unfortunately, and it does seem to me that the rudeness started when the Skype Home thing became unavoidable.

[msiersted]

Agreed - it is hugely disappointing that Skype seems to be moving away from it's traditional minimalist, user empowering culture towards a feature bloat user controlling approach.

[jpwilk]

Oddly, I only just found out about this.

My neighbour is running Vista Home Premium. Has Skype version 5.3.0.120 installed and it has been working great where the Skype icon just appears in the systray when he turns on the pc.

Only recently did the Skype window start to open up with Skype Home on the desktop after bootup.

The only thing that has changed is that Vista did some security updates and he has subscribed to Facebook.

Strangely, I have the same version of Skype but on WinXP SP2 and don't have the Skype Home problem. All I get is the Skype icon in the systray. If I doubleclick this the Skype window comes up without Skype Home window unless I check it in the View menu.

[just-eagle]

+1 for a disable option, I've been annoyed by this window for ages.

I saw some people had made some tools that help with this problem, but I wanted to make my own just for fun and to be 100% safe.

It's a very simple AutoHotkey script, you can run it as a .ahk if you care to install AutoHotkey (free), otherwise you can use the executable. If you put a link to either of them in your Windows startup menu it will run when you login, wait for Skype, close Skype Home and then close itself.

You can download it from: mediafireDOTcom/?5ldeucmw1l464bd

Or copy the source code:

Loop
{
    IfWinExist, Skype Home
    {
        WinClose, Skype Home
        break
    }
}

Hope you like it.

[domsue]

Autostart of SKYPE HOME is so annoying that it makes me want to uninstall SKYPE !!!

Please , do something about it or you start loosing users!