Getting Skype working

[#1]

Thanks to Coronavirus, my wife and I are having to maintain contact with our youngest grandsons, the oldest of which is not quite 3 years old, via the internet. We want a visual connection so they can see us (and vice-versa), so we thought of Skype. My wife's laptop has Skype already on it, but we have never used Skype. I have tried creating a Skype account, but it objects to my phone number and my email address - it says they are already being used but doesn't say where. I managed to log in by using my Microsoft account (which uses my email address)  but after spending some time going through the login process, it came back with "Skype cannot connect". Below that message, it has a white block with "pennecks" in it, but doesn't give any indication of why the 's' has been added, or what Skype requires me to do. The version of Skype is 7.0.0.102 - I've tried getting it to check for updates, but it eventually comes back and states it cannot check at the moment.

Is Skype shut down at the moment?

Any suggestions please?

Take care. Stay safe

[#2]

my Skype is version 14.52.138.0

[#3]

which platform?
Skype for macOS is at 8.58
Skype if iOS is at 8.50

[#4]

Thankyou @daveplus  and @dvorak .

Thanks to the both of you, I've made some progress. I've uninstalled the Skype I had, and installed the latest Skype for Win 7. I can now log into Skype using my Microsoft Account details, but my wife cannot log in using her M/S account - she cannot remember her password.

I am going through the process with Microsoft to get her a new password, but they ask for passwords she has used. She doesn't remember any passwords for this account, or even having the account in the first place, so I'm not sure how we are going to get on with that particular problem. They will take 24 hours to let us know.

So, thankyou for your help, and now I have to learn how to use Skype.

Bye. Don't get Coronavirus. Good luck

[#5]

On the issue of your wife email account... just register a new one with microsoft?
🙂

[#6]

Hello @Bogbody.

Have got my wife's account working, and we have used Skype, but only the once so far. We are finding the problems of using Skype and solving them, for example, I discovered the next time I booted up the laptop that Skype was still working and my wife was still signed in. I have just discovered how to sign out - why do they make it so difficult to find - it should be there on the top view on the screen - Sign Out - click on it and you are out.

This has led me to one problem that I haven't solved yet - how to make certain that the camera and microphone switch off after signing out of Skype, preferably automatically. It is the only time we use these devices, and you hear stories of rogues using your camera and mic to spy on you. Any suggestions gratefully received.

Thanks. Take care

[#7]

Stick a piece of black tape over the camera 🙂
It should not be accessible to anyone else unless you're lappy/desktop has malware or a virus.
Look for malwarebytes.org

[#8]

Skype is generally the most unreliable piece of software garbage i've ever had the mispleasure of using. It gained popularity on the basis that it was the first mainstream app to offer video calling (which in reality is video streaming - just like other messengers offered such as Yahoo! messenger).

Unfortunately it's prone to refusing to connect, dropping connections, suffering server crashes etc. I suppose that's why microsoft were so impressed with it - matching the reliability of their other producs - which influenced them into buying it.

[#9]

As someone who uses it daily I've not had that experience.

[#10]

Hello @Bogbody 

The first (and only) time I have used Skype so far, I had to turn on both the camera and the microphone so my two young grandsons could see and hear me (they had their mother with them to control them - they are under 3 years old). If I had to turn the mic and camera on, I want to be able to turn both off afterwards, preferably having that happen automatically as I sign out of Skype. The tape only obstructs the camera, it doesn't stop the mic picking up sound. There was something I found this morning on the internet that said the mic could be adversely affected by the tape (the adhesive blocking it) but they didn't mention the camera so whether they meant that rather than the mic - I don't know where the mic is if not by the camera.

I already have Malwarebytes on my desktop and my wife's laptop, but thanks for the suggestion.

[#11]

Hello @7up . I haven't used Skype much, but if my experience turns out to be as bad as yours, I will look for an alternative.

Thanks for the warning

[#12]

I stopped using Skype many years ago for much the same reason as @7up .

Viber was fairly good, reliable etc, but saying that I stopped using it after an update they did last year, when they started to 'push' junk stuff without no real means of turning it off. Haven't bothered to check recently whether it has improved or is still the same, as the people who I was using it for are now in the UK, not 6000 miles away. 😁 but at the time we'd spend hours video calling and all freeeeeeeeeeeeee!