Skype 4.1 beta for Windows
I’m happy to announce to you that today we are delivering to you a second flavor of Skype 4.x series – Skype 4.1 for Windows.
This is currently a beta release which means that it might sometimes not follow your orders, but instead act on it’s own. In case this happens, please let us know by commenting on this blog, posting on the forum or reporting issues on our public issue tracker.
If you were not scared by the warning 
then start the download and continue reading about what you will find in this release. Read also our main blog post.
Skype 4.1 Beta for Windows brings to you long hours of work from our audio and video team. They have introduced screen sharing functionality into Skype for Windows and in addition to that they have also worked hard on audio and video quality and reliability.
When coming back from the audio and video world to other areas then we have brought back some features which did not make it into Skype 4.0. People who use screen readers will notice that we support accessibility correctly in this version. In case you are using JAWS screen reader then you might want to take a look on our accessibility consultants JAWS scripts page for Skype.
As a small extra you will also notice that you can now send contacts and receive birthday reminders for your contacts again.
We have also updated our Internet Explorer and Firefox plugins which now recognize your Skype contacts mentioned on web pages and highlight phone numbers which you can call for free.
In case you are new to Skype or would like to import contacts from different services you will find an improved contacts importing engine, which helps you to import contacts from wide variety of web services, including Gmail, Windows Live hotmail, Yahoo and many local services.
Before ending my post I’d like to give a very big 
to our volunteer translators and closed beta testers group who have helped us considerably in making this release come true.
As usual in addition to the hard work on implementing new features we have taken time to solve some of the previously found issues. Here you have the full release notes for the 4.1.0.130:
* feature: Screen sharing
* feature: Accessibility
* feature: Skype name highlighting on webpages
* feature: Free call phone number highlighting on webpages
* feature: Contacts sending
* feature: Birthday reminders
* improvement: Audio and Video engine updated
* improvement: Ability to import more contacts from more source
* improvement: Updated Skype for Internet Explorer plugin
* improvement: Updated Skype for Firefox plugin
* bugfix: Skype Internet Explorer plugin did not work with Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7
* bugfix: New Audio device communicator message appeared on every start-up
* bugfix: Dialpad did not open when starting a call, but opened when call was connected
* bugfix: Some menu items in Hebrew and Arabic language showed out as ????
* bugfix: Skype crashed on shutdown sometimes
* bugfix: GDI+ error was displayed when running Skype on Windows 7
* bugfix: Not all audio devices were shown out under audio options
* bugfix: When copying longer text message from one Instant Message to another then you did not have possibility to edit it’s controls
* bugfix: Skype crashed when dragging and dropping quoted chat messages
* bugfix: Quick-filtering sometimes highlighted contacts incorrectly
* bugfix: Profile text was cut off when person has emoticon on their ‘about me’ text
* bugfix: A user was unable to edit contacts phone number more than once
* bugfix: Skype showed that webcam is present, but busy when it was disconnected for some Creative webcams
* bugfix: It was not possible to remove duplicate entries from audio devices list
* bugfix: On client upgrade “View technical release notes for this update” link did not work.
* All language localizations updated: Bulgarian – Nikolina Filipova & Nikolay Filipov, Czech – Petr Silon, Dutch – Kees Koenders, Estonian – Viljar Sepp & Eve Loopere, Greek – Panagiotis Sidiropoulos http://www.magenta.gr, French – Fabrice IMPERIAL & Bruno Lépaulard, German – Claudius Henrichs & Dick Schiferli, Hungarian – Mark Bender & Laszlo Koncz & Gabor Stefanik, Italian – Daniele Conte, Latvian – Intars Students, Lithuanian – Viktoras Kriukovas, Norwegian – Stig Auestad, Polish – Karol Szastok, Portuguese-Portugal – Francisco Ferreira, Romanian – Péter Henning and Mónika Iancu, Simplified Chinese – Della Wang (TOM.com), Traditional Chinese – Carlos Lee (PChome), Turkish – Ömer Emin Dede
Audio quality jumps from high, to the old lwo quality, to an even lower quality, and I have more then enough banwith to support the high quality 3m/1m with nothing else running bit torrent, etc.
Everything is good, but why you changed an UI colour? 4.0′s was pretty nice, clear, lite and comfortable, but the new one is a little bit acid.
Please, come back colours of Skype 4.0 UI.
Accessibility support is pretty good, almost as good as 3.8, even without the scripts. Also, you linked to the wrong page for the scripts. THe correct url is:
http://users.visi.com/~dgl/skype/skype4.php
That will directly link the user to the skype4 scripts info page.
Also, it would be great if you add ability to share screen without making call, I just want to share a screen and show something, but not to call and talk to somebody.
Audio quality is terrible. Its not even 32K when it works, and when it doesn’t it sounds like a regular landline or 3G telephone call. Terrible beta, cluttered interface, and Fideliphone ftw.
Oh yeah, I forgot, the Skype Extras Manager? Is that to go alon with your bloatware Outlook addon? They go together quite nicely IMO, MS Outlook, Skype, and the Skype Extras Manager. Bye bye CPU power.
When I try to share screen with user who uses Skype 4.0, my oponent’s Skype 4.0 craches.
Re: budnyatsky Well, duh, Skype 4.0 doesn’t support screen sharing.
Sorry, about: «When I try to share screen with user who uses Skype 4.0, my oponent’s Skype 4.0 craches.»., not 4.0, but 3.8.
Skype doesn’t respect user prefered Skype’s windows size when I switch between compact and default mode. In default mode I set Skype window’s size, then switch to compact mode first window is respect my window’s size, but if I open one more window, they will not be the same size as I setted.
I thought, that users who don’t have Skype 4.1+ will have ability to share screen, but could receive shared screens.
Can you add tabs support into message window (on chat/IM) in compact mode?
missing very usefull ability to see user status in taskbar when chat window is minimized. now both online and offline users in minimized chat windows looks same
hello,
on version previous to 4.0 the size of the text aera was altmost as big as the chat windows. since version 4 and I was hoping you changed back on this 4.1 version the size of the text area is defined and cannot be increased when the window is maximized. Why the chat windows can be maximized while the text area remain so small ?
Otherwhise I really like this new screen sharing functionality.
Little bug, I cannot select the text in the chat windows, prior to send the message
The thing I find strange, I don’t know if it is because I am not used to it or just because that is the way it is working now, is if someone is in a conference with me, and I would like to send a chat only to the person, not to the whole group, I am not able because that person jumps from the contact list to the live conversation. I could try and put everyone in my history, by making a fake call only to get every single contact in a place where I could send messages, but that is a little strange. I am working in compact mode. Except for that, accessibility is doing well. The keyboard still cannot access file receiving button “save as…”, but I know that this is being worked on. As said above, the audio quality is adjusting itself, normally from good to worse, instead of getting better while the conversation progresses.
I appreciate many of the fixes and improvements to the program and will say that Skype is an excellent resource (one that I use every single day)! I also love how it integrates so well with so many other devices and services.
However, I am still not a big fan of the new layout/interface. I miss the larger call buttons as existed in version 3. I frequently use a PC remote that allows moving the mouse cursor from the remote. The older style display was easier to read and especially from a distance and when using the remote. Now, despite the cool new features, enhanced call quality, and overall dependable functionaliy – the interface remains convoluted and awkward.
I have a handful of close friends that I encouraged to join the Skype community and, even without having seen version 3 before, they all complain that the interface in version 4 is difficult and less than user-friendly; The buttons too small, not intuitive, and too hard to find. Version 3 was great in this respect!
Since I realize not everyone will probably agree with my opinion, why not allow users to choose their own interface style? For example, even Microsoft Windows allows this across OS versions; i.e. while using Vista, the user can make the OS look like Windows XP or “classic” 98. Why not have the same functionality in Skype by letting version 4+ users revert their interface to their more comfortable version 3 layout?
Please Skype, improve the interface or at least give us some options. Thank you!
Heck, I’d even settle for a third party application I had to pay for that could hack the thing and re-skin it. HELP!
I’m agree with truthforfree, but only partly. I think all Skype needs to do is to place two button (call and end call) instead of buttons Directory and Shop. I think, you’ll confirm to me that Directory and Shop are less important for regular home user, than Call and end call buttons. Isn’t it?
I’m totally confused (being a middle aged non-technology geek)… SKYPE seems non conformist when it comes to having access to actual technical support so I will post my issue here… HOW THE HELL DO YOU ACTIVATE THIS “UP-GRADE” WHEN IT DOESN’T LIKE YOUR AUDIO CARD/SOFTWARE?
I keep getting a 1603 code… it cannot remove my older version of SKYPE and install the new version and being the illiterate I am when it comes to this sort of thing (not to mention, impatient) I can’t seem to find my way through the labyrinth in order to find a solution (people in the real world don’t have time to look and wait and probe, the want answers when they are faced with the issue).
Pardon my attitude but I hope you can appreciate why I’m a bit short.
Could someone that speaks SKYPE and who understands Windows XP, help me fix this software communication issue?
I just wanted to report that I was unable to access my LabTec (Logitech) video camera after “upgrading” to 4.0, but it works fine with the beta. My father’s computer had the same issue with 4.0, so I rolled back, but I haven’t tried installing the beta yet.
– Geoff
I do not want 4.0 or 4.1 !
The interface is VERY bad.
The UI team should be fired!
Bring back Skype 3.8
Hi there therealdarmoe,
You can get some information on your problem here:
http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=85962&st=0
or type “1603 error code” in the Skype main search window (it works on google too). The Skype site generally is very good at reporting bugs and fixes, and if you happen to have a unique problem, they investigate and repair very quickly. They do take care of their client base and their product is very good (I save my company $250 each month by using skype to teleconference), but being freeware, there are some eccentricities that require perseverence to resolve.
I understand your impatience…I was having serious audio and video problems, which I fixed as a result of digging through the website and paying close attention to the “Call quality information” button when I was on a call. My problem was that my USB drivers were conflicting with my internal mic driver. And my whole system crashed when I started up the video or made a video call. This caused all sorts of problems which were compounded by my security settings (my laptop is heavily encrypted because for work I deal with high-profile clients). Our IT manager spent 2 1/2 days trying to locate the problem before finally giving up and rebuilding my system from scratch. Skype was not solely to blame for the problems I was having, but I did find out that my audio driver (Sigma Tel High Definition Audio CODEC)has some issues associated with it. So this is how I try to work around it:
I set my webcam as the default microphone. I also set my external speakers as the default playback device. Essentially, I try to avoid using Sigma Tel as my default device (input or output) whenever possible, since this is a company laptop and I don’t like peeving the IT guys by randomly uninstalling and reinstalling things. If you’re having audio issues and can’t uninstall, then try reinstalling the same version (overwrite), directly from the website. I didn’t think this would work because previous versions always asked me to uninstall the old version before installing the new one, but hey, it did work. I also set my Skype Options, Advanced settings to automatically dowload and install updates (but remember to also check the “Notify me” box, so that if a newer version causes problems, you’ll know there was a recent update in your system so you at least have a place to start looking. A good practice is to also set a restore point in XP before you download. If there is a problem with Skype, you might be able to repair it in the “Add or Remove Programs” window in Control Panel. When a problem with the software is detected by the system, you can repair it by clicking on the “Change” or “Repair” button.
Don’t worry about your attitude; I recently had to resist, with all my might, the temptation to fling my (then very buggy) laptop from the highest building I could climb. Sometimes it’s as simple as a setting in your options, and that can be infuriating, because you can’t know what you don’t know, right? I make it a habit to check the website for reported issues (Public issue tracker) and occasionally even fix problems I didn’t know I had. Don’t despair, chances are someone before you has had the same problem and there will be some reference to it somewhere.
In giving my post a quick read over, I realized it’s NOT a good idea to respond to posts after having a full pot of coffee and an all-nighter catching up on work: the post is long enough to make me look like a bit of a crackpot who has a bad case of ADD
Hope this helps, and if it doesn’t, then I apologize for the long-winded ramble about everything except what you were looking for.
Hi there therealdarmoe,
You can get some information on your problem here:
http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=85962&st=0
or type “1603 error code” in the Skype main search window (it works on google too). The Skype site generally is very good at reporting bugs and fixes, and if you happen to have a unique problem, they investigate and repair very quickly. They do take care of their client base and their product is very good (I save my company $250 each month by using skype to teleconference), but being freeware, there are some eccentricities that require perseverence to resolve.
I understand your impatience…I was having serious audio and video problems, which I fixed as a result of digging through the website and paying close attention to the “Call quality information” button when I was on a call. My problem was that my USB drivers were conflicting with my internal mic driver. And my whole system crashed when I started up the video or made a video call. This caused all sorts of problems which were compounded by my security settings (my laptop is heavily encrypted because for work I deal with high-profile clients). Our IT manager spent 2 1/2 days trying to locate the problem before finally giving up and rebuilding my system from scratch. Skype was not solely to blame for the problems I was having, but I did find out that my audio driver (Sigma Tel High Definition Audio CODEC)has some issues associated with it. So this is how I try to work around it:
I set my webcam as the default microphone. I also set my external speakers as the default playback device. Essentially, I try to avoid using Sigma Tel as my default device (input or output) whenever possible, since this is a company laptop and I don’t like peeving the IT guys by randomly uninstalling and reinstalling things. If you’re having audio issues and can’t uninstall, then try reinstalling the same version (overwrite), directly from the website. I didn’t think this would work because previous versions always asked me to uninstall the old version before installing the new one, but hey, it did work. I also set my Skype Options, Advanced settings to automatically dowload and install updates (but remember to also check the “Notify me” box, so that if a newer version causes problems, you’ll know there was a recent update in your system so you at least have a place to start looking. A good practice is to also set a restore point in XP before you download. If there is a problem with Skype, you might be able to repair it in the “Add or Remove Programs” window in Control Panel. When a problem with the software is detected by the system, you can repair it by clicking on the “Change” or “Repair” button.
Don’t worry about your attitude; I recently had to resist, with all my might, the temptation to fling my (then very buggy) laptop from the highest building I could climb. Sometimes it’s as simple as a setting in your options, and that can be infuriating, because you can’t know what you don’t know, right? I make it a habit to check the website for reported issues (Public issue tracker) and occasionally even fix problems I didn’t know I had. Don’t despair, chances are someone before you has had the same problem and there will be some reference to it somewhere.
In giving my post a quick read over, I realized it’s NOT a good idea to respond to posts after having a full pot of coffee and an all-nighter catching up on work: the post is long enough to make me look like a bit of a crackpot who has a bad case of ADD
Hope this helps, and if it doesn’t, then I apologize for the long-winded ramble about everything except what you were looking for.
Hi there therealdarmoe,
You can get some information on your problem here:
http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=85962&st=0
or type “1603 error code” in the Skype main search window (it works on google too). The Skype site generally is very good at reporting bugs and fixes, and if you happen to have a unique problem, they investigate and repair very quickly. They do take care of their client base and their product is very good (I save my company $250 each month by using skype to teleconference), but being freeware, there are some eccentricities that require perseverence to resolve.
I understand your impatience…I was having serious audio and video problems, which I fixed as a result of digging through the website and paying close attention to the “Call quality information” button when I was on a call. My problem was that my USB drivers were conflicting with my internal mic driver. And my whole system crashed when I started up the video or made a video call. This caused all sorts of problems which were compounded by my security settings (my laptop is heavily encrypted because for work I deal with high-profile clients). Our IT manager spent 2 1/2 days trying to locate the problem before finally giving up and rebuilding my system from scratch. Skype was not solely to blame for the problems I was having, but I did find out that my audio driver (Sigma Tel High Definition Audio CODEC)has some issues associated with it. So this is how I try to work around it:
I set my webcam as the default microphone. I also set my external speakers as the default playback device. Essentially, I try to avoid using Sigma Tel as my default device (input or output) whenever possible, since this is a company laptop and I don’t like peeving the IT guys by randomly uninstalling and reinstalling things. If you’re having audio issues and can’t uninstall, then try reinstalling the same version (overwrite), directly from the website. I didn’t think this would work because previous versions always asked me to uninstall the old version before installing the new one, but hey, it did work. I also set my Skype Options, Advanced settings to automatically dowload and install updates (but remember to also check the “Notify me” box, so that if a newer version causes problems, you’ll know there was a recent update in your system so you at least have a place to start looking. A good practice is to also set a restore point in XP before you download. If there is a problem with Skype, you might be able to repair it in the “Add or Remove Programs” window in Control Panel. When a problem with the software is detected by the system, you can repair it by clicking on the “Change” or “Repair” button.
Don’t worry about your attitude; I recently had to resist, with all my might, the temptation to fling my (then very buggy) laptop from the highest building I could climb. Sometimes it’s as simple as a setting in your options, and that can be infuriating, because you can’t know what you don’t know, right? I make it a habit to check the website for reported issues (Public issue tracker) and occasionally even fix problems I didn’t know I had. Don’t despair, chances are someone before you has had the same problem and there will be some reference to it somewhere.
In giving my post a quick read over, I realized it’s NOT a good idea to respond to posts after having a full pot of coffee and an all-nighter catching up on work: the post is long enough to make me look like a bit of a crackpot who has a bad case of ADD
Hope this helps, and if it doesn’t, then I apologize for the long-winded ramble about everything except what you were looking for.
I really appreciate all the great work that goes into the audio and video quality. Some of the 4.x UI changes, however, I have not warmed to despite extensive use.
- Flagged new messages (orange dots) don’t always clear promptly, causing all kinds of misbehavior in the chat window.
- Placing the “show when I’m typing” pencil in the chat stream can cause the message flow to jump around. Liked it much better when the icon was up out of the way.
- The black background on the emoticons pop-up menu makes it hard to see many of the darker icons. Also, the menu doesn’t auto-hide if you start typing! Annoying.
- I’ve never liked the new “default” combo view; that’s for keeping “classic” view as an option!
Other new features are excellent: the new call toolbar in the chat window, the ability to edit posts, the placement of the users at the top of the chat window, etc.
One other request: Is it possible to make the “comes online” notification SELECTIVE? I really don’t want notices for ALL my contacts, but I would like to know about a few (girlfriend, boss, etc.).
Thanks,
Neil
Sharing window is a good feature. Verosee had this idea a few years a go for those who can remember. It would be good feature when you want to share a screen with a older version Skype if the recipient gets a warning message to upgrade to share their screen,
I also want the ASCII code implementation in the ‘Mood’ section. Since we can not type long passages, it would be great things like (oops I can not even insert ASCII code here)
And lastly spelling checker in the messaging section. How could you not include this?
(And Skype please what ever you do don’t do like ‘Messenger’, to make disappear all my messages typed on the same day and look for it in the history listed back to front)
We also have fired ‘justinrossetti’ lol.
(Sorry justinrossetti just a joke.)
I just purchased a new laptop with Vista on it. I’ve had Skype account on my old one, now I can’t download Skype on the new one. I keep getting “Installing Skype failed; Code 1618″. I’ve tried both Explorer annd Firefox, it didn’t make any difference.
Please help!
Please bring back speed dial.
Функция “Поделиться, Показать экран, Показать весь экран”, неработает пока не инсталирована звуковая карта.
I have been thinking that it would be fine idea if you add an option which allows to the users to hide their skype name so they don’t get bored by annoying people who want them in their list with contacts.. Some of us doesn’t like to be disturbed from people we don’t know. It will be good if we are the only one having the rule to give away our skype name, thanks..
Thanks, but no thanks! I’m not upgrading my 3.8 until the transfer calls feature are back.
You want to IMPROVE SKYPE?
Skype 3.8.0.188
http://www.filehippo.com/download_skype/4911/
And remember what you did that made people fall in love with Skype!
(You have to uninstall your new Skype 4.1 version before the old version will install)
Skype 3.x series is sooo much better in UI design.
Sorry Raul, I know you have done numerous bug fixes and so on with 4.x series, but I just cannot stand to look at it or use it any longer.
I swear, I gave it a decent shot. I really did. I tried my hardest to put up with it but it is just complicated, space wasting, non intuitive, and overall a terrible terrible GUI design.
I’ll put up with the bugs in 3.x to be honest.
Such a welcome relief to see this 3.x GUI again.
3.x GUI just made perfect sense. It’s easy to navigate and do things. Even shows my file transfers that are being sent which 4.x didn’t do. I didn’t realise I had 3 transfers trying to be sent to people until I uninstalled 4.1 and installed 3.8.
The Group Chat window of 3.8 is soooo much cleaner and better space utilisation. Participants on right of chat, no white space on left or right side like 4.1 has and doesn’t have that big waste of participants at the top of the Group Chat window like 4.1 has.
Seriously Raul, re-download your own older version of your product and USE it. Once you have done that, UNDERSTAND then why it is so much better to use and then bring those qualities of 3.x series to a 4.5 version or something because there’s a hell of a lot of us that just won’t be upgrading otherwise.
Thank you for reading and sorry for dissing you newest Skype, but it is terrible. I said in the forums that I am surprised that the developers of Skype 4 aren’t embarrassed by the 4.x GUI because as a designer, I would be.
Kind regards,
Maz
Dear customer support the other person is not able to here me many times i try getting the volume thru but still i’m not able to enjoy the service.
Regards.
Locky
I’m a new Skype user and downloaded it last week. I’m having an issue with IE8 crashing periodically on my new laptop with a reference to DEP. I realize this may not be Skype-related, but have there been issues with how Skype 4.1 (Windows) interacts with IE8? Am enjoying Skype very much, just don’t like Explorer crashing on me. As one measure, I’ve turned off my Skype add-ons in Manage Add-ons. Thanks in advance.
My Video is not working and when i go under tool>option>webcam setting….it just says windows is closing the program and skype shuts down. What can I do to fix this?
sorry the message says…skype has stoppped working, windows is closing the program, then it shuts down
I run Windows 7. Installed the latest version of Skype and it crashes every couple of minutes. When will you offer the version compatible with Windows 7?
I got a issue, when I recieve a call when I’m playing a game i don’t hear the ringtone and the recieving call window doesn’t show it self. I have to shut down the program and then when i press answer nothing happends…. And then whole skype is laging and I have to restart the computer to make skype work again…
I am running windows 7 starter edition on my netbook and I can’t seem to run skype I get a message that it can’t connect can anyone help me