Skype is still a popular application, especially on Windows 10 and in business environments. While I cannot say that Microsoft does its best to improve Skype and increase the application’s popularity, it seems fairly common that one or the other version of Skype is installed on Windows PCs.

I noticed Skype running on a Windows 10 Professional PC that I use occasionally only. The Skype icon was displayed in the System Tray area indicating that Skype was running.

A right-click on the icon displayed several options but no option to quit Skype. Skype listed two options — to open Skype or the Skype Settings — and informed me that there were not any unread conversations.

With no option to exit Skype from the System Tray area, I decided to open Skype to find the quit option there.

First thing I tried was to click on the close icon in the titlebar. This minimized Skype but did not terminate the process.

No close or exit option was displayed anywhere. I checked the menu — no luck — and the profile icon — nothing either; in short: Microsoft’s Skype team created a software program that you cannot close anymore after it opens automatically or you launch it; at least not in an easy to understand way.

There are two options, however, to close Skype on Windows 10 after it has been opened on the system.

The first kills the Skype processes in the Windows Task Manager; far from ideal, but better than not being able to close Skype at all.

The other solution is actually integrated in Skype, but it is not super comfortable either. What you have to do is sign-out of Skype.

You can do so with a click on the profile icon in the Skype software and there on the Sign out link. Signing out keeps Skype open and if you don’t investigate further, you could come to the conclusion that it does not change anything in regards to closing Skype.

If you right-click on the Skype icon in the system tray now, however, you will notice that it has a quit Skype option. That option is only available for signed out users, apparently.

Just select Quit Skype from the menu to terminate the program for good. Downside to the method is that you need to sign in to Skype again if you need to use it; not a problem for users who use it once or twice a year, but a problem for users who use it regularly.

Closing Words

It is rather interesting that Microsoft’s Skype team changes the century old function of the close button. While Microsoft is not the first company to do that, it should have added an option to close Skype to the application as it is a much requested feature by users of the communication software.

I don’t know why Microsoft decided to remove all exit options, at least the visible or natural ones, from Skype. What is your take on that?

Now You: Do you use Skype?

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