Skype 5.0 for Windows goes Gold
I’m proud to report to you that Skype 5.0 for Windows is now Gold, and we’re ready for everyone to start enjoying the new user experience and features offered in this release.
Principal new features:
* Group video calling (beta)
* Skype Home
* Integration with Facebook
* Offline instant messaging
* New contact search and improved contact adding
* Enhanced call quality experience
* User interface refresh
We recommend that you upgrade straight away, as some of the new features – Group Video Calling and Offline IM – are only available for people when all participants are using the latest version.
Start downloading it now and let your friends know about it.
Before talking more about the new features I would like to thank all the people who have given their feedback to us – it matters a lot. One good example is the fact that we have made showing avatar pictures in the contact list an optional feature.
Please continue to give us feedback on this new version of Skype – just comment this blog post, talk on our forums or report issues in our issue tracker.
Group Video Calling
In Skype 5.0 we support group video calling which enables families and businesses in multiple locations to meet with each other over video. Group video calling requires a modern computer and broadband internet connection.
Skype Home
Skype Home is a new area in Skype which provides relevant updates for you, including information about your purchases, your friends’ mood message updates, and videos to help new users get started with Skype.
Integration with Facebook
We have introduced the Facebook news feed, where you can keep track of the people and communities you care about. You can also see your Facebook phonebook, which lets you call and SMS your friends on Facebook. You can also comment on and ‘like’ wall posts, just like you can in Facebook itself.
Offline IM
Now you can send and receive messages from your friends who are offline. Messages will be delivered when you sign in to Skype, even if your friend is not online anymore.
This feature works only for the people who are on the Skype version which supports it.
Enhanced call quality experience
In this new version we have considerably improved the call experience if something goes wrong with your Internet connection.
Skype will inform you about potential issues with the call and offer advice about how to improve your call quality. Skype also tries to re-establish your connection to the person you’re calling automatically to avoid call drops, and if the call should still drop, we inform you about it and automatically redial the call for you.
User interface refresh
We have made numerous updates to Skype’s UI, including a new profile and mood message area as part of Skype Home; the Contact list, which now shows your contacts’ profile pictures; Recents list, which is a merger of the former Conversations list and History; and other minor tweaks and improvements.
Full release notes for the release build 5.0.0.152 are:
Changes:
| Category | Description |
| Calling | Removed post call experience |
| Contact list | Added an option to disable avatar pictures in contact list. |
| Category | Description |
| Accessibility | Accessibility in Call Phones tab was not properly supported. |
| Accessibility | Accessibility was not fully supported in Call View. |
| Accessibility | It was not possible to accept or reject a contact request via keyboard. |
| Accessibility | Labels in Add people widget were not visible to Jaws. |
| Audio | When the user redialed within 10 seconds the audio was sometimes silent. |
| Browser plugin | During Skype update it was impossible to change language for Skype browser plugin. |
| Browser plugin | Skype browser plugin was wrongly interpreting US vanity numbers that exeed 11 digits. |
| Browser plugin | Sometimes the browser plugin dropdown menu was shown in the wrong place on the screen. |
| Call phones | Call Phones tab showed wrong information about subscriptions when user did not have reccurring payments enabled. |
| Call Phones | Call to invalid number message was not cleared. |
| Call phones | Calling rates under subscriptions were sometimes not correctly shown. |
| Call phones | Header area in call phones tab sometimes showed some messages in text format instead of graphical. |
| Call Phones | Numberpad on call phones was not displayed properly on low screen resolutions. |
| Call phones | Sometimes the rates lookup drop down list appeared in wrong place when using Skype in compact mode. |
| Call Quality Indicator | Call Quality Indicator did not warn user if he mutes microphone in Windows settings. |
| Call Quality Indicator | Call Quality Indicator stated unknown connection speed. |
| Call Quality Indicator | Call restablishment message will remain on a call which appears to be fine, though available bandwidth is very low. |
| Call quality indicator | The call quality indicator sometimes incorrectly reported medium quality when in fact the video call was in high definition. |
| Call transfer | Call transfer to a phone number not in contact list did not work. |
| Call Transfer | Video was not transmitted after call transfer. |
| Call view | Occasionally the call view had white boxes instead of texts. |
| Calling | In rare occasions Skype crashed after changing microphone. |
| Contact List | Creating a Skype Out contact from recently dialled numbers was malfunctioning. |
| Contact list | There were some text formatting errors in Recents list. |
| Contact search | Avatar picture was not displayed in Public profile view. |
| Contact search | Sometimes, Add contacts buttons text was only partially visible. |
| Contact search | User search, based on e-mail and phone number, did not display partial results if full matches were present. |
| File Sending | On rare cases file receiver saw a erroneous message ‘The file isn’t available’. |
| File transfer | Skype sometimes stopped responding when accepting File Transfer in group conversation. |
| Group video call | Message box that appears so users can activate a free trial remained even after trial is activated. |
| Group video call | Often when adding a third participant to a video call the host was not notified about the need to activate a free trail in order to use group video calling. |
| Group video call | Placing a group video call with no free trial appears to other participants as missed conversation. |
| Group video call | Video could sometimes freeze for some participants on Group video calls. |
| Localization | There was no support for languages read right to left in profile view. |
| Login/Logout | Skype opened in focus if Skype was set to autostart. |
| Miscellaneous | Skype sometimes crashed when switching Windows user under Windows 7. |
| Miscellaneous | Skype was starting as maximized during autostart process. |
| Miscellaneous | When opening main menu Skype asked user to install Flash player if user did not have it previously installed. |
| Screen sharing | During screen sharing, the shared area may be partially cropped when resizing it. |
| Screen sharing | Netbooks with Mobile Intel(R) 915GM/GMS,910GML Express Graphics Chipset and Windows 7 sometimes had problems when receiving large screen sharing resolutions beyond 1322 x 823. |
| Screen sharing | Receiving a large resolution screen share could have artefacts on screen. |
| Screen sharing | When receiving screen sharing from Skype for Mac version 2.8, sometimes the screen does not load on the 5.0 side. |
| Skype Access | The Skype Access connection display did not pop-up correctly when trying to connect to supported hotspot after starting Skype up. |
| Skype Home | In some cases, avatar pictures were missing from Skype Home feed. |
| Skype Home | Occasionally mood message update displays may be disrupted when the network connection is momentarily lost. |
| Skype Home | Skype Home is not scaling very well to small and big window |
| Skype Home | Sometimes there was a connection error when trying to open account panel from client alert in Skype Home. |
| Skype Home | Un-sent mood message updates within Skype Home will not be saved when navigating away from Skype Home. |
| Video | Clicking on the webcamera settings may cause Skype to crash. |
| Video | In rare cases users video may not start correctly when using Logitech webcam pro 9000. |
| Video | In rare cases, video may not be received by the other party even if the local preview is working correctly |
| Video | Skype crashed if user quit Skype during an active call. |
| Video | Skype may not work properly with virtual cameras |
| Video | Switching between USB camera and HP Virtual webcam locks the camera |
| Video | The call receiver may not see HQ logo on their side during HQ call |
| Video | The receiver may not see HQ logo in the local preview while the receiver sees the logo on his side. |
| Video | The Skype video snapshots feature is not working on Windows XP SP3. |
| Video | This version of Skype (5.0) has increased CPU usage which may effect video quality on some computers. |
| Video | Under some circumstances upon ending a Skype Video call the webcam can still be capturing video even though it is no-longer in use. |
| Video | Video call picture quality was sometimes lower than expected in good conditions. |
| Video | Video calls may not work with virtual machines. |
| Video | Video calls on a secondary display causes higher CPU load compared to usage on the primary display. |
| Video | Video may stop if you lock and unlock your computer while on a call |
| Video | Video might freeze in calls with H.264 devices. |
| Video in mood | DailyMotion videos which have been added to a mood message are not being displayed to other contacts. |
| Voicemail | Calls go to Voicemail for offline users even if they have disabled it from Options. |
| Voicemail | Message that display’s “Item has been deleted from conversation history.” sometimes appeared after sending Voicemail. Voicemail itself will be sent without problems. |
Speed dial is very important feature to me. Do you pretend to add the speed dial again?
I am a student at Thompson Rivers University in kamloops, British Columbia. My course assignment is to write about ways that Skype 5.0 is going to be helpful to tourist operators, particularly booking services. Could some of you help me out with ideas, suggestions or sources, please.
Storymonger (not yet assigned)
Unfortunately I can’t install Skype 5 on my Windows 7 64 bit machine. Consistent error message code 2 – “the system cannot find the file specified”. Very frustrating as I can’t revert to Skype 4 so I’m locked out completely.
Help!
I need to go back to version 4.2 as upgrading to 5.0 has resulted on a total disaster. I cannot log in to Skype at either of my computers running 5.0. I can only log in by using the only one with 4.2 still.
I have not received any help from Skype support team whatsoever.
YOU SHOULD MAKE CLEAR THIS NEW RELEASE LEVEL IS NOT SUPPORTED ON WINDOWS/XP! I just bought a HP webcam, downloaded this latest version of SKYPE and could not get it to work. Last night I spent over 2 hours with HP support. The problem resolution was that V5 does not work with XP. HP support installed SKYPE V4 and we got it working. Your download web page just says install with WINDOWS. This is not the case. Please make this clear so other new XP users do not have to suffer through what I did.
have an issue w skype 5 and my win 7 64bit . skype crashes while starting
your it is usefull but i can’t do any call i don’t why?
I tried upgrading to Skype 5 and when I tried to change some settings under the options menu it consistently froze up, three times in one morning. Had to revert back to my 4.2 version. Will try again, but this is a relatively new computer, nothing else was running, and I had to change my microphone settings in Skype but it kept freezing up.
Skype 5 effectively forces win98 users off Skype. Result is dreadful.
How do I remove the constant pop-up window.
What “security” issues are involved here since apart from pop-up there is no mention of this anywhere!
everyday is now day
Did you guys fix the voicemail deletion issue present in 4.x ?
(Had to keep using 3.6 to manage my voicemail, specially DELETING IT !)
cool !
how did on talk video on facebook
Just uninstalled skype 5.0. Horrible update, broke everything that worked in skype 4
I tried version 5 for about an hour. There were some cool looking things, but I prefer compact for my friends list, the buttons, and who need that big of a close button – and redundant to boot – when Windows already provides a close button?
Also, I don’t use Facebook, so the button that used to drop down your own info and avatar, is useless and annoying to me. Should be an option to use the classic.
Until version 5 improves, I’ve gone back to version 4.2. Hopefully, in a few months, they will get version 5 right. Right now it’s just clunky. They are trying for an iPhone look, and it looks off. I recommend taking it back into the Beta stage and shrinking/removing a few things.
Regards,
Wilford Tibbetts
I can’t get Skype to load on my computer, any ideas to help
For some reason i cant use my 16:9 on my logitech c510.. on the last version i used the “hack” to get the skype 4.2 on widescreen.. is there widescreen support or wil there be one??
I am trying to sign up for Skype prime, but there is no link for it. i went to your help section and told me to look for it under the tools tab. There is nothing there for prime, did someone forget??
It seems there is a difference in the way Skype 5 connects to the server. It is blocked by our firewall – where the previous Skype 4 is not… what has been changed?
I Love This New Skype.Good Luck You Guys.God Bless You.
finally! Offline instant messaging has welcomed Skype. I have been waiting for this moment 2 years or more. Thank you guys!
The new 5.0.0.152 is crap! It takes forever to load (either XP or Vista), and the Logitech Web Cam Pro 9000 won’t kick in it’s video. That was supposedly on the list of fixes, but it’s still broken. I will most likely either go back to the Beta version, or drop Skype unless they can fix this.
Hi , I like to point out skype 4 “check update” does’nt seem to detect major version update (e.g. 5.0). It would have fix my logitech webcam c200 white lines issue.
What does “Free trial period” mean for group video call?
how do i log into text messager only for skype to skpe communication with other skype friends..please let me know step by step..i have a problem with thid system please jelp me thank you robert.johnston28 12kachina34
5.0 upgrade will not load. Tried a 2nd laptop with the same results. Skype 5.0 crashes before opening.
I cannot start Skype.(whatever the version and with or without Firewall ON). Instead I get the following error “Exception EAccessViolation in module Skype.exe at 0002E016. Access violation at address 0042E016 in module ‘Skype.exe’. Read of address 00000000.” Can somebody help?
My OS is Windows Vista Home Edition and AVAST is my Antivirus.
The new skype is quite laggy, i am using win xp 1.7 ghz and 1 gb ram
online
ver 5 seemed to work for a week with my 64 bit Windows 7 machine, but now it is impossible to sign in. There used to be a site for old versions of Skype, but that seems to have disappeared. I’ll have to dig up an old computer, but perhaps i will have to switch to something else.
*Hi. I have innstalled Skype 5.0.0.152 on my computers. Works great for me in Windows 7 64 bit and on Windows XP Prof.
Silly questiion? Can anyone help me. I’m running Skype 4.2.0.187 under Windows 7 (64 bit). That’s a free version. Function is divine. Does upgrading to 5.0 mean that I go to a version where I need to pay?
Hey where is screen sharing? I installed 5.0.0.152 on a Windows7 32 pc, and all I find in the chat toolbar is ‘send file’. How can I share screen with other people? is it not supported in ver 5 or simply moved elsewhere in UI?
I’ve just installed Skype 5.0.0.152 on a Dell Studio XPS laptop. This is a 64-bit machine with integrated webcam controlled by Creative Technology’s “Dell Webcam Central” version 1.40.35. Skype works fine for voice calls, but video is unfortunately only one way, i.e. I can see them but they can’t see me. The forums seem to be full of this problem, with claimed “fixes” of varying degrees of credibility. Rather than work my way through all of these, could I have official comment from Skype on how to make the software work properly? I need to begin serious video conferencing next week. The error message which appears in the webcam window says “Can’t start video renderer. Check you’ve got a valid DirectX installation”, but that turns out to be an inaccurate and unhelpful message — this is a new computer with DirectX 11 in good working order.
I should have mentioned in my recent post, above, that I’m using Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1 build 7600) on this Dell Studio XPS.
Cured! I seem to have solved my problem of no outgoing video on Skype version 5. Recent Dell laptops have a face-recognition feature called FastAccess which allows users to log-in without password by showing their face to the integrated webcam. If you have this program on your machine, and are having video problems with Skype, try (on the Skype menu) going to Tools/ Options/ Video Settings and changing the webcam drop-down selection from “Integrated Webcam to “FA Virtual Cam”. Alternatively just disable the FastAccess feature permanently — I personally have found it useless as it recognises my face, literally, about once in a thousand log-ins. I suspect this conflict between Skype and FastAccesss might be what’s troubling many owners of recent computers.
Hi.
I have got two issues to report about skype 5.
First a small accessibility issue.
In skype 4.2 when chatting to people we could press shift+tab only once to go to the history of messages that we send and recieved during the chat.
Now with skype 5 we need to press shift+tab 4 times i think.
Also when using skype 5 on 2 computers the chats we had on the first computer appear as new chats when we sign in on the second computer.
Hope it makes sence.
I downloaded and installed skype version 5 on my windows 7 laptop. During the install my screen went black!! Now the screen is constantly black. It is so damn dim that i can’t see anything. I can very faintly see parts of the desktop in the background. Adjusting the brightness does not work at all!! What am i supposed to do now? I expect a freaking resolution!
this new skype sucks hard, interface is really horrible, the older was really better
im looking for a 4.0 installer now
it is ok
Hi guys, where can i find the screen sharing in skype version 5
1) Screensharing changed not really into a good way. I used to share two or three things but now I can only either share the entire screen or just one window. maybe bring back selective sharing again? (eg: resize share)
2) Voice/Cam has gone way down. It keeps saying to me and the one I cam with that our connection is bad (red, sometimes yellow) while we both have quite good connections and never really had any problems with it.
3) The microphones suddenly pick up more than with previous Skype versions. Did you get rid of the noise cancellation or whatever it was that didn’t give us this much static in the previous versions?
All in all good reasons to go to oldapps.com and download the old Skype again.
why I cant run skype? Now I downloaded my skype 5 on Windows 7 and i cant run it, all is working, but when i wrote my nick and passwd it shows small bar where is actualizating…but when it shows skype just shut down, sorry for my english…can you help me??
Back to Skype 4.1.0.141 and all works perfect again. Good Noise cancellation, good quality sound and video and screen sharing is sweet again!
Sorry to the programmers on Skype, but 5 just didn’t do the trick.
version 5 is not working on one of my XP machines, 32 bit… and then it works on another XP 32-bit laptop…. perhaps Skype could state the system requirements more precisely, whether it is hardware or software (i.e. XP SP.. )
The machine with Skype 5 problem displays Skype window with no menus. Takes voice calls but cannot obviously originate any. Video doeas not work either way. I am waiting for Skype to come up with patches…
The static i get since i have downloaded the new version is awful. I have written Skype to try and resolve this and after 4 emails still no response. So i guess not only is their new version horrible, but their customer service definitely reflects the quality of the new version. Thanks Skype for making this soldier have an even harder time of talking to his family.
I cannot log into skype after upgrading to version 5. I don’t what is the cause my password and username are correct, what could be the cause and how can it be corrected
I’d still love to see the re-introduction of Speed Dial. I’m stuck on an older version, as Speed Dial is incredibly important to me.
where can I download an old skype, new one does not work on XP. Thanks for not warning me!