10 things the average person does not know about Skype

[DigeratiPrime]

http://www.winaddons.com/10-things-the-ave...ow-about-skype/

1. Tired of Google toolbars and downloading bloated installers? Get the Skype business version. Skype business version is about two times smaller than Skype (the original version) and doesn’t include toolbars or other annoyances.

2. Speak with your friends even without a microphone. If your microphone is broken you can use your headphones. Just make sure the headphones are plugged into the microphone jack of your sound card. Now speak in the headphones and listen from your Hi-Fi system.

3. Being visible in your friend’s contact lists. Go to File | Edit My Profile… in the Full Name column put your name between bars (|My Name|). Now you’re on top, baby!

4. Drag and Drop. You can drag and drop people between your contact list and chats, or between chats. Want to add someone from your contact list to a chat? Just drag him from the contact list to an existing chat. Same thing applies to file transfers. Just drag and drop the files to an existing chat.

5. Some of the emoticons are hidden. Some of the available emoticons are hidden and you can use them only if you write down their code. Here you will find all hidden skype emoticons and much more.

6. Add clickable Skype links in chats, blogs… anywhere!

Just copy/paste the following code and replace the username with the actual one:

Call someone on Skype: http://tduri.com/s-username

Add someone to your contact list: http://tduri.com/sa-username

Begin a text chat with someone: http://tduri.com/st-username

View someone’s Skype user info: http://tduri.com/su-username

7. You can use Skype remotely. Chat with your Skype buddies from anywhere on your mobile phone, make and receive Skype calls easily, and see who’s available with realtime status updates. All you need is EQO Mobile for Skype.

8. Skype does support plugins. You can download many of them to greatly extend Skype’s functionality.

9. Skype reads out BIOS data. It is not yet clear what the Skype software does with the data, which may contain, among other things, the motherboard serial number. Change your motherboard every now and then

10. The Supernode Mode they don’t want you to know. In supernode mode, Skype is reputedly able to saturate 100Mbit/s connections. Many universities with high-speed connections often ban Skype usage because of this. Run TCPView and see how Skype starts up a large number of TCP and UDP connections. To avoid a computer from being used as a supernode, just put a firewall in place. A typical Windows XP computer with a firewall running will make the machine not directly visible to the outside world and thus it will never become a supernode.

I did not know about the business version (MSI), headphone trick, and plugins.

I use Portable Skype but I am concerned about 'lock-in' so I have 2 more to add

11) Skype can be made portable using this nsis launcher

http://www.robloach.net/project/portableapplications

12) Good alternatives to Skype:

http://www.gizmoproject.com

http://www.wengophone.com

Nice post and handy site.

[CoffeeFiend]

You can also tweak skype so it can do video calls @ 640x480 (obviously one needs a decent USB2/FW webcam).

Anyways. With the uber-cheap VoIP plans these days (got a 20$ CDN/month unlimited plan including long distance and all), I don't have much of a need for it anymore. That combined with the other issues like bandwidth hogging, being stuck speaking using the PC unless you buy some sort of phone adapter (vs just using a decent wireless phone), the new artificial/unnecessary intel/dual core checks, and the issues with their paid service (no skypein in Canada yet, issues calling some numbers using their skypeout service - especially toll free numbers, etc)

I think trixbox is worth mentioning too (linux distro for Asterisk, an open source VoIP PBX), FreeWorldDialup and all. Or even sites like voip-info.

[Jeremy]

I'm not as picky about it, I love Skype. A friend of mine in Mexico (love you Punto ) switched ISPs and now our ping times are 115ms (as opposed to 150+ms) even with Skype running. We play HL2DM and BF2 with no lag and it just rocks. I've very happy with Skype.

[DigeratiPrime]

I have IP concerns about Skype but I have to admit "it just works".

[dirtwarrior]

With skype can you get a phone # so land lines can be elimated?

[jftuga]

Read these 2 PDF files and you may change your mind about running Skype...

http://www.recon.cx/en/f/vskype-part1.pdf

http://www.recon.cx/en/f/vskype-part2.pdf

An excerpt...

Many protections

Many antidebugging tricks

Much ciphered code

Is there something to hide ?

Impossible to scan for trojan/backdoor/malware inclusion

Is Skype a backdoor ?

Can I distinguish Skype's traffic from real data exfiltration ?

Can I block Skype’s traffic ?

Is Skype a risky program for my sensitive business ?

-John

[dirtwarrior]

OK but can you get a # where it rings in to home?

[CoffeeFiend]

OK but can you get a # where it rings in to home?

It's called SkypeIn like I've said before. But it's only available in a handful of countries (not Canada). And at €30/year it's kinda pricey for what it is: just a number people can call (can't make any calls yet - gotta pay more). SkypeIn (if even available where you live) + SkypeOut is like 70$ USD per year. I'd also buy something like this to make using it bearable (use a real phone).

And like they say: "No Emergency Calls; Skype is not a replacement for your ordinary telephone and can’t be used for emergency calling." So it's more like 70$ USD on top of your old phone plan really.

And again, expect issues with SkypeOut too. Especially with toll-free numbers (like gov't #s) - at least half of those I've tried didn't work at all.

Why do I know it sucks and that I'm bitter? Because when moving here, the local telco wouldn't even hook me up unless I've provided them with a local number they can call, and the only # I had was my old cell phone # (long distance). It's like the chicken and egg thing... Gotta have a local number so they'll get you one. So I was stuck with Skype for a month until I settled with a VoIP provider and got my ATA.

[dirtwarrior]

I searched skype and it is a little vague about skype about skype in area codes. How can I find out if it has a local area code and # for my area?

[Ascii2]

Thanks.

Was there ever a Skype 2.5.0.154 business version?

Edited February 24, 2007 by Ascii2