How To: Improve Skype Quality

August 15, 2012 · 2 min read

I always forget this until I need it the next time, but there is a great post that talks about how to fix your skype quality.

1. In Skype, Go to Tools > Options > Connection. Select the option to use ports 80 and 443. In the “Incoming Connections” box you can chose any port between 1024 and 65535.

2. Reconfirm that your firewall is correctly configured. Follow the simple visual guide here:

http://www.skype.com/help/guides/firewalls/

3. Quit any file sharing applications or high-bandwidth usage applications.

4. For more detailed security setup on a network:http://www.skype.com/security/guide-for-network-admins.pdf (does not work anymore)

5. If these suggestions do not resolve improve call quality, follow these steps:

* Quit Skype

* Locate the shared.xml file found in C:\Documents and settings\Your Windows Username\Application data\Skype\shared.xml

* Delete the file called shared.xml

* Restart Skype ( shared.xml will be recreated ) Note: Showing hidden folders and files has to be turned on: please navigate to:

In XP – My Computer > Tools (Menu) > Folder Options > View.

In Windows 7 – Open Explorer >Organize (Menu)> Folder And Search Options > View.

Once there, please make sure that the option “Show Hidden Files and Folders” is enabled.

6. Disable Quality of Service packet scheduling. Go to Start -> Control Panel -> Network Connections.  Right click on the connection you are using. Select Properties. Untick the “QoS Packet Scheduler” option.

I do steps 1-3, 5, and 6. For step 2, please make sure your firewall is port forwarding your skype port to the proper computer. That is where you get the best performance.

Step 5 is a maintenance one that you will find yourself doing from time to time when things start to slow down. Instead of deleting shared.xml, I just append the date to the end of it in YYYMMDD format.

Hope this helps someone that is trying to improve conversations with Skype.

This article is part of the GWB Archives. Original Author: Robz / Fervent Coder

New on Geeks with Blogs

  • We Won The One Award I Actually Care About

    Full Scale made the Inc. 5000 for the fifth year straight, the 12th listing across my three companies. Here is why the one award you cannot buy is worth stopping for.

  • Your Customers Build the Features Now

    I let a tool I liked sit dead for a year rather than build the features I wanted. An MCP server meant I never had to, and your customers can do the same to your product.

  • Get the Size of a Directory in Linux the Easy Way

    du -sh for the quick answer, ncdu for the cleanup, df for the disk itself: every command for checking directory size in Linux, plus why du and df never agree.

  • Vim Search and Replace: The Ultimate Guide

    One :%s command replaces every match in a file before a find dialog would even open. The Vim substitute patterns worth the muscle memory: flags, ranges, capture groups, and multi-file edits.