Skype's not working right now, here's how to fix it

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Skype's not working right now, here's how to fix it

Thursday, May 26, 2011 ANSOR No comments

Skypea

By Rosa Golijan

Popular telephony service Skype currently has some issues working properly and is more likely to crash than a rogue bumper car, but there's a little trick you can use to make it behave long enough for a few chats. Here's what you need to know.a

The Next Web reportsthat the Skype website as well as Skype desktop clients are causing headaches right now. The website refuses to load — or loads extremely slowly — while the desktop clients simply refuse to allow users to sign in.a

(Before you start cracking jokes about Skype's outage being connected to its recent dealings with Microsoft, I am obligated to remind you that msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal. Now back to your regularly scheduled quips.)a

A tweet on the official Skype Twitter account confirms that there are some issues with the service and another one explains that a fix is on the way:a

Twittera

While you wait for Skype to fix things though, you can still use the service if you're willing to do a little bit of work. The Next Web has helpfully provided instructionson a trick which will let you sign in through your official Skype desktop client of choice:a

Windows Vista and Windows 7a

1. Close Skype.a. Right-click the Skype icon in the system tray (at the bottom right of the screen)b. Choose Quit.2. Ensure that “Show hidden files and folders” is switched on.a. Click Start, type run and press Enter.b. Type control folders and click OK.c. Select the View tab and ensure relevant entry is enabled.3. Locate the shared.xml file.a. Click Start, type run and press Enter.b. Type %appdata%\skype and click OK.c. Delete the shared.xml file.4. Restart Skype. The shared.xml file will be recreated.a

Windows XPa

1. Close Skype.a. Right-click the Skype icon in the system tray (at the bottom right of the screen)b. Choose Quit.2. Ensure that “Show hidden files and folders” is switched on.a. Click Start and then Run…b. Type control folders and click OK.c. Select the View tab and ensure relevant entry is enabled.3. Locate the shared.xml file.a. Click Start and then Run…b. Type %appdata%\skype and click OK.c. Delete the shared.xml file.4. Restart Skype. The shared.xml file will be recreated.a

Mac OS X1. Quit Skype.2. Go to the folder ~/Library/Application Support/Skype/3. Delete the file shared.xml (it will be recreated once you open Skype again, this is fine).4. Start Skype.a

Please note that the ~ sign means your home folder. You can find your home folder by opening Finder and selecting Go > Home from the menu bar or pressing Command (Apple), Shift and H keys at the same time.a