Skype does not start: what should I do? Do not start "Skype" after the update

The modern world is unthinkable without the Internet. In many ways, we became dependent on him because the World Wide Web offers us such opportunities for communication, which we simply did not know before. Could somebody have suggested a few years ago that you can not only talk at a distance, but also see your interlocutor while doing this?

If you ever dealt with a computer, you probably realized that we are talking about the Skype program. It has gained incredible popularity in recent years. No modern user can imagine life without this wonderful application.

Unfortunately, even in the case of the most reliable programs, there are various unpleasant surprises. What will you do if Skype does not start?

Most users will call technical support or look for solutions at various thematic forums. Unfortunately, they do not always help out there, and not everyone has time to look through hundreds of pages of messages, screening out "seeds from the chaff".

In order to help you in this difficult situation, we have prepared this article.

What could have happened?

If you have been using the program since its inception, then for sure remember that in those days "Skype" was extremely stable, and even about his "glitches" and no one has ever heard. Unfortunately, over time the program was overbought by Microsoft, soon after that the problems started.

Perhaps, these events are not interconnected in any way, but the fact remains: Skype has not been launched in recent years quite often. Often the problem is associated with some kind of violations on the company's servers. But even more often it happens that the new version is simply incompatible with some new standards, once again taken by the leadership of the notorious Microsoft.

Delete the previous version

Often the problem can be solved quite simply. To do this, you must uninstall and reinstall the program. This can be done in two ways. The first is to use the standard "Taskbar". How to do it?

Click on the "Start" button, looking for "Control Panel" there. A dialog box appears, in which you should find the "Programs and components" option. Click on the link, and then a list of all the utilities installed on the computer is displayed. Find Skype there and click on the "Delete" button, which is located at the top of the working window.

The standard "Uninstall Wizard" is launched, which will help you to remove the program for video calls from your computer. After that, you can download the installation package of the new version and reinstall the utility.

And if Skype does not start even after that? Most likely, the whole thing is in a bad uninstallation, after which the hard disk and the registry left traces of the program. To avoid this, we recommend that you use the wonderful Revo Uninstaller Pro utility.

Using the uninstaller

It is intended just the same for those cases when a program does not want to be removed from your OS. How to use it? Everything is extremely simple.

Run the Revo Uninstaller Pro, and then browse the list of programs, which is presented at the bottom of the working window. Look for "Skype" there, select it by clicking the left mouse button. After that, look at the top of the working window: there is an icon "Delete", which you should click on.

First, the standard uninstall program will open. After that, the Revo Uninstaller dialog box appears, in which you need to choose how to scan the hard disk. We recommend you to focus on "Advanced", as in this mode the program finds more "traces" left from the utility. Select the "Select All" option, then click "Delete".

What, does Skype not start even after this kind of operation? Then we will use the solution from Microsoft Corporation itself, although it does not differ by its elegant elegance.

Method from Microsoft

Before you perform this user guide, still, we strongly recommend that you reinstall the program using the instructions above. If Skype does not start, Windows 8 (like other operating systems of this family) can display its icon in the tray, but the application does not start later.

Do you observe such a picture? Click on it with the right key of the manipulator, and in the drop-down menu select the item "Exit". After that, click the "Start" button, look for the "Run" field, then enter the command:% APPDATA% \ Skype. Click "OK".

Now you need to find and delete a small shared.xml file. It contains information about setting up the application. If you remove it, the configuration will be reset to the default, after which the program will be launched. How to find it? Just enter the name in the "Run" field and click on Enter.

The computer does not find anything? Then perform a simple operation. You should find the "Control Panel" again. In the dialog box, there is the item "Folder Options". Open the "View" tab, then check the box "Show hidden files, folders and drives". Click "OK".

Again, search for the file again. We delete it, we try to start again. And if Skype does not start after the update? After all, the version is already the newest !?

The most original method

Strangely enough, but sometimes even novice users are looking for ways to solve a problem that would hardly have occurred to their more experienced colleagues. It's about creating a new account in Windows. It is desirable to create it with the rights of "Guest".

Very often after entering the newly created "Account" it turns out that "Skype" starts working normally. This technique is especially effective in the case of Windows XP.

Antivirus?

Occasionally it happens that after the update of the anti-virus program, it suddenly starts to receive Skype files for malware, and then deletes them. In any case, such excesses have happened to users of the AVG program of older versions.

What to do? Try to temporarily turn it off, reset Skype and try it again. Approximately the same symptoms can be observed if your firewall does not allow it to go online. In this case, you need to understand the opening ports. Try to allow all connections through port 8080. Typically, this helps.

Does Skype start up? Is the white window the only sign of his presence on the computer? Here the matter is in something else.

We put the portable version

On older versions of Windows it happens that the latest versions of Skype are simply incompatible due to some problems with updates or system files. In this case, the only way out is to use the portable version of the application. It can be launched from both the hard drive and removable media.

This method works perfectly when your system lacks an important kernel32.dll library for some reason. "Skype" does not start because part of its modules are simply not activated.

Problem with databases

Another common reason for the correct operation of the program is impossible. In this case, you need to close the application by clicking on its icon in the tray with the right mouse button and selecting "Exit".

Then go to your profile, which is located at: "C: \ Documents and Settings \ Your account name in Windows \ Application Data \ Skype \ your Skype account name". On the path specified by us, there must be a folder, after which the program will work.

So you know what to do. Skype does not start for many reasons, but almost all of them can be eliminated by your own efforts.