Andrew Worcester

Kill Skype Home (KSH) - Get rid of that annoying “Skype Home” popup

With the new Skype update has come an annoying little window called Skype Home that pops up automatically when Skype starts. I don’t like things that serve no purpose and I don’t like things that pop up automatically. Now, when you combine the two, it’s just too much. So, of course, I had to write an app that fixes this issue. This script is designed to start with windows, kill the Skype Home window when it finds it, then closes itself so it no longer uses any system resources. For those of you who don’t leave skype running all the time, I’ve added “Persistent mode” which keeps KSH running and watching for Skype Home to pop up.

Features:

Kills the Skype Home window automatically
Minimizes Skype to the system tray when it starts
No installation required
Can hide KSH tray icon while running
Tiny 300KB file size
No dependencies required (no .NET framework)

Setting up KSH:

Download the KillSkypeHome.exe file and run it
If the “Open File - Security Warning” window comes up, uncheck the box called “Always ask before opening this file”, and click [Run].
Right click on the icon down in the system tray and select “Start with Windows” (if you want KSH to run automatically when you startup)
You’re done! Restart your computer and watch the Skype Home window disappear as soon as it pops up.

** IMPORTANT: Skype must be in “Compact View” for this to work. To use “Compact View” simply click [View] then select [Compact View] from the menu **

Download Kill Skype Home v1.0 [Donate]

UPDATE v1.0 - 09/22/2011 - No new features, this update just improves performance… imagine that! ;-)
UPDATE v0.9 - 09/08/2011 - Can now hide the KSH tray icon by pressing CTRL + F11. Also fixed a minor bug with minimizing Skype.
UPDATE v0.8 - 09/05/2011 - Removed “Nuke Skype Home” because it was only effective on 5.3, not 5.5. Fixed bug affecting users with a period in their Windows username. Now closes Skype Home and minimizes Skype to tray faster.
UPDATE v0.7 - 09/01/2011 - Will now minimize Skype to tray even if Skype Home is not found. Added option to “Nuke Skype Home”, which alters a database to permanently remove the Skype Home window.
UPDATE v0.6 - 08/23/2011 - Now minimizes Skype to tray. Better persistent mode functionality.
UPDATE v0.5 - 08/16/2011 - Added support for killing Skype Home window in localized versions of Skype. Changed icon because the red icon was confusing when running in persistent mode.
UPDATE v0.4 - 08/11/2011 - Added an option to keep KillSkypeHome running (persistent mode). Also added an automatically generated config file to handle user preferences.
UPDATE v0.3 - 08/04/2011 - Added an option to minimize the main Skype window after Skype Home is closed.