Skype Memory Usage

[Martur]

This is absolutely ridiculous - the latest Skype uses > 200 MB ! of memory on my computer. I now downgraded to version 3.8 and am back at around 20 MB.

You should understand that Skype is just yet another chatting and Voip tool - Nobody wants to get new hardware for a taskbar tool.

[Froghat]

There are at least 4 problems here. In which the truth is.

1: People; as a general rule (especially on the technology front) have the IQ of a potato. (can't update; can't figure out how to copy paste stuff into google {or some other search engine}; and certainly dont bother to read the help text {which is hardly EVER helpful, tyvm Microsoft **not**}; check you tube, i bet some one has made a hack for it.)

2: Pattents; yeah that's right; there are business out there that deal in nothing but buying up old pattents and the sueing currently running companies/estates because their product is "similar".

3: Politics; ever wonder why it says country/region on your time zone ticker for MS clock? It's because China didn't like Tiwan being considered a region by microsoft. So; you can imagine the train wreck that caused (serriously take a look at the way time zones are shaped. you would think they would be devided up by math and the number of hours in a day; but no.)

4 (and probably the most important); Skype was bought by microsoft. Windows 98. I don't think I have to say much more than that.

Also; i haven't seen the downgrades for skype; i'd like to go back to the pre-microsoft version; it was stable and never went over 50,000 k unless i was in a group video.

The best fix i can think of is to give it an idle mode in the scripting; which honestly wouldnt take longer than 30 min of scripting from scratch. another 2 hours of debuging (because lets face it; you script you know what i mean about gremlins). and another hour of fine tuning and its done.

Also as a finale note;

Installing one over the other will not make much of a difference (at best MAYBE 4k mem increase) If the solution actually BROKE DOWN THE PROBLEM; it would at least have credit. But its yet another band-aid on a broken arm.

[Symbal]

There is a article here: http://bertgarcia.com/how-to-reduce-skype-memory-usage

that suggests uninstalling and reverting to version 3.8.0.188
This version appears to be the last that is reliable and is not a memory hog.

I'm running this version on Windows XP system and usage has dropped from 120MB down to around 30MB. I have not tested 3.8.0.188 on Windows Vista or 7 so don't know how well it runs on those systems.

Skype 5.7 memory usage at 120MB is around the same as used by a clean install of Windows XP, which does seem a "bit" excessive.

[denZXabc]

I've downloaded the latest version of Skype Business 5.8.32.154 and the memory usage is about 45Mb at the moment, what is ok for me.

I use the classic view without any whistles. 

Thanks everyone. 

[mh505]

I have the exact same problem and was wonder where I can get this business version 5.8.32.154?  Skype does not offer any more (obviously) and a Google search has not been very frutiful.  Pls advise !

Thanks much in advance 

[tealtiger]

I've had the same problem you've all had for months now...and I've posted on several topics in this forum about it.  Since I first learned of the memory leak, I downgraded from version 5 to version 4 and haven't had any problems since.

If some of you want to downgrade and don't know where to go, oldapps.com is where I went.  I'd give the link, but every time I post it in here it comes up as an invalid URL.  However, the site is up and working cause I was just there.

[mh505]

Yes I also went back; but to version 3.8 which I prefer over 4.x.

But I would still like to test the so-called "Skype Business"version mentioned by denZXabc.  This is not available on www.oldapps.com.

Any ideas? 

[tealtiger]

I don't know where to find that...maybe try Google searching? Or Skype's website might have it somewhere? I don't know...all I do know is I'm not upgrading from what I have now til they fix this issue. I can do without all the extra features...I never really used them anyway.

[ruwim]

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tealtiger wrote:
I don't know where to find that...maybe try Google searching? Or Skype's website might have it somewhere? I don't know...all I do know is I'm not upgrading from what I have now til they fix this issue. I can do without all the extra features...I never really used them anyway.

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The only real difference between the business and “normal” version is absence of Facebook integration in the business version. If you don’t connect to Facebook from Skype, then there is no difference at all.

You can always download the latest business version from here:

www.skype.com/intl/en/business/download/

Be also aware, that often the reason for memory leak is that Skype is set to run in Compatibility mode with a previous version of Windows. Right click on the Skype shortcut, select Properties and then the Compatibility tab. No options should be selected there.

[tealtiger]

Currently I'm using Skype version 4.2.0.187.  I have just tried the business version that was suggested in the last post, and while it does seem to be less stressful than the recent non-business version, I'm still not totally satisfied with the amount of memory it uses, just in idle mode.  I haven't tested it on a voice call because I'm currently not in one.  I took some pictures to show you the differences between the two on my PC while it's idle.

This is version 4

This is the business version 5.9

This is to show that it was NOT running in compatibility mode

The task manager snap from the business version was taken shortly after I installed it and logged in, and I know how recently the memory consumption seems to grow with time from the newer versions of Skype, so it was only a matter of time before it started using more.  Skype 4 seems to hold at around where it was in the first snap, or goes down into the 40k area.

I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit with only 3GB of memory at this time.  I'm looking to upgrade and switch to 64-bit version but that takes cash I don't have right now.  I play an online game, also, and that uses enough of my memory, so right now I'm taking all the steps I can to not consume so much of it on a daily basis.