JUNK OFFENDER: AHEAD
Junk offender: Skype
It’s taken me a year to get round to installing Skype on my Windows 10 PC. It then took me 10 minutes to get round to uninstalling it – at which point I discovered that Skype is one of a few junk offenders that pushes rubbish on the way out as well as on the way in.
In case you weren’t sure, Skype doesn’t come pre-installed with Windows 10. Since the Anniversary Update, Windows 10 has included an app called Skype Preview. If you want Skype itself, though, you have to download and install it. That’s a pain for us, and an opportunity for Skype’s owner Microsoft to force-feed our hard drives with Bing and MSN – the slime at the bottom of its software fridge.
Skype’s latest version includes new call-forwarding and voicemail features, but its installer contains the same old junk: ‘Make Bing my search engine’ and ‘Make MSN my homepage’ (see screenshot). These pre-ticked extras sound inoffensive, but if you click Continue without unticking them, you’re in for a nasty shock. You’ll find your browser taken over by an unwanted toolbar and search engine that are tough to remove.
What a way for Microsoft to reassure users. In recent months, hackers have used Skype to spread spam and even key-logging Trojans (see Protect Your Tech, Issue 479). Skype needs to fix its reputation, and bundling browser-hijacking adware in its own installer is no way to go about it.
Anyway. After being put in a foul mood by Skype’s installer, I was further rattled by the program insisting on running automatically when I started my PC. I decided to uninstall it – and that’s when it forcibly opened Internet Explorer (IE) and displayed a terrifying ‘crying face’ emoji. It then told me to ‘set up’ IE. I’d rather eat my keyboard sideways, thanks. Once I’d removed Skype I had to clear more than 45MB of leftover junk from my Programdata and Appdata folders, and my Registry.
You know what, Skype? I can live without you. Google’s brilliant Duo app ( https://duo.google.com) is more than a capable alternative. It may only work on phones and tablets for now, but it provides free video calls with no hassle and – so far – zero junk.