The Skype client shows a disturbing colored ad at the bottom of the client. The ad is unnecessary and only takes away important space for the contact list.

How can I remove that permanentely?

Even after clicking the close sign on the ad, the ad appears again each time I open/click Skype again...

4

8 Answers

I got rid of this like that. Go to Tools > Options and uncheck Promotions and Help and Skype tips.

Additionaly, if you go to Tools > Options > Privacy > Show Advanced Options in the bottom of the window, you will see something about Microsoft targeted ads..., unticked this and restarted Skype altogether and so long I haven't seen any ads anywhere (thanks to juanm55)

6

Put this in your hosts file:

127.0.0.1 rad.msn.com

Update: nZeus suggests using the following:

127.0.0.1 rad.msn.com
127.0.0.1 g.msn.com
127.0.0.1 live.rads.msn.com
127.0.0.1 ads1.msn.com
127.0.0.1 static.2mdn.net
127.0.0.1 ads2.msads.net
127.0.0.1 a.ads2.msads.net
127.0.0.1 b.ads2.msads.net
127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ac3.msn.com
127.0.0.1 ec.atdmt.com
127.0.0.1 msntest.serving-sys.com
127.0.0.1 sO.2mdn.net
127.0.0.1 aka-cdn-ns.adtech.de
127.0.0.1 secure.flashtalking.com
127.0.0.1 cdn.atdmt.com
127.0.0.1 apps.skype.com

I haven't tested the latter. The first one worked for me.

11

None of the above methods work for the newer versions of Skype A new method has emerged that works in Skype 6.13 and Skype 6.14, works on Windows using Internet Explorer settings, from Chris123NT:

Open up Control Panel > Internet Options.

Security > Restricted Sites > Sites

Type in , and click Add.

Again, click Add, then Close, then OK. Now open up Skype, click on the home button, and the ad banner should disappear and not come back!

4

>>Note that the steps below won't work in Skype 6.9 or later<<

To get rid of advertisements upgrade to Skype Premium (from ):

To disable promotions (from ):

1. Click Tools > Options > Notifications.
2. Select Alerts & messages.
3. Under Show messages about… tick the boxes for the alerts and messages you wish to receive.
4. Click Save to update your settings.

5

Updated DNS block list; works as of version 6.21.85.104. Add this to your hosts file (typically something like C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts). Works best with IPv6, since 100::/64 is a "drop-all" prefix. Works with IPv4 as long as you don't have anything listening on 127.6.6.6. You can use 127.0.0.1, but I would advise against that, since the connection won't die immediately if you have another program listening on port 443. (127.0.0.0/8 is loopback, not just 127.0.0.1.)

127.6.6.6 a.ads2.msads.net
127.6.6.6 ac3.msn.com
127.6.6.6 ads1.msads.net
127.6.6.6 ads2.msads.net
127.6.6.6 b.ads2.msads.net
127.6.6.6 cdn.adnxs.com
127.6.6.6 cdn.adnxs.com.edgesuite.net
127.6.6.6 cdn.atdmt.com
127.6.6.6 live.rads.msn.com
127.6.6.6 rad.msn.com
127.6.6.6 secure.flashtalking.com
127.6.6.6 wildcard.msads.net
127.6.6.6 wildcard.msads.net.edgekey.net
100::1 a.ads2.msads.net
100::1 ac3.msn.com
100::1 ads1.msads.net
100::1 ads2.msads.net
100::1 b.ads2.msads.net
100::1 cdn.adnxs.com
100::1 cdn.adnxs.com.edgesuite.net
100::1 cdn.atdmt.com
100::1 live.rads.msn.com
100::1 rad.msn.com
100::1 secure.flashtalking.com
100::1 wildcard.msads.net
100::1 wildcard.msads.net.edgekey.net

2

I created a Windows Batch script to help remove the ADS from Skype, it can add a blacklist to Windows hosts file and also change a parameter on the Skype user settings file.

This way I was able to remove all ADS from Skype 7, including the ADS block that appears on the right side of the chat.

This script was tested on Skype 7.85.105.101 and is intended to run on Windows Vista, 7 or 8.

You can get the script here: disable_skype_ads.zip. Unpack the zip and read the readme.txt file to know how to use it.

If you find any bugs or have suggestions, please add a comment bellow, so I can fix/improve it.

2

The way that works for me (version 6.11.0.102) is the following:

1. Go to Tools -> Change Language -> Edit Skype Language File...
2. Navigate to s_LANGUAGE_NAME (line 129 on my English language file)
3. Change the string to something else that is arbitrary (I use "NoAds")
4. Click "Save As..." and save the file to what you named it (for me, "NoAds.lang")
5. Finally, make sure this language is selected as the current language in the Tools -> Change Language menu (if it isn't, use the "Open Skype Language File" option to locate and load it)

From what I remember about this trick... since the ads are targeted towards language, putting in a bogus string value will essentially cause Skype to fail at finding an advert to display, and in turn, it will not display one.

This has worked for me on multiple installs of this same version of Skype, and in versions past as well.

Note: I also do this in tandem with what Volodymyr does in his answer.

I wrote a program which hides the biggest and in my opinion most annoying Skype ad.

One can find it at:

Just remember, as it says in the README.txt, that Skype must be used in the Default View mode (View -> Default View) for the thing to work.