Solved: My problems of Skype App on Windows 8

Skype App screenshot. Captured on Skype Blog.

After I started to use Windows 8 PC in my home, Skype did not work fine for me. I had two problems:

1. Skype App was not always on.
2. Skype App cannot start automatically when I log on.

I spent some time on Google, and now I know how to fix them.

For easier discussion, here I use the name Skype App for "Skype App on Windows 8"; Skype Desktop for those on Windows 7 (and older Windows).

Problem 1: Skype App was not always on.

In fact, the problem was my old habit of closing current window on Windows 7 (and older Windows). I used to type "Alt-F4" to close the current window. It was working fine because Skype Desktop application will always stay in background.

But for Skype App, "Alt-F4" now means "To terminate this App". That's why I feel Skype App was not always on.

See Tamim's comments on this post.

Re: The Skype app doesn't appear to be "always on" for me.
‎30-10-2012 00:24

This is normal. You shutdown Skype application.

The correct typing to close the Skype App window only, should be "[Windows Logo] - D".


Problem 2: Skype App cannot start automatically when I log on.

This is indeed a problem of Windows 8. I blame Microsoft because now even Skype is a product of Microsoft. Why not just provide some easy way to start Skype App when logging on?

Luckily, I found a solution here. See comments of MikeTis in this post.
http://community.skype.com/t5/Windows-8-from-Windows-Store/Not-starting-automatically/td-p/1203030

In a nutshell, just create a Scheduled Task in Windows 8 to execute Skype App when user logging on. A key tip here is the command to start Skype App is "cmd /c start skype://".

The starting screen after executing "cmd /c start skype://".
Captured on Skype Blog.

Adding one more, Problem 3: Audio of Skype Desktop for Windows 8 is sometimes choppy!

I do not know the cause. I just noticed the problem. Strangely, Skype App's audio is working fine for me.

That was the motivation for me to fix Skype App problem quickly! :)