I want Skype minimized on startup

[rseiler]

Right, sorry, I glazed right over the START. I've been concentrated on Skype shortcut icons today, where that wouldn't fly. I fear batch files are off the table for me until we can figure out how to get minimize to work on systems with a single Skype.

BTW, another solution for the Home screen, one I've been using since the beta, is this. It eliminates the timing issue, since it waits for it and closes it the instant it sees it. It's absolutely crazy that we have to take these kinds of steps though.
johanneshuebner.com/en/clickoff.shtml

[marksmyth]

When will Skype learn. I DO NOT WANT FACEBOOK IN my SKYPE. ALSO, I DO NOT WANT THE HOME SECTION.

Go back to version 4 to show a better interface design or even 2.8 for the MAC which was perfect.

New features are great but give users the choice not to have additional bloat.

[kicks-mobil]

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rseiler wrote:
another solution for the Home screen: johanneshuebner.com/en/clickoff.shtml

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thanks, a good tool!

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rseiler wrote:
crazy that we have to take these kinds of steps though.

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of course! but complaints remain ineffective. so instead, I'll focus on what's feasible ...

[gcaleval]

This kind of stuff is precisely why I upgraded back to version 4.2.

I've been researching this forum to see if I'm actually missing anything feature-wise that actually matters to me in the 5. versions but so far I have seen a lot more dissuasive information than any incentive to downgrade to the current.

[rseiler]

@kicks-mobil, I noticed you edited the post to mention disabling uPnP, but that didn't allow minimize and auto-login to work together on my XP, at least, though note that I didn't have 5.3 running at the time (i.e. this wasn't a /secondary run). I'm not too concerned about this here, since I only use XP in a VM, but this will hit a lot of people since /minimize is the default switch used when Skype starts with the system.

My main reason for posting is for clarification on "re-installed 5.3 over 5.5," since I'm just getting into experimenting with both installs now. Skype's installer doesn't seem to let you install an older version over a newer one. Since it might matter in achieving the magic condition, did you mean that you took a backup of Skype.exe 5.3 from an earlier install and manually copied it into your default install, or did you uninstall 5.5 and then install 5.3?

[kicks-mobil]

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rseiler wrote:
Skype's installer doesn't seem to let you install an older version over a newer one.
did you uninstall 5.5 and then install 5.3?

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on machines where I had installed 5.5.0.110 or 5.5.0.112, both of which block autologin of a minimized client, I installed 5.3.112 from an archieved SkypesetupFull.exe. First, it returns a friendly hint that the existing installation is a newer version, then it lets you continue. when done, autologin from minimized works. if you install again 5.5.x, autologin from minimized will hang again.

if you saved the shared.xml from both installations, you can play with substitung them. unfortunately, shared.xml of a 5.3 installation does not seem to repair the blockade caused by installation of 5.5 . but the diverse config.xml in your skype profiles are not the culprit ones either. so, registry entries or dll files? no idea.

EDIT

I always use download.skype.com/SkypeSetupFull.exe. Never the 1 mb installers, since they load the missing rest from the same IP that sends you autoupdates - and that I consequently blocked in my router: 204.9.163.158

[rseiler]

kicks, I noticed in ruwim's posts at the thread below (I love that you can't post URLs here even when they're pointing to other threads on this board) that the new login window exists in the hidden directory c:\ProgramData\Skype\Apps (in XP, it's buried under the All Users profile).

Renaming the subirectory there ("login") to something else, or deleting it, allows you to use the "old" login screen, which doesn't trigger the /minimized problem.

(Edit: It's also sufficient to rename the index.html file found in that folder to something else.)

Note that you need to start Skype with a proper shortcut pointing to the EXE, not the one that's created upon installation (or use something like your batch, of course), which is one of those special shortcuts that doesn't actually point to an EXE.

community.skype.com/t5/Windows/Skype-5-5-0-112-not-working/td-p/47182

I think the above is driving around the problem rather than through it, but Skype should get the issues with the new and not improved login screen fixed eventually. If you're proficient in JavaScript (and possibly CSS), you might want to delve into some of the files in the new login screen folder to see if something can be modded there.

[kicks-mobil]

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rseiler wrote:  ruwim's posts at the thread

community.skype.com/t5/Windows/Skype-5-5-0-112-not-working/td-p/47182

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this one? (link copied from "Message 23 out of", bottom of the post, left column)

community.skype.com/t5/Windows/Skype-5-5-0-112-not-working/m-p/49086#M5376  

Great finding! If Skype was Google, you'd get a bug finders reward.

5.5. is evidently being developped in a hurry (maybe not different from other versions).

Its next subversion will appear soon because of the recent login vulnerability

h-online.com/security/news/item/Skype-update-enables-account-theft-Update-1288403.html

So wait a while before inspecting the tedious javascript stuff in login\static

[kicks-mobil]

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gcaleval wrote:

see if I'm missing anything feature-wise that matters to me in the 5. versions

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 newer versions and subversions did overcome security issues like account hijacking and script execution. for myself, however, I did not find this a sufficient reason to cling to the most recent version only.

[rseiler]

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kicks-mobil wrote:

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5.5. is evidently being developped in a hurry (maybe not different from other versions).

Its next subversion will appear soon because of the recent login vulnerability

h-online.com/security/news/item/Skype-update-enables-account-theft-Update-1288403.html

So wait a while before inspecting the tedious javascript stuff in login\static

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Yes, that cinches it, we'll see an update probably by next week (maybe then we'll see them relent on the Home window with Compact mode; if not then, eventually). I'd forgotten that Facebook was also in 5.3, which is also vulnerable. I've been using this version of 5.5 which doesn't have Facebook integration (or click to call), so I guess it's an exception.

skype.com/go/getskype-msi

BTW, I guess there are different flavors of the full 5.3 installer. The one on oldapps.com, anyway, does not let you install over 5.5. It comes back and says something to the effect "Sorry, you already have a later version of 5.3," and then aborts with an error message. Yours allows you to procede.