Skype and #$%@#$ MS

[Loose rivets]

I've used Skype for years. Mostly for phoning for which I pay per month. EVERY NUMBER I HAVE IS STORED IN IT - yes I have backup, but no good if I can't enter the program.

I'm at my wife's flat with my laptop, totally wrecked with a move out of my borrowed home. 4 days of utter hell.

Now I can't get into Skype. To reset the password, I need to go to my MS account. WTF is that? I have a vague memory of such a thing but that's it. Yes, I'm getting old and passed it, but that's when one becomes more reliant on things not bl@@dy changing. Every call I have to make in the middle of this stressful time is reliant on a well back up list that's as much use right now as a chocolate teapot.

Every way I turn, I'm asked for things I'm not aware of. I can not reset my password without entering the MS domain. The dilemma is, even if I put in every password hidden in my Keepass program, I don't know what to put in the top box. ie, my full name happens to be in there for Skype, That wouldn't be it, so I don't even have a name for an MS account.

So, if I unpack my PC, is there a way I can glean the existing password from that? It auto loads on start and presumably calls a password from somewhere.

This flat is minute, and pristine, and the Rivetess will freak out if I make it look like the houses we've had for the last 50 years. My life is in peril. HELP!

[Alsacienne]

I have had similar problems with Skype and MS ..... have had a computer-savvy friend install 'Classic Skype' and starting to re-enter my contacts. 'It' keeps telling me there's a new version and do I want to update to it .... suddenly I'm afflicted with blindness in case this puts me back on the old merrygoround. All the very best and hope you get sorted out very soon.

[finfly1]

Part of the problem (which I share) is that companies (Skype, yahoo, youtube and many others) keep being bought by other companies with other passwords and megabits of "terms and conditions" which are' simplified' into total gibberish. I cannot even SEE let alone respond to some comments on youtube now, because it wants me to log onto a "google account" which I cannot seriously believe I even have.

I feel your pain.

And hope you get it sorted, soon.

[Loose rivets]

I finally got to reset my password by a series of actions I've already forgotten. I put in my Skype name and got a code sent to my old email address. I'm so stressed out that I put it in with two numbers swapped. When I got that right it told me I couldn't use a password I'd used before. So it knew.

With great tension I tried to sign into skype. Same. Skype can't connect. It's not saying word is wrong, just that it can't connect. WTF does that mean?

Now I suppose even my pc won't work.

This is no small matter to me. Everything, banking support, house contracts, a dozen or so very serious series of phone conversations are all reliant on Classic Skype.

Both computers worked perfectly. I'd get the laptop out occasionally to let it back up and let it run Skype - the only issue that's ever been is keeping Classic. That I achieved.

Talking to the hospital, which I'm doing all too regularly has all the contacts, perhaps 6, which I've gleaned over the last years. They go right to the specialist's secretaries etc., priceless information.

I got to trust Skype because of the years I've been using it. Never dreamed I'd be pushed into a sea of sales crap for MS. That's all I'm getting.

[Loose rivets]

Finally, I got the PC unboxed. I could never have slept not knowing. Skype did not sign in but did give me a message that there was a new password now. I put that in and it ran. Phew. But on this basis, the other one should run but doesn't. Perhaps reloading Classic and starting again will work.

Also, it has informed me that all MS stuff should be working on this password. Oh, my. I wonder what joys will unfold.

My computer is on probably 12 hours a day. Anything I want to know I go to it. Reading Ken Follett's Century Trilogy, I'd zoom over and check historical details now and then. (Mostly well researched.) Things like that.

Oh, Monday back with the eye guy, and I thought I'd check fovea response curves. Google never ceases to astound me. Right there, the graphs I wanted.

Many of my late hours are spent on Quora. I've gained quite a few followers and blog copies. I can't keep up with spacetime math, but heck, nor can some professors.

I really hadn't seen a time coming where I was just connected to the world by a wire. Odd really. I realise I haven't been out much apart from power-walking for years. If I was in a country cottage with not even electric light, I wonder what I'd do. Basket weaving, probably.

I'll try reloading Skype tomorrow.

[jolihokistix]

My wife and I got tangled into a mess with Skype quite separately, and we have both given up trying to use it. Sympathy. Not very useful information for you, I know.

[tescoapp]

I suspect its linked with using a MS login for windows. Then using the app version from the store.

Personally I have never used the MS account login ability on any machine. And don't use the store apps.

[Loose rivets]

Yes, I have some regret in succumbing to MS log in, but I sold a spare hi spec PC to a friend with a legal 8.1 to W10 upgrade. All was fine until I reset it to sell and it wanted a key. I didn't have one. Lenovo wouldn't play ball and the only way seemed to be to go via an MS account. This worked, and according to HowTo Geek, should have been okay for friend. However, she's still using my log in cos we've never had time to get her set up with her account. Absolute mess.

When I've recovered from the trauma of the last few days, I'll obliterate Skype from the laptop and reload from an old copy of Classic. The trouble is, I can't remember where the bookmark file lies. A kind member here told me, but while I'm remembering my entire life in minute detail, I seem to let things like that slip. Perhaps Search in Pprune computer section will reveal it as I don't post much these days so should be findable. Anyone know? .vcf files, that is.

[Loose rivets]

Removed and reinstalled a file I'd had for ages, though it was only 1.6m so a setup exe that just calls the latest available. No, not Classic, the damn 8. something.

I works, but I'm a stranger in a strange land. Age make me want familiarity. I will kill it and load anew, but not while I'm so mentally wrecked. I used to love these challenges, but not anymore.

MS and other forums show a slew of people all wanting Classic. Can't MS take a hint. We don't want a Fu@king toy box. We want what works and what has served us well for years - oh, and paid for.

[tescoapp]

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/skype/forum/skype_windesk-skype_startms-skype_installms/download-skype-version-74/59d382f1-bc0d-41ce-9a12-d553eb444b67<br /><br />Have a look at that for a link. I tried it and it appeared to work. I have 7.4so I wasn't willing to trigger it fully.

[BEagle]

Unfortunately it seems that the idiots at Microsoft are now determined to force Skype 8 on everyone - the say that, w.e.f. 1st Sep, Skype 7 will 'no longer be supported', whatever that might mean.

So, despite thousands of complaints it'll be Skype 8 ('Skype for Kids') or nothing, it seems. What an arrogant company to be so unresponsive to customer feedback.

I was at a Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 event at Brackley 3 years ago. One of he other guests told me that he worked in Seattle and had flown over for the event. "Do you work at Boeing?", I asked him. "No, Microsoft", he replied. "And you actually admit to that?", I countered, before telling him exactly what I thought about Windows 8.1, the ending of Autoroute Express, the ending of Outlook Express etc. etc...….

[P DeV]

As all Skype information is held in the cloud (Seattle) the best way to get a truculent installation working again is to completely uninstall the current version using the proper Uninstall routine.
Then download a reliable older version of Skype (7.37.0.103 is my favourite "oldie" available from filepuma.com) and install that as a clean new program. Run the program using your Skype name and password (you don't have to login to any Microsoft account) and voila! You should be back to your original profile with all your contacts waiting for your call. Using old versions will invoke the question "do you want to upgrade?" each time you log on but that question can be dismissed easily enough.
Once Skype is running go into the Tools section and under Options turn off "Automatic Update" to prevent the program reverting to the dreadful Ver8.
The "not supporting old versions" notice means that no tech support will be available after September but, like Windows XP et. seq. the programs will still run fine - just don't call MS tech support if you need any help.

[Loose rivets]

Well, my PC is telling me that on November the 1st Skype, as was, will stop working. It springs up over my work sometimes, really letting me know it means it.

I pulled out my little used W7 Sony Vaio and let it update Skype - which had stopped working!!!!!!!!!

I don't like the interface but the numbers seem to have finally been updated - which they weren't before. There were just a few, which is odd if they're in a Cloud. Is it that they are in the clouds now, whereas before they were in that file I forgot and had to ask on here.

EDIT = OK, GOT IT. CONTACTS - ADVANCED - Backup Contacts to a File.

So, I guess the new Skype will have made this obsolete - below is what I had written before I found it.

Sorry to ask again, but top of heads, anyone remember its location? Skype user name dot vcf It was that, that I shoved over to the new Skype on the laptop and got the poor results. Well I would, wouldn't I, if I put a file in somewhere that is no longer the source of the numbers database.

Confused? You will be if you keep talking to me. :bored:

[Loose rivets]

Well I felt I had to do it. The alternative might have been dumping my contacts if I'd gone past the date. Who knows?

It's on the PC and the Laptop now and seems to have the list there. IT HAS NO MENU SYSTEM per se, and I can't allot an on-disc address for the file, so yes, it must be in a cloud somewhere. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

It did offer me the chance to bring conversations in messages etc., across from 7. It seemed to work, though I immediately forgot how I'd done it. I'm not sure if one has to do it again.

It won't be long before I know if the PC will be a thing of the past. It clutters even my huge desk and it would be nice to have just a laptop I could slide away. The keyboard is the thing - I just can't imagine using anything by my partly flat Logi. The keyboad on my Vaio is grand but the screen is crap - always has been. Looks like it doesn't have enough bulbs behind it. Pity, it would have lasted me out.

Point being, I need this KYB no matter what I buy. Can one put such a keyboard on an iPad thingie?