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Screen sharing in Skype 4.1 Beta for Windows

Hot on the heels of 4.0, the beta version of Skype 4.1 for Windows has arrived. It adds screen sharing, a feature many of you have been asking for since we introduced it in Skype 2.8 Beta for Mac, and more too.

Download now — Skype 4.1 Beta for Windows

Screen sharing

Have you ever tried to help a friend with their computer? Or take a colleague through a presentation? Or help a friend with their essay? Or show off a killer move in a game? Well, screen sharing in Skype makes doing things like that super-easy. Just click the Share menu in the conversation area of the Skype window.

With this beta, you can share your screen with any other Skype user on Windows, Mac or Linux. You can share your whole screen, or just a selection, and best of all, it’s totally free.

… and more

We’ve also added birthday reminders, and you’ll also be able to send contacts to other Skype users. For those of you who missed these features in the last version, they’re back

In addition, 4.1 Beta lets you import contacts from a range of other services including Gmail, Windows Live Hotmail, Yahoo! and AOL.

It also includes further refinements to audio and video call quality, bug fixes and accessibility improvements. Look out for a post from one of our accessibility experts in the near future, who’ll explain exactly what we’re doing to make Skype easier to use for blind and visually impaired people, and for people who can’t use a mouse.

How do I get it?

Download now — Skype 4.1 Beta for Windows

So here’s the deal – you download the beta, and in return, you give us your feedback. Please let us know what you think about the new features, and let us know if you spot anything which doesn’t work as expected. You can leave a comment below, or better still, fill out our feedback survey – your input will help us make future versions of Skype better than ever.